More Tales of the Rio Abajo
by Richard Melzer & John Taylor
326 pages 162 illustrations 6x9 ISBN 978-1-943681-13-6 ($19.95pb)
In this, the third anthology of stories from the Rio
Abajo, Richard Melzer and John Taylor have collected
another twenty-four tales of people, places, and
events that have shaped New Mexico history. Inside
these covers you will find priests and scoundrels,
merchants and politicians, faith healers and soldiers,
buffalo and chupacabras, and lots of ghosts. You
will travel down the Santa Fe Trail with a physician
turned trader; you will ride in reverse in a Model
T up La Bajada on old Route 66; you will ride in a
B-29 dropping bombs in the desert; and you will ride
the Doodlebug as it carries commuters from Belen
to Albuquerque. You will watch as the mighty Rio
Grande dries to a trickle then returns with a fury to
wipe out farms and villages alike and you will stand
beside a doctor as he amputates the leg of an injured
man by the light of a kerosene lantern. You will meet
Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Anglo
Americans, each of whom played a role in making
the Rio Abajo what it is today. Please come with us
and enjoy these Tragic Trails & Enchanted Journeys.