Cities of gold : a journey across the American Southwest in pursuit of Coronado
(Book)
Author
Published
New York : Simon & Schuster, ©1992., New York : Simon & Schuster, [1992].
Physical Desc
480 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm.
Status
Description
Loading Description...
Also in this Series
Checking series information...
Copies
Location | Call Number | Status |
---|---|---|
Ridgway Public Library - NONFICTION | 917.904 PRE | On Shelf |
More Copies In Prospector
Loading Prospector Copies...
Subjects
LC Subjects
Apache Indians -- Southwest, New.
Cattle trade -- Southwest, New -- History.
Coronado, Francisco Vásquez de, -- 1510-1554.
Cowboys -- Southwest, New.
Horses -- Southwest, New.
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New
Navajo Indians -- Southwest, New.
Preston, Douglas J. -- Travel -- Southwest, New.
Pueblo Indians -- Southwest, New.
Ranch life -- Southwest, New.
Southwest, New -- Description and travel.
Southwest, New -- Discovery and exploration -- Spanish.
Southwest, New -- History, Local.
Zuni Indians -- Southwest, New.
Cattle trade -- Southwest, New -- History.
Coronado, Francisco Vásquez de, -- 1510-1554.
Cowboys -- Southwest, New.
Horses -- Southwest, New.
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New
Navajo Indians -- Southwest, New.
Preston, Douglas J. -- Travel -- Southwest, New.
Pueblo Indians -- Southwest, New.
Ranch life -- Southwest, New.
Southwest, New -- Description and travel.
Southwest, New -- Discovery and exploration -- Spanish.
Southwest, New -- History, Local.
Zuni Indians -- Southwest, New.
OCLC Fast Subjects
More Details
Published
New York : Simon & Schuster, ©1992., New York : Simon & Schuster, [1992].
Format
Book
Language
English
Notes
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (p. [468]-470) and index.
Description
Douglas Preston's Cities of Gold is a riveting account of his journey in the footsteps of Coronado, the legendary 16th-century explorer and conquistador who led the first European expedition through the American Southwest. Preston and a friend, Walter Nelson, set out on horseback across one thousand miles of vast deserts and unknown mountains retracing Coronado's search for the fabled Seven Cities of Gold. Forced to battle extremes of heat and cold, impenetrable mesquite thickets, bad water, and paralyzing drought, they nonetheless find the country awesome in its scale and beauty - with much of it so untouched that it is recognizable from descriptions in Coronado's reports. Where Preston encounters various people - cowboys, ranchers, crazy old eccentrics - he listens to them talk about their lives, about growing up, and how the West has changed. His journey also takes him through a number of isolated Indian settlements, where he meets some of the actual descendants of the people who fought Coronado. At the heart of the book is Preston's search for a new understanding of that shocking moment when Europeans first fought Indians within the borders of what would become America - and the fatal consequences that resulted. For what Preston finds when he rediscovers the actual ruins of the Seven Cities of Gold, as well as in the haunting stories of the Indians, and the reminiscences of the old cowboys and ranchers, is not the triumph of Manifest Destiny, but something far more complex and mysterious. "The great myth of the American West," Preston writes, "is that there was a winning of it." Cities of Gold weaves in his adventures along the trail with unforgettable portraits of such Indian leaders as Geronimo, Cochise, and the Zuni governor Palowahtiwa, lively stories of gun battles and feuds, and memories of cattle drives, dust, and the vanished open range. Preston's vivid descriptions of the landscapes, people and history of the American Southwest put him in the company of such distinguished travel writers as Paul Theroux, Ian Frazier, and Jonathan Raban. In the end, Cities of Gold leaves the reader with an indelible portrait of the Southwest - as it was when Europeans first saw it and what it has become today. Like Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire, it has the unmistakable ring of a classic.
Reviews from GoodReads
Loading GoodReads Reviews.
Citations
APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)
Preston, D. J. (1992). Cities of gold: a journey across the American Southwest in pursuit of Coronado . Simon & Schuster.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)Preston, Douglas J. 1992. Cities of Gold: A Journey Across the American Southwest in Pursuit of Coronado. Simon & Schuster.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)Preston, Douglas J. Cities of Gold: A Journey Across the American Southwest in Pursuit of Coronado Simon & Schuster, 1992.
MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)Preston, Douglas J. Cities of Gold: A Journey Across the American Southwest in Pursuit of Coronado Simon & Schuster, 1992.
Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.
Staff View
Loading Staff View.