Against Extinction. The Story of Conservation

Bill Dunmire previously collaborated with Gail Tierney in two delightful books on the plants and people of the southwestern United States (1995. Wild Plants of the Pueblo Province; 1997. Wild Plants and Native Peoples of the Four Corners). Alone Bill has written this engaging and information-packed volume on the arrival and impact of plants that the Europeans brought to the New World. Much previously has been written of New World contributions to Old World lives. Now that has been balanced with details of the other part of the story. This book outlines the history of Spanish colonization in the New World and the arrival with them of their favorite plants. The story begins with the status of life in Spain on the cusp of American exploration and contrasts that with foods and worldviews in Mexico and what became the southwestern United States. Chapters 4–6 tell of the ‘‘pathways’’ to the New World between 1492 and 1521, with discussions of Spanish agricultural arrival and the associated trade systems and livestock. Then, it explains how the Spanish first brought their culture, religion, and plants into Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas before discussing either Florida or California. There is a Master Plant List (pp. 315–324), a Glossary, a Sources providing data supporting each chapter (pp. 329–342), a Selected Bibliography (pp. 343–362) of ca. 400 titles, and an Index. Most chapters are introduced with a map (13 total) showing the points needed for orientation and understanding movements by people. Also scattered throughout are sketches of tools and other items of the period, and many chapters end in discussions of individual cultivated plants, with drawings of each. All illustrations were created by Bill’s wife, Evangeline L. Dunmire. Most of the black-and-white photographs were taken by the author. The only color in the book is on the cover, featuring photos of the courtyard garden at the Parroquia de San Luis Obispo in Texcoco, grapes, plums, and a traditional farmer harvesting her safflower. The quality of these makes me wish that all pictures were in color. There are 12 tables providing various information on the plants pertinent to the individual chapters. The data packed into these tables on the 158 Old World species in the master list is wonderful. Nowhere else is there as much information about so many topics on these species and their arrival in the New World. Dunmire clearly worked long and hard on compiling these data and presents them in a lucid, compact format. Since the New and Old World plants became intermingled in indigenous and European-derived cultures, he has included pertinent New World species in the second part of the master list (57 spp.). Bill has a delightful twist that brings the history of these plants into the modern world in the Epilogue (pp. 309–314). He highlights two individuals, Anita Chavez and Rudy Perea, as representatives of traditional agriculture who continue growing many of the Mediterranean and American plants together in modern New Mexico. This is a thoroughly researched and readable book that will interest all readers of this journal. I strongly recommend it!