Here is the living history of a unique city as recreated by one of America's most interesting historians an most distinguished novelists. It is the chronicle of three stirring centuries of social change from the days when Santa Fe was Spain's northernmost capital in the New World to the present. Years of research in historical archives have given Mr. Horgan an intimate knowledge of Santa Fe's past. In this brilliant and original book we see how the different peoples of Santa Fe - Indians, Spanish, Mexican and Anglo-American - have contributed their blood and effort to make the city which is their monument. The events - violent, colorful, touching - of the full chronicle come vividly alive as we can see them through the eyes of ten generations. Each of these is represented by a wonderfully typical citizen - a composite character who reflects for us each time the central experience of his period. Here the author's gift or creation of character has full play, even while his description of Santa Fe and the forces that swept over it through the centuries remains precisely faithful to his study of historical truth. As he says in his preface, he has wanted to bring alive the historical realities of the past rather in the way of the documentary film, in which we see true experience over the shoulder of a protagonist who is also a participant with whom the reader may identify himself. So, the young Spanish Royal Notary took part in the opening of the drama when he came to the new town, founded in 1610. Through the eyes of the Franciscan Father President awe see the early battle between Church ad State over the soul and body of the Indian. We endure with the royal governor's standard bearer the revolt of the Pueblo Indians and the temporary abandonment of Santa Fe in 1680. Through an Alderman of Santa Fe we observe the recapture of the city by the grand Captain-General de Vargas and subsequent struggles of the royal government in the 17th century., ISBN13:B0007E7VYC ISBN10:B0007E7VYC Material Type:hardcover