Books like Great river by Paul Horgan

This study is the first to examine the Rio Grande Hispanic weaving tradition from 1870 to the present. In the past, the story of the weavers of northern New Mexico has often been distorted in popular and scholarly literature by perpetuating romantic lore that has surrounded the craft and by labeling products for the tourist and curio markets as inauthentic and inferior. Chimayo Weaving emphasizes that the long tradition of Hispanic weaving was born in the interaction among weavers, merchants, and consumers; it explores this trade and how it has changed over time. The authors have examined the historic records of trade in woven goods as well as actual textiles in private and public collections and have interviewed many contemporary weavers. Taken together, these perspectives form a case study of the adaptability of a craft tradition to the modern world.

This is a study of Tejano ranchers and settlers in the Lower Rio Grande Valley from their colonial roots to 1900. The first book to delineate and assess the complexity of Mexican-Anglo interaction in South Texas, it also shows how Tejanos continued to play a leading role in the commercialization of ranching after 1848 and how they maintained a sense of community. Despite shifts in jurisdiction, the tradition of Tejano landholding acted as a stabilizing element and formed an important part of Tejano history and identity. The earliest settlers arrived in the 1730s and established numerous ranchos and six towns along the river. Through a careful study of land and tax records, brands and bills of sale of livestock, wills, population and agricultural censuses, and oral histories, Alonzo shows how Tejanos adapted to change and maintained control of their ranchos through the 1880s, when Anglo encroachment and varying social and economic conditions eroded the bulk of the community's land base.