The Santa Fe Trail’s role as the major western trade route in the early to mid-nineteenth century made it a critical part of America’s Westward expansion and the stories of its heyday include some of the greatest adventures in the history of the Old West. Drawn from first-hand accounts of early entrepreneurs and emigrants who braved the Santa Fe Trail between 1820 and 1880, this history reveals the lure of the West and puts its importance to American history in context. On the Santa Fe Trail paints a portrait of the land before the wagon tracks were carved in its surface and recounts the hardships, dangers, and adventures faced by the hardy souls who went West to make their fortunes.

Heroes of the Santa Fe Trail is the product of decades of primary research by a writer who has lived all of his life in the shadow the TrailOCOs legacy. This book tells the dramatic story of the men and womenOCoHispanic, Anglo, and Native AmericanOCowho settled the West and provides insights not commonly found elsewhere. From the Hispanic Jaramillo and Chavez families of the Rio Grande Valley to the legacy of Ham Bell, a nonviolent man who made more arrests than any Dodge City lawman, Heroes relates the violent, comic, and often tragic adventures of the pioneers of the early Santa Fe Trail. Boson Books offers several exciting novels by Randy Smith about the Old West. For an author bio, photo, and a sample read visit www.bosonbooks.com."

This question-and-answer book contains 400 reminders of what is known and what is sometimes forgotten or misunderstood about a city that was founded more than 400 years ago. Not a traditional history book, this group of questions is presented in an apparently random order, and the answers occasionally meander off topic, as if part of a casual conversation.

In this comprehensive history of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), one of the oldest and most important women’s organizations in United States history, Simon Wendt shows how the DAR’s efforts to keep alive the memory of the nation’s past were entangled with and strengthened the nation’s racial and gender boundaries. Taking a close look at the DAR’s mission of bolstering national loyalty, Wendt reveals paradoxes and ambiguities in its activism. While the Daughters engaged in patriotic actions long believed to be the domain of men and challenged male-centered accounts of US nation-building, their tales about the past reinforced traditional notions of femininity and masculinity, reflecting a belief that any challenge to these conventions would jeopardize the country’s stability. Similarly, they frequently voiced support for inclusive civic nationalism but deliberately shaped historical memory to consolidate white supremacy. Using archival sources from across the country, Wendt focuses on the DAR’s most visible work after its founding in 1890—its commemorations of the American Revolution, western expansion, and Native Americans. He also explores the organization’s post–World War II history, a time that saw major challenges to its conservative vision of America’s “imagined community.” This book sheds new light on the remarkable agency and cultural authority of conservative white women in the twentieth century.