Sherry Robinson

This history of the Lipan Apaches, from archaeological evidence to the present, tells the story of some of the least known, least understood people in the Southwest. These plains buffalo hunters and traders were one of the first groups to acquire horses, and with this advantage they expanded from the Panhandle across Texas and into Coahuila, coming into conflict with the Comanches. With a knack for making friends and forging alliances, they survived against all odds, and were still free long after their worst enemies were corralled on reservations. In the most thorough account yet published, Sherry Robinson tracks the Lipans from their earliest interactions with Spaniards and kindred Apache groups through later alliances and to their love-hate relationships with Mexicans, Texas colonists, Texas Rangers, and the US Army. For the first time we hear of the Eastern Apache confederacy of allied but autonomous groups that joined for war, defence, and trade. Among their confederates, and led by chiefs with a diplomatic bent, Lipans drew closer to the Spanish, Mexicans, and Texans. By the 1880s, with their numbers dwindling and ground lost to Mexican campaigns and Mackenzie’s raids, the Lipans roamed with Mescalero Apaches, some with Victorio. Many remained in Mexico, some stole back into Texas, and others melted into reservations where they had relatives. They never surrendered.

In the 1940s and 1950s, long before historians fully accepted oral tradition as a source, Eve Ball (1890-1984) was taking down verbatim the accounts of Apache elders who had survived the army's campaigns against them in the last century. These oral histories offer new versions -- from Warm Springs, Chiricahua, Mescalero, and Lipan Apache -- of events previously known only through descriptions left by non-Indians. A high school and college teacher, Ball moved to Ruidoso, New Mexico, in 1942. After winning their confidence, Ball would ultimately interview sixty-seven Apache people.

West central New Mexico offers some of the most diverse and fascinating landforms in the Southwest. Volcanic activity shaped the tortured landscape of El Malpais in the recent geologic past. The broad mass of Mount Taylor, an 11,389-foot volcano from another age, is the setting for a popular quadrathlon. And the gentle and park-like Zuni Mountains are ideal for hiking, biking, or a Sunday drive. The three areas provide unique outdoor experiences made more accessible by Sherry Robinson's El Malpais, Mt. Taylor, and the Zuni Mountains. Descriptions of hiking trails for each area include levels of difficulty, access, directions, photographs, and maps. Biking, skiing, caving, and auto tours are also included. Learning about the natural history of this special place can only enhance the experience, so Robinson provides descriptions of the geology, flora, and fauna of all three areas. She covers the region's unusual and little known history in lively and readable accounts that include the Acoma, Zuni, Laguna, and Navajo people's use of and relationship to the area.