A Journey Across the American Southwest - Cities of Gold

Great book! I love this author and have consistently read his fiction (with Lincoln Child) but his non-fiction is so well researched. I live in Arizona and I've never learned so much about this state and Southwest until I read this book. Highly recommended to everyone who loves history well written.

Thoroughly enjoyed the adventure, the depth of historical perspective, the humor, the insights. Brilliantly written. I could taste the dust of the trail, and expand in appreciation of the Indian Spirits. It seems even attuned with the Great Spirit doesn't exempt us from the inevitable cycles.

We know that history is never exactly as told when it comes from only one source. Preston finds that out along with earning his spurs on his long, long journey. As with many before him, he finds what the native American has to say about history, very revealing.

Wonderful way to learn history. Funny and a great example of learning "the hard way". Beautiful pictures and vivid description of heat, tumble weed, dehydration and people who made the experience. Great read!!

A hauntingly beautiful tribute to the ancient cultures of the Southwest, Douglas Preston has written a masterpiece in my favorite book category: travel memoirs. I love how his 1000 mile journey on horseback is told through his eyes but is interspersed with the history of the Spanish and natives. What a sobering tale. I have a deep appreciation for America's First Nations, and I have one burning question...how do we rectify the wrongs? The fact that everything America enjoys required the outright robbery of such beautiful cultures as the Pecos, Teyas, Acoma, Puma, Zuni, Navajo, Comanche, and Apache...that doesn't sit well with me. However, this is our history and there is much to be learned from it. This is my 2nd Preston book, and I highly recommend another of his, Talking to the Ground, which chronicles his journey through the Chaco Canyon of Navajo country.

This was a truly fascinating book- a description of the trials and dangers of traveling cross-country on horseback, and how strained relationships with close traveling partners can become. But the best of the book was the detailed history of the areas traveled, including journals of the early Spaniards, priests, and legends and history of the various tribes of the area. A true-life adventure story with (painless) history lessons.

This was a truly fascinating book- a description of the trials and dangers of traveling cross-country on horseback, and how strained relationships with close traveling partners can become. But the best of the book was the detailed history of the areas traveled, including journals of the early Spaniards, priests, and legends and history of the various tribes of the area. A true-life adventure story with (painless) history lessons.

I really enjoyed this book. Although I never rode a horse or been out west I could imagine being there on the ride. The history of the Indians, Spanish and past places was a history lesson woven into the story. Thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm glad the dog was adopted at the end. I would love to see a book with all the pictures taken of the trip.

Well written however, I had problems with how the histories of the Spanish were interrupting the flow of the travels of the writer and his companion, trying to retrace what the Spanish endured in this new land and their search for Gold. The hardships were many by the author and brings to light the ordeals that the Spanish had to deal with in their travels especially with thousands of men, horses, cattle and sheep and trinkets the Spanish brought to use as trade with the Indians, not to mention the supplies needed for their weapons and food needed for the troops and animals.
I would have rated this a 5 star but the interuptions of history of the Spanish and their obvious lack of honesty with all the tribes of Indians should have been listed as a 2nd story or another book in the series to the retracing by Walt and Doug of the Spanish failures.
This could be a serious or humorous movie.

Interesting idea - retrace the route of Coronado through the American southwest.

But in practice this turned out to be cringeworthy! The author probably wouldn't play Russian roulette, but he gambled lives (human & horses & dogs) on the slim chance that just maybe they'd find water in the middle of the desert before they died. Turns out they always did, but there were three bullets in that Russian roulette 6-shooter, and it could easily have gone either way.

This is a very depressing book. In the past, desert civilizations arose that offered prosperity - only to have psychopaths come by and kill and enslave everyone, and destroy the civilization, leaving only desert.

And again, in 1992, on this expedition, horses & dogs this time were just tools to be used, not sentient beings that had their own rights to life. Some horses fall off a cliff or die of thirst while you're writing your book? Bummer!

Interesting story, but awful, too.

I first read this after visiting New Mexico. It is a truly awesome place - in many ways the least American part of America I have seen. I wanted to know more about the area and this book was a great find. It gives an account of a horseback ride through the remotest parts of Arizona and into New Mexico following the route taken by the first Spanish explorers several hundreds of years ago. The author has excellent descriptive powers and I thoroughly enjoyed the intertwining of the history of the region with the narrative of the journey.

Very minor spoiler alert:

A great book, and I would actually give it 4.5 stars. I won't repeat what other reviewers and the description say to describe the book. It's great, and I would only say that: 1) Preston, and therefore the story, was never quite sure what it was going to be about and therefore it meanders a bit. For the most part this is what makes the book worth reading, but I wish Preston ended with more of a reflection upon his journey and how it impacted him (and Walter) in contrast to when he set out (rather the story ends a little abruptly on the subject of the loss of the culture and the treatment of the native Americans). But this is sort of a minor complaint for a work of non-fiction. 2) There are no photos (save the amazing cover photo), despite the fact that the other guy, Walter, took the trip in large part for the photo opportunities and brought along special equipment for this purpose. So I am not sure why this is, but Preston does have some photos from the trip on his web site.

Overall this is a great read that brings the reader a bit closer to understanding the native American history and culture, as well as a lot of the culture and history of the old and modern west. This comes from the book's amazing sense of authenticity. Although you can't quite tell because Preston integrates everything so well, a lot of research clearly went into this book, and the rest is of course first hand experience. Despite being a pretty long book, I wish it could have gone on a lot longer, and it leaves you craving more.

Douglas Preston and his friend Walter Nelson are apparently a pair of adventurers. Preston, a writer for various magazines, got the idea to ride across the Southwest and follow in the footsteps of Coronado, the conquistador who passed through those lands in the 1540s. The two men bought horses, saddles and gear, hired a wrangler they thought knew something about horses, and set off on a journey of close to a thousand miles across the American desert.
The path they took wanders somewhat, and they learned some interesting things. In some spots, the route that Coronado took, as far as the history books are concerned, is completely impossible. They met Indians from various tribes, cowboys, and other interesting inhabitants of the countryside, and had numerous difficulties, all recounted with Preston's self-deprecating wit. The wrangler left them a third of the way through the journey, they had repeated problems with their horses (on one occasion they lost them all, no laughing matter in the middle of the desert), and had to deal with every sort of problem from lack of water to getting across the city of Albequerque with a pair of horses.
Preston's a reasonably skilled writer. The narrative wanders a bit, as did the course of the author's journey. At times, the digressions seem a bit forced and annoying, or alternatively you want to hear more about this or that tribe or family of cowboys or ghost town or whatever. This back and forth effect can be somewhat disconcerting. Even so, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it.