The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 43, July 1939 - April, 1940 Page: 134

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

Valad6s has depended largely upon hitherto unused material.
His book is marked by the same outstanding scholarship, illumi-
nating in its character, found in Santa Anna y la Guerra de Texas.
Each of the thirteen chapters has an adequate index, several good
illustrations, and a full bibliography.
ORLAND MORTON.
The University of Texas.
Compendia de Historia del Estado de Sonora. By Eduardo W.
Villa. (Mexico: Editorial "Patria Nueva," 1937. Pp. 487.)
This book is what the name implies, a summary of Sonora's
progress. Heretofore one had to find bits of the State's history
here and there, but Villa's book gives a complete story, although
it necessarily has to be brief.
The story begins with a discussion of prehistoric times and
the origin of the name Sonora, followed by a story of the Indians
in that Southwest region. The early exploration and discovery
of all Mexico is told briefly with its relation to Sonora. The
activities of the missionaries, in some detail, are given for the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Father Kino is portrayed
attractively; Anza's expeditions to the Southwest are treated; and
Sonora's part in the War of Independence and her political history
since that time are traced. The effect of the Apache Indian raids
and of the filibusters during the fifties upon the region is well
told. These and several other events are related as the author
traces his story.
The book has an unusually large number of well-chosen pictures,
ranging from the prehistoric dinosaurs to the present leading gov-
ernmental officials of the state. It would be more pleasing to
people of the United States if there were a table of contents and
an index; however, each chapter has a detailed table of contents
at its beginning.
Some of the chapters are taken from secondary books, but others
are contributions original with the author, as, for instance, the
one dealing with the outstanding characters of Sonora. Villa used
both primary and secondary sources and had access to the Archives
in Sonora. In fact, this book is the result of the founding of a
Department of Historical Research for Sonora. Chihuahua, her

134