Rating: 
Summary: Boring and Slightly Offensive
Review: Reading this book was like slogging down the Santa Fe Trail in the 1830's. Occasionally, the author gives excerpts from diaries and letters that bring life on the trail to life. But generally, what he seems to view as important are factoids: how many wagons there were in the caravan, how much merchandise it carried, and the value of the goods. Each caravan gets a dutiful few paragraphs summing it up.The offensive part is the treatment of conflict with the Indians. It's straight out of old Western movies - caravans are attacked by whooping columns of Comanches. There's no attempt at understanding the conflict, even from the point of view of the whites. Just savagery. I didn't think this sort of history was still being written.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting Facts And People From the Santa Fe Trail
Review: This is a very thoroughly researched book that tells the tale of the trail -- A commercial trail that linked the American frontier in Missouri with Spanish founded Santa Fe and points south. The author tells the story from the time of Spanish settlement of Santa Fe through it's abandonment in the wake of the railroad. In its hay-day, the trail linked first two cultures and then the disparate parts of the western United States. The linkage was tenuous and strenuous. Traders took first pack mules then wagon trains through several hundred miles of prairie -- some of it bereft of water and all of it through Indian country. This book mostly tells how trade bloomed along the trail from the 1820's through the 1860's. This economic detail is well fleshed out by the stories of the many characters that plied the trail or supported its existence. Interesting incidents and first person accounts are liberally strewn throughout the work and give this book its appeal -- otherwise it would be a subject as dry as the short fork to Santa Fe. I was left with a sense of wonder at the risks these traders and travelers took -- particularly the early ones. Around 1810 -1820, most Americans who reached Santa Fe were rounded up and jailed -- some for five to eight years. Even in the era when the vast majority of early trail blazers failed to return to Missouri, there were always new would- be entrepreneurs ready to set out the next season. Such was the spirit of pioneering Americans and the lure of riches. Even after Spain/Mexico decided to welcome Americans in trade, there remained fairly high chances of succumbing to Indians, weather, or lack of water. The incredible perseverance and relentless pursuit of this open trade route is remarkable -- particularly to a reader of our era. Although the subject is somewhat dry -- this is a story about economics and transportation -- the author does an admirable job of using interesting characters and stories from the trail to enliven the work.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrific read!
Review: This is an always fascinating book about one of the arteries that brought drifters, grifters, traders, and builders into the West. Good writing, exciting stories. Real substance. History as it ought to be written!
Rating: 
Summary: Following the Trail
Review: This is an excellent book for those curious persons who would like to know how the Santa Fe Trail developed. David Dary has written a real history book that is very pleasant and charming while it gives you a lot of facts about the commerce on the Trail. Dary begins with the history of the Spanish exploration of the New Mexico area, the establishment of Santa Fe as a focus for Spanish control over northern expansion, the effect of the Mexican Revolution against Spain, and the increasing interaction with and fear of the Anglos from the East. The commerce between towns in Missouri and Kansas with Santa Fe is described in detail. The importance of Santa Fe as the site for exchange of American goods for Mexican silver money is explained. The eventual decline of Santa Fe and the Santa Fe Trail becomes clear in the descriptions of the American military takeover of Santa Fe, the treaty of Guadalupe-Hildago, and the shift of transportation from wagon trains to the transcontinental railroad. The book has some amusing anecdotes along the way describing the colorful characters that played a part in the folklore about the Trail. The more recent history from 1900 to 2000 is given less space. The rebirth of Santa Fe as a tourist center is briefly explained but what seems missing is how this town of about 67,000 people has become now the third largest art market in the United States. New York and Chicago have larger art markets but are enormous cities by comparison. There is no mention of the influence of artists,such as Georgia O'Keefe. Perhaps this is because this book is less a history of Santa Fe itself as it is a excellent view following the Trail across Missouri and Kansas to Santa Fe.
Rating:
Summary: Following the Trail
Review: This is an excellent book for those curious persons who would like to know how the Santa Fe Trail developed. David Dary has written a real history book that is very pleasant and charming while it gives you a lot of facts about the commerce on the Trail. Dary begins with the history of the Spanish exploration of the New Mexico area, the establishment of Santa Fe as a focus for Spanish control over northern expansion, the effect of the Mexican Revolution against Spain, and the increasing interaction with and fear of the Anglos from the East. The commerce between towns in Missouri and Kansas with Santa Fe is described in detail. The importance of Santa Fe as the site for exchange of American goods for Mexican silver money is explained. The eventual decline of Santa Fe and the Santa Fe Trail becomes clear in the descriptions of the American military takeover of Santa Fe, the treaty of Guadalupe-Hildago, and the shift of transportation from wagon trains to the transcontinental railroad. The book has some amusing anecdotes along the way describing the colorful characters that played a part in the folklore about the Trail. The more recent history from 1900 to 2000 is given less space. The rebirth of Santa Fe as a tourist center is briefly explained but what seems missing is how this town of about 67,000 people has become now the third largest art market in the United States. New York and Chicago have larger art markets but are enormous cities by comparison. There is no mention of the influence of artists,such as Georgia O'Keefe. Perhaps this is because this book is less a history of Santa Fe itself as it is a excellent view following the Trail across Missouri and Kansas to Santa Fe.
Rating: 
Summary: Dary Misses The Trail
Review: What should have been an exciting book about a place central to the mythology of the West is instead a boring compendium of facts.
Dary commits the cardinal sin of storytelling by not placing his details and facts in a narrative context. His book is essentially a time-line on which he hangs dates, names and numbers like so much laundry left to dry. There is no perspective, drama or insight. This book was a big disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Dary knows the subject
Review: When I started reading this book I was quite disapponited since the first chapter deals with "From Conquest to de Onate, 1492 - 1610" and I found Dary's treatment of this period very superficial, maybe such an introductory chapter was unnecessary; fortunately the book works on an higher level when it deals with the history of the Santa Fe trail. Dary gives a lot of space to firsthand accounts and his way of telling the story gives you the feeling of how the life on the trail was: Dary has caught the essence of the time. The number of drawings, photographs and even tables of the merchandise shipped to Santa Fe from Missouri is astounding and provides further involvment in the reading.
I think this book will appeal to every history buff who is interested and/or fascinated by the Spanish South West.
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