It Happened in New Mexico (It Happened In Series) 2nd edition by Crutchfield, James A. (2009) Paperback

It Happened In...

by James A. Crutchfield

Written in a lively, easy-to-read style, this book features approximately 30 stories written for history buffs of all ages.

Genres: History

Hardcover

First published September 1, 1995

About the author

James A. Crutchfield is the author of many books on United States history, including Tragedy at Taos: the Revolt of 1847, Eyewitness to American History, and Legends of the Wild West. His contributions to a variety of newspapers and nationally distributed magazines and journals number in the hundreds. He has been awarded the Spur Award from Western Writers of America and is a two-time award recipient from the American Association for State and Local History.

A native-born Tennessean whose direct ancestors were among the first settlers of Nashville in the 1780s, he has most often turned his probing eye toward their stories. But his writing career has spanned the entire continent, from the days of George Washington and the American fur trade to the Army of the West and the histories of such Western states as Montana, New Mexico and Arizona as part of his It Happened in… book series.

Reviews

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a nice primer for New Mexico history.

[Alger Smythe-Hopkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sort of a greatest hits digest of history, suitable for tourists and people not really interested in history but want background. Since this is now nearly 30 years old, you can expect the selection to closely reflect the perceptions of the mid-90s as to what constituted historic events, such as recognizing that there were actual Native Americans but only giving them one dedicated pre-colonial chapter. Even the various pueblo rebellions happening over centuries are presented from the European/American perspective, and they are so trite that they read like westerns. The Indians fight the White Man because it's in their nature.
The latter sketches obliterate the native presence entirely and focus on the remarkable events and progress made since statehood, like being desolate and remote enough to be irradiated by the world's first atomic weapon (yay!).

As I said up top, this is not really intended as a history book, more of a greatest hits overview to introduce these events to a casual reader. It works at that level, but it is dated, and it is a very shallow, formulaic presentation that doesn't lend itself well to a straight readthrough.

[Leslie Reiber · Rating 3 out of 5]

quite informative and intersting

[Randy Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A breezy short book of mild to fairly interesting little blips in New Mexico’s history. They are almost all 3 pages long so they go by quick and I like the fact that they are listed chronologically. The most interesting was probably the Billy the Kid story, Meriwether Lewis’s brother, Chief Victorio and true story of Smokey the Bear.

[Patrick Gibson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is like a collection of short essays that might appear on the last page of something like New Mexico Magazine (they should be so lucky). It is a collection of weird offbeat stories--the lind of thing you might read to your six year old nephew. Bathroom reading anyone? Ok, ok, I didn't mean to be so harsh. It's fun. For a few minutes.

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a fun read. Th stories were short enough that the not so interesing ones were painful to get through. The really interesting stories were a joy to read. I learned a lot about my home state.