From the Pass to the Pueblos: El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail by George D. Torok (review)

George Torok’s new book is a comprehensive overview of the trail he and others worked so hard in recent years to preserve and protect, the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail. Torok’s writing celebrates this historic life-line of the Spanish colonial north and seeks to promote recognition and visitation to this extended landmark that dates from the early days of New Mexico and far West Texas. The author begins with ancestral Puebloan peoples and their connections with the Uto-Aztecan network stretching deep in the past to Mesoamerican civilizations, and ends, appropriately, with the current state of historic sites in the rapidly developing area around Santa Fe.

The book is organized in chapters that address a section of the trail as the traveler passes through the greater region from south to north. One enjoyable aspect of this progression is Torok’s starting point in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, giving the book a welcome transnational perspective lacking in some literature about the Camino Real. Torok narrates the traveler’s progression stop by stop, describing the history, geography, and significance of each paraje (campsite) along the section. Readers should be warned that this approach means that this is not a coherent monograph, as the author’s format requires repetition of stories and biographies, sometimes inhibiting the flow of the book. The author identifies several locations overlooked by historians who otherwise go into great detail in their narratives of early New Mexico.

From the Pass to the Pueblos is a guidebook, and a very good one at that. For those who work in historic preservation in the Southwest at the federal, state, and local levels, this book is valuable reading.