The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 36, July 1932 - April, 1933 Page: 77

Book Reviews and Notices

and flavor, he produced a masterpiece of American lore. For-
tunately for those interested in Indian culture and in the develop-
ment and appreciation of a Southwestern tradition, as well as those
interested in good wholesome imaginative stories for the sake of
stories alone, this book is now reissued in handsome format for a
wider circulation, thirty years after its original publication. The
finely analytical preface by Major Powell, and the introduction
by Mary Austin, enhance appreciation of the tales and add to the
historical value of the book.
J. EVETTS HALEY.
Forgotten Frontiers. By Alfred Barnaby Thomas, Ph. D., Asso-
ciate Professor of History, University of Oklahoma. (Nor-
man, University of Oklahoma Press, 1932. Pp. xvii, 420.
$5.00.)
The career of Don Juan Bautista de Anza, as an Indian agent
and fighter in New Mexico, is the theme of Forgotten Frontiers.
Professor Thomas has translated and edited many documents re-
lating to Anza's efforts to pacify the Indians on the New Mexico
frontier. The "Historical Background" contains much information
concerning the deplorable state of Indian affairs in Sonora and
New Mexico before Anza's administration as governor of New
Mexico, 1777-1787. The arrangement of the documents is effective.
Professor Thomas has made them read as a narrative instead of a
mere compilation of sources. The editorial notes and comments
are pertinent and leave no phase of the text hazy or doubtful.
Most of the, documents are now published for the first time.
The geographical description of New Mexico by Father Morfi
serves to introduce the work of Anza in New Mexico. This docu-
ment is of prime interest to all students of Southwestern history.
To illustrate Father Morfi's description, the contemporary map by
Pacheco has been included in the text. Among the documents, the
six diaries, three by Anza and three by his officers, are the most
important, as they contain essentials of the Spanish Indian policy
and illustrate the success of this policy in New Mexico. The
diaries by Anza relate the events and the success of his three major
expeditions: the expedition against the Comanches, 1779; the ex-
pedition from New Mexico to Sonora, 1780; and the expedition