The Akimel O'odham, or Pima Indians, of the northern Sonoran Desert continue to make their home along Arizona's Gila River despite the alarming degradation of their habitat that has occurred over the past century. The oldest living Pimas can recall a lush riparian ecosystem and still recite more than two hundred names for plants in their environment, but they are the last generation who grew up subsisting on cultivated native crops or wild-foraged plants. Ethnobiologist Amadeo M. Rea has written the first complete ethnobotany of the Gila River Pima and has done so from the perspective of the Pimas themselves. At the Desert's Green Edge weaves the Pima view of the plants found in their environment with memories of their own history and culture, creating a monumental testament to their traditions and way of life. Rea first discusses the Piman people, environment, and language, then proceeds to share their botanical knowledge in entries for 240 plants that systematically cover information on economic botany, folk taxonomy, and linguistics. The entries are organized according to Pima life-form categories such as plants growing in water, eaten greens, and planted fruit trees. All are anecdotal, conveying the author's long personal involvement with the Pimas, whether teaching in their schools or learning from them in conversations and interviews. At the Desert's Green Edge is an archive of otherwise unavailable plant lore that will become a benchmark for botanists and anthropologists. Enhanced by more than one hundred brush paintings of plants, it is written to be equally useful to nonspecialists so that the Pimas themselves can turn to it as a resource regarding their former lifeways. More than an encyclopedia of facts, it is the Pimas' own story, a witness to a changing way of life in the Sonoran Desert.

Western stories. In a rowdy Mexican town, Dick Gale helps an old friend save a beautiful Spanish girl from the ruthless bandit who had killed her father and sworn to take her honor. This western classic captures the grandeur of the true Old West as only Zane Grey can.

Since its first appearance in 1901, John C. Van Dyke's The Desert has been considered one of the classics of American nature writing. Before its publication, Americans thought of deserts as scorpion-infested wastelands—with names like Devil's Domain and the Lands That God Forgot. All this changed as The Desert drew attention to the extraordinary beauty that existed in the American West: rolling sand dunes, golden vistas, vibrant sunsets, and remarkable plant and animal life. Van Dyke's book captured the nation's imagination at a time when attitudes about the land were changing. It provided a vocabulary that continues to be used as appreciation of deserts increases and ever greater pressures lead to new calls to protect these fragile environments. With a critical introduction by Peter Wild, this edition offers new insights—and reveals some surprising truths—about this legendary author and his best known work. Van Dyke was not, it seems, the "plaster saint of the desert." He was not entirely honest with his readers about the journeys that inspired the book, and his natural history includes serious errors. But in this more informed reading, Wild notes, Van Dyke "emerges as all the more fascinating a writer and his famous book becomes far more intriguing than most readers have imagined through the decades." As the centennial of its publication approaches and the complex story behind its long success is finally told, this new edition of The Desert reveals an equally complex and dramatic narrative: our changing relationship with the American landscape. "Van Dyke came at just the right time... No sooner had Americans conquered the wilderness, cut down the forests, and slaughtered the buffalo than the romantic nation began sentimentalizing the past, longing for what it had just destroyed."—from the Introduction

"No man has employed the Western story formula with better results." --The New York Times From the legendary writer of the west: two complete novels in one low-priced edition. Desert Gold While rescuing a lovely Spanish maiden from Mexican rebels, former Union soldier Dick Gale partners up with a pair of rough-hewn cowboys. The three men take refuge on the ranch of Al Belding, where Gale finds a new mission helping breed fine horses and carving a settlement out of the wild landscape. But angry, greedy men have their eyes on the rich ranchlands—and the beautiful women who live there. The Light of Western Stars Searching for her brother Al, Maddie Hammond gets off the transcontinental railroad in the middle of the night, in a New Mexico town full of drunken, dangerous men. A hard-bitten cowboy drags her before a priest and insists that they be married—until he hears her name. Al Hammond, a ranch foreman, holds the loyalties of many cowboys and ranchers, whom he defends from cruel lawmen and Mexican rebels alike. Maddie eagerly joins the struggle for freedom. Other Zane Grey doubles Wildfire and The Heritage of the Desert The Spirit of the Border and The Last Trail The Lone Star Ranger and The Mysterious Rider The Last of the Plainsmen and Last of the Great Scouts Riders of the Purple Sage and The Rainbow Trail Betty Zane and To the Last Man At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.