John Miller Morris
Autor de El Llano Estacado : exploration and imagination on the High Plains of Texas and New Mexico, 1536-1860
Sobre El Autor
John Miller Morris is an associate professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Author of the award-winning "El Llano Estacado: Exploration & Imagination on the High Plains of Texas" & "New Mexico, 1536-1860", Morris lectures widely on topics in geography & history. (Bowker Author Biography)
Obras de John Miller Morris
Etiquetado
Conocimiento común
- Género
- male
Miembros
Reseñas
The editor does a great job adding annotations that helps the reader's understanding of the entries. A. T. Miller comes across as a person you would like to know, and he gives a true to life glimpse into the day to day of a Texas Ranger in the 1880's. The editor is a direct descendant of Pvt. Miller.
Premios
Estadísticas
- Obras
- 4
- Miembros
- 81
- Popularidad
- #222,754
- Valoración
- 4.2
- Reseñas
- 2
- ISBNs
- 9
published: 1997
format: 2003 Texas State Historical Association paperback
acquired: 2010 from the Texas A&M Press (I visited the building on campus)
read: Jun 18 – Jul 9 time reading: 22:39, 3.4 mpp
rating: 3
genre/style: History theme: TBR
locations: Llano Estacado (west Texas and eastern New Mexico)
about the author: 1952-2017. Born in Amarillo, TX, he was a professor of historical geography at the University of Texas San Antonio.
This is a decent comprehensive history of the Llano Estacado - the curious flat high plains along the Texas-New Mexico border. By high plains, I mean a massive high flat plateau surrounded by cliffs. Before cars this plateau was a four-day trek, without reliable water, and flat as far as the eye can see. When Coronado hunted the mythical gold of Quivira, his guide took him through these plains with the intent to get the Spanish lost and thereby to wear them out and hopefully send them home. It worked to a degree, but cost the guide his life.
A little more on Coronado. His crew was exploring uncharted territory in New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas in 1540. He had no idea where he was, his native guide was faulty, and there were no landmarks. Today no one knows where Coronado actually traveled, or where his major camps were. (Spanish relics have been found - crossbow arrow tips, a gauntlet, other armor - but they are hard to date.)
The name, El Llano Estacado, translates as "the staked plains". The meaning is actually unknown, but the implication is that when everything you can see is flat and monotonous, a stake in the ground is an important landmark.
Morris had fun writing about confused explorers from Cabeza de Vaca and Coronado, through the pioneer trails and initial US surveying. I never fully engaged though. His effort to honor his subtitle makes a lot of text out of some thin history. It was ok, but very very slow. A separate complaint is that this history completely neglects pre-Columbus history, and also most of the recorded native history. It's strictly a white, and later an Anglo perspective.
Recommended if you want to learn about this fascinating area in far west Texas and eastern New Mexico...well, you don‘t really have any other options, besides his sources.
2022
https://www.librarything.com/topic/342768#7884431… (más)