Cities of Gold: A Journey Across the American Southwest
by Douglas Preston
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This new ebook edition of Cities of Gold includes for very first time over 100 never-before-published photographs taken during the author's epic, thousand mile horseback journey across Arizona and New Mexico. It also includes many rare and extraordinary historical photographs of the Old West, Native Americans, pioneers, prospectors, Indian pueblos, and vanished landscapes.“The Old West's last glimmers flicker through this piercingly beautiful adventure, an unforgettable saga in which show more Preston, astride his horse Popeye, traverses the desert and mountain wilderness of Arizona and New Mexico retracing the trail-blazing 1540-41 expedition of Spanish Explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in search of the legendary Seven Cities of Gold ... In place of the mythical winning of the West, Preston unfolds a harrowing tale of loss." – Publishers Weekly
“The entire book is a sheer pleasure to read." – The San Diego Union-Tribune
“A Blue Highways on horseback, well worth the trip." – Kirkus Reviews
“A riveting yarn, with as many turns as a switchback road." – The Christian Science Monitor
“A fearful, fascinating tale." – Los Angeles Times
“A journey of historical importance." – The New York Times
“By setting out with a companion and four horses to track Coronado's army across a thousand miles of brutal desert and mountain country, from the Mexican border through Arizona and New Mexico, the author is ready to risk his life to try to see with his own eyes, as it were, 'that moment, 450 years ago, when the peoples of the Old World and New World first encountered each other' and quickly began the strife-torn redefining of America. Throughout the book, Preston intersperses the original reports and memoirs of Coronado's adventure with accounts of his own party's hard progress, making the centuries dissolve into a common, first-person, present-tense narrative. And along the way he records stories of the people and places he encounters, making brief excursions into mining booms and busts, the history of livestock ranching, the impact of barbed wire and windmills, the first mail routes, homesteading, the destruction of the Indian nations, and much more." – Smithsonian Magazine
Douglas Preston is a journalist and author who has published twenty-six books, nonfiction and fiction, several of which have been #1 New York Times bestsellers. In addition to Cities of Gold he is the author of several books on Southwestern history, including Talking to the Ground and The Royal Road. Preston is the co-creator, with Lincoln Child, of the Pendergast series of novels, including Relic and The Cabinet of Curiosities—both of which were named in a National Public Radio listener poll as being among the 100 greatest suspense novels ever written. Preston's most recent nonfiction book, The Monster of Florence, is being made into a movie starring George Clooney. Preston also writes for the New Yorker magazine, the Atlantic and Smithsonian, and he taught nonfiction writing at Princeton University. He divides his time between Maine and New Mexico.
Walter W. Nelson began his creative career in 1967 and it has spanned a period of 40 years. He first explored the field of photography, traveling around the world, discovering spiritual places, deep landscapes, places of origin, experimenting with abstract colors and textures, always seeking the visual heart of existence in the desert, mountains, canyons, rivers, and cities of the world. He later branched out to painting and...
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What a fascinating trip that must have been! I found out more about Native Americans than I ever knew (and I thought I knew US history). As Mr. Preston was prompted by his surroundings to tell the tales, the characters came alive for me. Unfortunately, I was feeling ashamed how people could so blatantly act the way they did to dislocate or spoil homelands for the true inhabitants of the area told in many of his accounts, but found them engaging, nonetheless. An interesting and very worthwhile read.
This is engaging tale of a journey by horseback through the rugged mountain and desert wilderness of Arizona and New Mexico. The author retraces the route of the 1540-1541 expedition of the Spanish Explorer Coronado. Preston attempts to catch a glimpse of what this area was like when those Europeans first passed through. He survives the life-risking journey and unveils how much and how little the land and people of the Southwest have changed. lj
The book was very interesting and educational. I learned a great deal about the history of the west as well as gaining information about the difficulties of the modern journey.
Heads up that there are swear words in certain areas as that is how some of the present day people talk that were interviewed by Mr. Preston.
Heads up that there are swear words in certain areas as that is how some of the present day people talk that were interviewed by Mr. Preston.
(Travel) - A Journey across the American Southwest in Pursuit of Coronado
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Author Information
114+ Works 85,565 Members
Douglas Jerome Preston was born on May 20, 1956 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He received a B.A. in English literature from Pomona College in 1978. His career began at the American Museum of Natural History, where he worked as an editor and writer from 1978 to 1985. He also was a lecturer in English at Princeton University. He became a full-time show more writer of both fiction and nonfiction books in 1986. Many of his fiction works are co-written with Lincoln Child including Relic, Riptide, Thunderhead, The Wheel of Darkness, Cemetery Dance, and Gideon's Corpse. His nonfiction works include Dinosaurs in the Attic; Cities of Gold: A Journey Across the American Southwest in Pursuit of Coronado; Talking to the Ground; and The Royal Road. He has written for numerous magazines including The New Yorker; Natural History; Harper's; Smithsonian; National Geographic; and Travel and Leisure. He became a New York Times Best Selling author with his titles Two Graves and Crimson Shores which he co-wrote with Lincoln Child, and his titles White Fire, The Lost Island Blue Labyrinth and The Lost City of the Monkey God. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Thunderbird
- Original publication date
- 1992-11
- Important places
- Arizona, USA
- Original language
- English
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, Travel, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 979 — History & geography History of North America Great Basin and Pacific Slope region of United States
- LCC
- F787 .P74 — Local History of the United States, Canada and Latin America United States local history New Southwest. Colorado River, Canyon, and Valley
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 231
- Popularity
- 140,472
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (4.23)
- Languages
- English, French, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 10
- ASINs
- 3
