The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 95, July 1991 - April, 1992 Page: 259
598 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Book Reviews
expedition that has made the history books in the United States. A more popu-
lar version of the epic journey and its significance was recently completed by
Stewart Udall. Yet, all credit for any knowledge of this first real Spanish intru-
sion into the Southwest of the United States is due to George Parker Winship.
Winship, a scholar at the time working with the private collection of Ameri-
cana gathered by John Carter Brown, came across some Spanish documents
describing the Vasquez de Coronado expedition. He undertook the task of re-
searching, transcribing, and translating the documents so that the English-
speaking world could read as well as understand the expedition's importance.
His scholarly work culminated in 1896 when he published in The Coronado Ex-
pedition, 1540-1542, in the Fouteenth Annual Repo I of the Bureau of American
Ethnology.
Winship's research has withstood the test of time, for today his book is con-
sidered a benchmark in Borderlands history. Subsequent investigation has un-
covered additional information but has not refuted or contradicted anything
Winship concluded. Now, Fulci uni Publishing of Golden, Colorado, has done a
new generation of historians a favor and republished this valuable work in a
new handsome edition that is brought up to elate by Donald Cutter's excellent
introduction and annotation.
This is the best hook on the Vasquez de Coronado expedition to date. The
translation is as good today as it was almost a century ago. The notations are
full of intriguing and valuable information. The foreword gives a new nar-
rative history drawing on more recent research. Above all, the narratives of
Vasquez de Coronado, Antonio de Mencldoza, Juaiin Jaramillo, Hernando de Al-
varado, and Juan de Padilla, all men who participated in this epic journey, rings
true with vivid descriptions, feelings, and, even, misgivings of what they were
doing. The descriptions of Texas's plains or the matter-of-fact statements that
the expedition's remainder returned from Kansas by a direct route-a route
that would become the Santa Fe Trail almost three centuries later-give pause
for thought, sometimes wonder.
Cutter does note that there are unanswered questions. There are intriguing
mysteries still to be solved through further research. The exact route still is
questioned. How far into central Texas did the expedition travel? Did some of'
the exploring forays reach into Nebraska or Missouri? Of course, nothing man-
made is perfect. A better map or maps would have been more helpful. Re-
course to Fray Angelico Chavez's Coronado Fi a.s (Washington, I).C., 1968)
would have shed a little more light on the questions of who the friars were and
what they did.
Nevertheless, every bibliophile and every person interested in American
history should have this book. The book is handsomely done and its context
is excellent. Like its 1896 predecessor, this book is destined to be a prized
possession.
The Palace of the Governors Mus.eum, Santa Fe THOMAS E. CHAVEZ
Quvia: European.s in the Region of the Santa Fe Tl)ad, 1540-182o. By William
Brandon. (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1990. P'p. xi+338. Acknowledg-
ments, preface, maps, illustrations, epilogue, notes, index. $34.95.)259
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 95, July 1991 - April, 1992, periodical, 1992; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117153/m1/305/?rotate=270: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.