books

Reference Books for History Buffs

Books: Arizona History & Nature

   ~ in association with Amazon.com


The Grand Canyon state's rich past comes to life in this comprehensive history, written by Arizona's favorite native son, Marshall Trimble. This book takes readers on an epic journey that includes the Paleo Indians of prehistoric Arizona, the spirited pioneers of the Arizona territory, the politics of pre-Arizona and post-Arizona statehood, and everything in between. Trimble writes with an impressive knowledge of his subject and a witty, intelligent, and entertaining style. 80 b/w photographs, maps. (Revised and updated paperback edition)


What some of the people have been forced to endure in Colorado City is little different from living in a third world country.

Ten-year-old Benjamin Bistline moved with his parents to Short Creek (Colorado City), Arizona, in 1945 to join with a group of excommunicated Mormons who believed in honoring the law of polygamy as revealed by the Prophet Joseph Smith and instituted by Brigham Young.

Mr. Bistline has compiled A detailed history of the significant events that shaped and sustained this community from the beginning. He tells of the shifts in power, changes in leadership philosophies, persecution from outside forces - and from within. Mr. Bistline's goal in writing this history is to reveal that the original leadership structure of a Council of men holding common and balancing power has slowly descended into a one-man tyrannical rule over the people.


The 200,000 or so people who stroll through Tucson's Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum each year bring with them many questions: What is a desert? How is it that gophers and rattlesnakes can live in the same hole? How can I stop Gila woodpeckers from whittling down my house? If I find a desert tortoise, can I make it a pet? David Lazaroff, a biologist and writer, answers these and dozens more questions in this entertaining, intelligent book, which belongs on every Southwesterner's bookshelf. -- © Gregory McNamee (Paperback)