The Spanish, French, Indians, Mexicans, and Americans fought for supremacy of the Southwest of North America over a period of four centuries. No section of America was discovered, rediscovered or fought over with such bloodshed, frustration and betrayal; the march of famous and infamous men, actions and deeds through its history is staggering. Massacres, raids, forays and six-shooter battles marked its course from cutlasses and arrows at Chichilticalli to nuclear fission at Los Alamos. Here, with Mr. Wellman’s ability to make it live, is the history, violent, sometimes heroic, and sometimes shameful, of the American Southwest and the five peoples who struggled within its borders for gold, God and glory.