Cities of Gold: A Journey Across the American Southwest in Pursuit of Coronado

This is a book that keeps your attention.. a present-day journey of the unexpected...just as Coronado's excursion was only 5 centuries ago. I learned more about Arizona's early early history (even before it was Arizona) and more recent history than I ever knew. I believe students here in Arizona should be required to read it! Not necessarily as the bible of truth, but it would go a loooong way towards putting their own homeland in perspective. I give my dog-eared copy to friends and acquaintances from "back East"...they read it before they visit, and immediately have a context for their visit and what they see here. I sometimes watch the sunset over the Sierra Madres from a quiet peak near the border that is part of the Coronado National Monument. It's impossible to see any signs of civilization there in the southern panorama...easier to imagine Coronado's entry ...with the help of this book.

Reading a book twice is a rarity for me. But this book was worth both the investment (I bought one for myself, one for a friend) and the time. Having lived in and explored most of Arizona through backpacking, hiking, and horse trekking, I found Douglas Preston's recounting of his adventure to be both a delight and a thoughtful read. Anyone who has experienced the difficulties and beauty of nature first hand, will benefit from this book. All horse lovers will find themselves and their fleet-footed friends well depicted in Preston's travails. And those who simply want to learn more about the Southwest, its original inhabitants, the Spanish conquest and the impact of civilization on this fragile landscape and doomed people will want to explore Preston's sensitive, well-documented exposition. His final observations on our future are prescient and a warning: we, too, may go the way of the Zuni, Navajo, conquistadores and ranchers.

What a wonderful read! From the first page I was gripped with not only the snippets of history of the region, but also the adventure of the author and his companions, riding horseback from Arizona's Mexican border to Santa Fe, retracing Coronado's sesarch for the Seven Cities of Cibola.The tale is a wonderful one, as the author rides through present day Arizona and finds that the Old West is not dead after all. At considerable risk to life and limb, the adventurers ride the trail which they, and scholars, believe was Coronado's own, and in doing so meet ranchers and cowboys who relate their own histories and adventures in this wild but exciting land.An incredible travel tale, and a must-read for those who enjoy history mixed with a good adventure.

This is one of the most well written, expansive stories about the settling of America I have ever read. It takes you back to the time of Cortez and before, but the author's adventures are current and often funny. It is filled with courage; of the writer, the various Pueblo Indian tribes, the Spanish and some Americans. The Zuni philosophy and understanding of the competative needs of the white man are truely enlightening. This is a book I will read again and again. Preston's books about the southwest are both educational and exciting. Sometimes you can hear the wind and taste the dust.

This book is SO much more than a travel log. The journey that the author and a friend took through the desert on horseback, by all rights, should have produced on dead author and one dead friend, but, instead, produced and extremely rich book. Its not often that an author can bring to bear such a breadth of knowledge and skill: historical knowledge, great research, wise understanding of political/ecological issues, thoughtful good judgment in observing cultures, gutsy explorer-courage, and great writing skills - each like extra icing within a tasty adventure-story layer cake. The book is high quality information gathered in one spot covering so many areas: Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Pueblo, and Apache history; early Spanish/Mexican culture; the Spanish/Mexican invasion under Coronado; Anglo history in the southwest; southwest ecology, geography, climate, flora, fauna, and horse psychology 101. Best of all, the words are written by a person of heart who feels and shares the magic of meeting people of other cultures, both present day and ancestral (via those tantalizing archeological sites, through native oral tradition, and from the European perspective). I've read my old hard copy edition of this book twice, and loan it out often - whenever I spot someone showing early signs of becoming fascinated with the Southwest.