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Cities of Gold: A Journey Across the American Southwest in Pursuit of Coronado by Douglas Preston
thehappybooker's review
5.0
Two guys on horseback retrace Coronado's trip, nearly die, and retell the history of New Mexico. Fascinating, absorbing. My favorite part: Twelve years after the Pueblo Revolt in 1680 that drove the Spaniards out of Santa Fe, Diego de Vargas recaptured it by sheer moxie, riding up to the gates by himself, and sitting there in full shiny armor, demanded that they open the gates and surrender. Geez. I realize that he must have heard that there was a strong sentiment inside the walls for surrender, and there was a lot of internal disorganization and dissatisfaction among the rebels, but geez. That mental picture has inspired me to tiny braveness from time to time.
Other favorite moments from the book: the two modern riders smelling asphalt long before they heard or saw the Interstate, since their senses had been free of modern civilization for several weeks; former slave Esteban who fabricated stories for attention, convinced the Spaniards to let him lead an expedition to find the cities of gold he bragged about seeing, and finally being killed by Puebloans who had enough of his gourd-shaking mysticism and bossiness; the inflexible insistence of the rebel leader Pope on Puebloan cultural purity - after tossing out the Spaniards, he tore up orchards and farms to force a return to only "native foods" (beans, squash, and maize) and drove off Spanish horses...which were captured by their enemies the Apaches and used against them. There are many nuggets like that.
This book singlehandedly drove me to New Mexico to get a firsthand look at the history and culture and landscape. When I got to the place where the city gate of Santa Fe once stood, I time-travelled a little bit, for a moment, in celebration of moxie.
Other favorite moments from the book: the two modern riders smelling asphalt long before they heard or saw the Interstate, since their senses had been free of modern civilization for several weeks; former slave Esteban who fabricated stories for attention, convinced the Spaniards to let him lead an expedition to find the cities of gold he bragged about seeing, and finally being killed by Puebloans who had enough of his gourd-shaking mysticism and bossiness; the inflexible insistence of the rebel leader Pope on Puebloan cultural purity - after tossing out the Spaniards, he tore up orchards and farms to force a return to only "native foods" (beans, squash, and maize) and drove off Spanish horses...which were captured by their enemies the Apaches and used against them. There are many nuggets like that.
This book singlehandedly drove me to New Mexico to get a firsthand look at the history and culture and landscape. When I got to the place where the city gate of Santa Fe once stood, I time-travelled a little bit, for a moment, in celebration of moxie.
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