Author: David Roberts File Type: epub An award-winning author and veteran mountain climber takes us deep into the Southwest backcountry to uncover secrets of its ancient inhabitants. For more than 5,000 years the Ancestral Puebloans Native Americans who flourished long before the first contact with Europeans occupied the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. Just before AD-1300, they abandoned their homeland in a migration that remains one of prehistorys greatest puzzles. Northern and southern neighbors of the Ancestral Puebloans, the Fremont and Mogollon likewise flourished for millennia before migrating or disappearing. Fortunately, the Old Ones, as some of their present-day descendants call them, left behind awe-inspiring ruins, dazzling rock art, and sophisticated artifacts ranging from painted pots to woven baskets. Some of their sites and relics had been seen by no one during the 700 years before David Roberts and his companions rediscovered them.In The Lost World of the Old Ones, Roberts continues the hunt for answers begun in his classic book, In Search of the Old Ones. His new findings paint a different, fuller portrait of these enigmatic ancients thanks to the breakthroughs of recent archaeologists. Roberts also recounts his last twenty years of far-flung exploits in the backcountry with the verve of a seasoned travel writer. His adventures range across Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado, illuminating the mysteries of the Old Ones as well as of the more recent Navajo and Comanche. Roberts calls on his climbing and exploratory expertise to reach remote sanctuaries of the ancients hidden within nearly vertical cliffs, many of which are unknown to archaeologists and park rangers. This ongoing quest combines the shock of new discovery with a deeply felt connection to the landscape, and it will change the way readers experience, and imagine, the American Southwest. 16 pages of illustrations**ReviewAn utterly fascinating, beautifully written and elegiac exploration. ---Douglas Preston, #1 New York Times best-selling author Engaging . . . enjoyable reading. ---Alex Heard - Pasatiempo Full of insights . . . Roberts captivates the reader with the thrill of finding artifacts. ---Durango Herald A funny, witty and highly personal account. ---Sandra Dallas,Denver Post Stimulating, provoking, mournful. . . . [Roberts] has a deep and infectious passion for the landscapes, history and people of the Southwest. ---Gerard Helferich - Wall Street Journal [H]as the pull and excitement of a suspense novel and appeals to a wide range of readers interested in this region s deep past and great beauty. -----Booklist, Starred review The rare sequel that stands alone yet also takes its rightful place as a classic alongside its predecessor volume. -----Mitchell Zuckoff, author of Lost in Shangri-La Part ethnographer, part archaeologist with healthy doses of skeptical enquirer, curiosity seeker, and professional mountain climber mixed in this talented writer navigates the secret canyons and hidden watercourses of the American Southwest in search of a lost civilization. ------Alex Beam, author of American Crucifixion The Murder of Joseph Smith and the Fate of the Mormon Church About the Author David Roberts is the author of Alone on the Ice, twenty-six books about mountaineering, exploration, adventure, and Western history and anthropology.

Author: Denise Mina File Type: epub Alex Morrow is not new to the police force-or to crime-but there is nothing familiar about the call she has just received. On a still night in a quiet suburb of Glasgow, Scotland, three armed men have slipped from a van into a house, demanding a man who is not, and has never been, inside the front door. In the confusion that ensues, one family member is shot and another kidnapped, the assailants demanding an impossible ransom. Is this the amateur crime gone horribly wrong that it seems, or something much more unexpected? As Alex falls further into the most challenging case of her career, Denise Mina proves why if you dont read crime novels, Mina is your reason to change (RockyMountain News).From Bookmarks MagazineCritics called Still Midnight an auspicious debut to Minas new police procedural series, and its heroine just as beguiling as ODonnell and Meehan--and just as dark, rude, and troubled by gender politics (Times). Although the novel contains the same wry wit and compassion that mark her other books, here Mina casts a sharp eye on her characters mental states, blurring the lines between the villains and the good guys as she explores their life trajectories. The only criticism was that this focus on inner motives and personal tragedies overwhelms the plot. A minor complaint critics are anxiously awaiting the next in the series. Also see our discussion of Mina on page 17 of this issue. From BooklistEddy and Pat, two Glasgow yobs, are hired to snatch a man named Bob from a modest home in a Glasgow suburb and hold him for a two-million-pound ransom. They botch the job, finding no one named Bob, accidentally shooting a teenage girl, and snatching the girls father, a Ugandan emigre who owns a none-too-prosperous convenience store. Police-department sexism leads to DS Alex Morrows dim rival, Grant Bannerman, being placed in charge of the investigation but Alexs efforts uncover the only leads in the case. An award-winning crime novelist, Mina knows her gritty hometown, and Still Midnight offers a stunning portrait of transcendent bleakness. Alex is close to a breakdown curiously, we dont learn the full why for 270 pages. The kidnap victim is haunted by his mothers rape as they fled Uganda. Even Eddy and Pat are tormented. Similarly, Glasgow is vividly portrayed as an avatar of urban poverty, violence, and utter despair the lashing rains and raw winds of October in Scotland only serve to deepen the sense of desperation. Grim but compelling. --Thomas Gaughan