Additional information
by James A. Crutchfield (Author)
Fascinating stories about thirty-three events that helped make New Mexico what it is today. Read about Pancho Villa, Charles Bent, Smokey the Bear, and many more, including little-known episodes that shaped New Mexico's colorful history.
Back Jacket
True Tales from New Mexico's PastFrom the life and times of Folsom Man (9,000 BC) to the Great Prison Riot of Santa Fe County (1980 AD), It Happened in New Mexico tells the stories of intriguing people and events from the history of one of America's most captivating states. Find out how Pancho Villa's deadly raid on Columbus in March 1916 led to a $130 million--unsuccessful--mission to hunt down America's arch enemy. Go back to July 16, 1945, when a busload of spectators pulled up to a scenic overlook to witness the explosion of the world's first atomic bomb. Find out how Smokey the Bear began life as an imaginary symbol and ended up as the nation's most beloved cub. Did the U.S. Army steal Doc Noss's gold? Join the military cavalcade to Victorio Peak in 1977 and decide for yourself.
Author Biography
During his five-decade-long writing career, James A. Crutchfield has published nearly seventy books pertaining to United States history and biography. His articles have appeared in magazines, newspapers, and journals across the country, earning multiple awards from Library Journal, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the American Association for State and Local History, and Western Writers of America. In 2011, Western Writers of America presented him with the Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Achievement in Western History and Literature. In 2015, Crutchfield was inducted into the Western Writers Hall of Fame housed in the McCracken Research Library at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming. He lives in Tennessee with his wife, Regena, and their cat, Sir Oliver Crutchfield, OBE.
