Buried Treasures

New Mexico history is filled with noteworthy men, women, and children, usually deserving of high praise and admiration. Sadly, few of these famous New Mexicans are honored with monuments to remind us of their achievements in every field, from art and literature to military service and rocket science. Historian Richard Melzer attempts to rectify this neglect with an impressive new book about famous New Mexico gravesites, usually the only monuments left to honor the human treasures who helped shape so much of our state, national, and often international history. The gravesites belong to both famous and infamous characters, from Billy the Kid to Kit Carson, Elfego Baca, Mabel Dodge Luhan, and Geronimo (buried in exile in Oklahoma). The result of Melzer’s coast-to-coast quest for the gravesites of deserving New Mexicans is a book filled with vivid photographs, compelling stories, humorous epitaphs, and valuable information. With so much data about so many New Mexicans, this book is destined to serve as a major reference work for historians, genealogists, students, and librarians for years to come. With so much good history and a concluding chapter of truly unusual gravesites found in New Mexico, casual readers will be engaged and entertained as well. Richard Melzer is a professor of history at the University of New Mexico-Valencia Campus. He is an award-winning author of many books and articles about New Mexico, including two grade school textbooks to be published in anticipation of New Mexico’s centennial celebration of statehood in 2012. He is the President of the Historical Society of New Mexico. Sunstone Press has published three of his previous books, including “Ernie Pyle in the American Southwest, Breakdown: How the Secret of the Atomic Bomb was Stolen during World War II,” and “When We Were Young in the West: True Stories of Childhood.”