Thursday, November 13, 2008

Lamy of Santa Fe by Paul Horgan

1976 Pulitzer Prize for History.

It caught my eye this past July while I was in Santa Fe.

Fascinating window into the difficult life that was the West in the mid to late 19th century. Horgan takes us from France to Ohio to New Mexico and back many times as we follow Jean Baptiste Lamy and his lifelong friend, Joseph Projectus Machebeuf on their journey from young priests sneaking away in France to Archbishops of Santa Fe and Denver respectively.

Horgan painstakingly details the conditions and tribulations these two men encountered as they did their part in bringing education and religion to the American West.

Well researched and well written translates into well-read.

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