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I just finished Desert American: Boom and Bust in the New Old West by Ruben Martinez, which I think is a good meditation on the social dynamics in this region, and particularly in New Mexico (and northern New Mexico in particular). It's an essayistic memoir. He writes with a pretty definite political slant, but he does pick things up from different angles (e.g. talking with people from different sides of the same conflict and presenting their views fairly, or seemingly so), and often calls into question his own actions and his status as a transplant. He and his wife spent significant time living in Velarde. I think he occasionally goes overboard with his anti-romanticism. For instance, he seems to say that the only reason anyone finds the landscapes here beautiful is because they have been told that they are. I don't buy it. But that lit. crit. sort of tendency to want to reduce everything to discourse only shows up some of them time. His honesty helps cut through that sort of thing, just as it tends to soften the political observation. I've read this book in a very fragmented fashion--it has been something I've picked up and read while I'm waiting, for instance, in doctors' offices, so I have a sort of fragmented recollection of it (plus I'm more than ready to go to bed), and I doubt I'm doing it justice.
ApartmentNomad, You might like The Myth of Santa Fe, by Chris Wilson. The author provides an objective look at how Santa Fe style and culture came about, It contains lots of NM history, too.
Just finished a fairly new duo-bio on Pat Garrett and BTK that in addition to the background and fate of the two subjects and those whose lives they crossed, provided a wealth of information and insight into the people and communities of New Mexico in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.
Not sure if there was ever a thread devoted to books about NM fact or fiction. I have read a bunch and will just list a few so others have a chance. Just some that come to the top of my head right now.
"Mayordomo:Chronicle of an Acequia in Northern New Mexico" A bit repetitive but that's probably the nature of the work of a ditch boss.
"Place Names of New Mexico" interesting tidbits.
"The Women of Las Alamos" On the last chapter now about the wives and moms lives while work was done on "The Gadget" The writing style is a type I have never seen before but it works perfectly.
"River of Traps" Non fiction with fantastic b&w photos of basically the life of one old man, Jacobo, up in Las Trampas as told by a couple young guys that moved nearby and chronicled his later years in life. One of my all time fav books and have read it three times now.
I probably enjoyed this series more than most since I have a lot of first-hand knowledge of the area in which the stories are set - the Tularosa Basin region. I would recommend that anyone with an interest read the three novels in the order in which they were published.
Hard Country
Backlands
The Last Ranch
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NM books.
