Journey through
an Arid Land
By G. Davies Jandrey
(Fireship Press, $15)
Wiona Rutherford is trying to maintain her ranch in Southern Arizona, while caring for her aging mother who has Alzheimer’s disease. Wiona has several friends who are supportive in these endeavors including a veterinarian, a cop with whom she has had an on-again, off-again relationship since high school, and a Mexican woman who may not be a legal citizen.
This is an entertaining read that also provides a thoughtful and subtle look at some serious subjects including aging, Alzheimer’s disease, immigration reform and animal welfare.
Hatched: An Eclectic Collection from the Quail Run Writers
(Createspace Independent Pub, $12.99)
A variety of short stories covering such topics as life, romance, war and most of the other things that writers write about. There is a section dedicated to stories focusing on “Peeping Toms” that is unique among the anthologies I’ve read. Southern Arizona figures prominently throughout the collection. The authors who comprise the Quail Run writers group dedicated a lot of time, effort and creativity to produce this book. Hatched above all is a work of love.
Chasing Arizona
By Ken Lamberton
(University of Arizona Press, $19.95)
Debunking the cliché, “familiarity breeds contempt,” Tucson writer Ken Lamberton embarked on a 52-week Arizona road-trip to explore 52 sites — and the people and stories that make our state unique. For example, do you know that the bolo tie was invented by a Wickenburg cowboy in the 1940s or that some locals clain Quartzsite is cursed, and if you “let your bare soles touch the ground” you’ll never leave?
Lamberton mixed natural and human history, anecdotes, and his quest for the best India Pale Ale to brew up a travelogue, memoir, food-review and love story. No travel plans this summer? No problem. Let Lamberton drive, sit back and enjoy the ride.
King of the Cracksmen
By Dennis O’Flaherty
(Night Shade Books, $15.99)
Anarchy rules in 1877 America. The country is divided. Russia owns all land west of the Mississippi and the United States functions as a police state enforced by weapon-wielding robots and airborne gunships. Safe cracker Liam McCool’s days are numbered; busted by the authorities, his choices are prison or becoming a government informant. But they don’t know McCool and, when his girlfriend is murdered in their living quarters, he develops his own agenda.
Tucson writer O’Flaherty has a background in screenwriting. This is his debut novel and a fun introduction for those curious about steampunk fiction.
The Health of the First Ladies: Medical Histories from Martha Washington
to Michelle Obama
By Ludwig M. Deppisch, M.D.
(McFarland & Co., Inc. $35)
Lucy Hayes had high blood pressure; Ida McKinley suffered epileptic attacks and Florence Harding had kidney disease. Martha Washington managed to avoid yellow fever, but Dolley Madison was not so lucky — no surprise, given conditions in the mosquito-infested swamp that was the nation’s capital in its early days. From malaria to rheumatism, obstetrical calamities to mental disorders, Dr. Ludwig Deppisch addresses the health history of each first lady, providing historical and cultural context including the state of medicine at the time.
He also addresses the ways ailing wives impacted presidencies and the effects of the stress on the spouses of the nation’s highest office holders in this thoroughly researched and intriguing volume, guaranteed to delight presidential history buffs.
Deppisch, a Northeast Ohio Medical University professor emeritus of pathology, lives in Tucson.
Reconnaissance in Sonora: Charles D. Poston’s 1854 Exploration of Mexico and the Gadsden Purchase
By C. Gilbert Storms
(University of Arizona Press, $40 cloth, electronic edition available.)
In his later years Charles Debrille Poston earned the sobriquet “Father of Arizona” for his push for statehood. In 1854, however, he was a young adventurer and entrepreneur seeking land in Mexico that would become valuable when the Gadsden Purchase was signed; the “Reconnaissance in Sonora” is his report to his exploration’s backers.
Hampered by faulty surveys, hard country and inaccurate assumptions, Poston’s goal eluded him. In subsequent years he would embellish the story of his Sonoran travels, altering earlier accounts and making contradictory statements that left historians wondering where the truth might lie.
In this meticulously-researched and footnoted volume, Storms elucidates many of the mysteries surrounding Poston’s record by drawing comparisons with original documents, first-person accounts and newspaper articles, and brings it into clear focus within the political and cultural framework of the Gadsden Purchase era.
It is a readable and enlightening work of Southwestern history. C. Gilbert Storms spent 29 years on the faculty of Miami University in Ohio; he lives in Tucson.
Queen of the Road: The True Story of a Young Woman’s Travels across the United States in the Late 1960’s
and Early ’70s
By Karen Powell-Riggs
(Published by the author, $8.95, $5.99 digital edition)
As a young woman during the heyday of the hippies, Powell-Riggs logged, by her own account, 20,322 miles on the road. By bus and by thumb and by hook or by crook, she crisscrossed the country, attending protest rallies and rock concerts, and living the life of a free spirit with plenty of wanderlust and no money. This memoir of her travels includes photos and copies of handbills and concludes with a memorable encounter with Allen Ginsburg. Her memory for detail is remarkable, and gives lie, perhaps to the notion that if you can remember the 60s, you probably weren’t there.
Social Sex
By Jason Kinkade
(Create Space, $6.38)
The amorous encounters of an online dater, told in wincing detail. Long on description but short on plot, this is 50 shades of more information than you might want.
