The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 93, July 1989 - April, 1990 Page: 245

Book Reviews

(p. 173). The general's intuition, though, proved correct when much
too late in his term he scheduled an invasion of Cuba (pp. 171-172).
In conclusion, Eisenhower left to his successor a plethora of prob-
lems in Latin America that mimic those the Reagan government has
left to the Bush government, problems not created by the United
States. Rabe missed the occasion to compare these problems with those
caused today by the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua and the strongman
rule of Manuel Noriega in Panama.
This volume confirms to the experts what was suspected of the
Eisenhower years and reveals to the neophyte reader and interested
students the problems involved in dealing with the Byzantine politics of
the Latin Americans.
University of Texas at Arlington GUSTAVO ANGUIZOLA
To the Inland Empire: Coronado and Our Spanish Legacy. By Stewart L.
Udall. Photographs by Jerry Jacka. (New York: Doubleday & Co.,
1987. Pp. xviii+222. Acknowledgments, foreword, photographs,
map, tables, index. $30.)
Few events in the history of the United States have been so momen-
tous as the Spanish exploration of the American Southwest by
Francisco Vazquez de Coronado. In 1540, an expedition of nearly
1,000 persons ventured into the unknown, unexplored region we now
know as Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona searching for fame and
wealth. The story of Coronado's odyessy really began with the conquest
of the treasure-rich cities of Mexico by Hernando Cortes in 1509. Gold
and silver arrived in Europe on vessels flying the Spanish flag, and
hundreds of well-born men hungry for adventure and wealth boarded
returning treasure ships for Mexico, eager for the chance for fame and
fortune. Upon their arrival, however, the men who envisioned immedi-
ate wealth found little that had not been already secured by their pre-
decessors. They were extremely interested and excited, then, when fel-
low Spaniard Alvar Nuifiez Cabeza de Vaca, after years of wandering
with Indians in Texas, appeared unexpectedly with three companions
on the northern frontier. He related a legend of seven golden cities
that were said to be located somewhere in the unexplored land to the
north of all known settlements. These yet-to-be-plundered civilizations
were said to rival or exceed those of Mexico or Peru. Picked to lead the
quest for the El Dorado was Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, governor
of Nueva Galacia.
In a beautiful new book by former Secretary of the Interior Stewart
Udall, the story of Coronado and his expedition is told once again. Al-

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