Enchantment and Exploitation: The Life and Hard Times of a New Mexico Mountain Range

As a born and raised New Mexican I found this read a warm journey through our rich history, and the ecological and economic impacts of the settling of the Sangre de Christos. deBuys is able to present the reader with an informative, objective and in depth view of the challenges that still face the cultural, and economic ties of northern New Mexico. His literary images helped bring back childhood memories, as well as a chance to revisit our enchanting landscape. deBuys, also provides an intro to the difficulty that faces government agencies like the Forest Service in their endeavor to manage our resources and the challenge of being caught between a rock and a hard place. Today, northern New Mexico has retained some of its historic identity while still struggling with flux of outsiders from tourism and immigration. Reading this book helped me to fall in love again with the villages of northern New Mexico and the people that fight to hold on to their history, land, and way of life as we progress into the 2000's.

William deBuys writes with a deep and intimate knowledge of the people of northern New Mexico's Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the place they call home. The book is beautifully integrated with the changing cultural and, as a result, ecological history of the mountains as a focal point. The chapters thus provide a natural history of land use. The book builds to a crescendo with the final chapters providing a solid ecological framework on which to build a future that will meet the needs of the residents and the mountains themselves. This book is a real gem.

Very well written, a lovely landscape of history, thoughts, and pictures... one of three books by the same author that lured me to that beautiful land of North Central New Mexico... if only for a visit... worth the money, worth the time, worth the magic.

William deBuys combines history, anthropology, ethnography, and environmental and land use science to show how all of these threads weave through three cultures -- Pueblo indian, Hispano, and Anglo -- in the Sangre de Cristo range of northern New Mexico to create a unique and fascinating place. The book is scholarly in its scope, but very readable. From the haunting, almost surreal image he paints in the Preface, in which he describes stumbling across a downed airplane in the snowbound mountains of the Pecos Wilderness, to the vivid character study of an Hispano couple reminiscing about their courtship and wedding over sixty years ago, deBuys's writing is consistenly fine. Anyone interested in this part of the country, or anyone interested in how a specific landscape acts and is acted upon by three radically different cultures, will enjoy this book. Highly recommended