Tata: A Voice from the Rio Puerco [signed] [first edition]

Born in the year New Mexico became a state, Nasario P. Garcia grew up in the remote Rio Puerco valley homesteaded by his father. Garcia's life is emblematic of the lives of many rural Hispanos of the early twentieth century. His son has collected many of Garcia's memories and stories of life in the small ranching and farming communities of Guadalupe, Cabezon, Casa Salazar, and San Luis. Presented in a bilingual format, the narratives preserve the archaic vernacular Spanish of the area. Garcia struggled to hold on to his way of life in the face of industrialization and mechanization, government reuglation of grazing and land and water use, drought, and the social effects of wars and depression. The values and skills learned in childhood have remained part of his character. These narratives reveal Garcia's vibrant enthusiasm for life as well as his memory of a vanishing culture.