Pueblos, Spaniards, and the Kingdom of New Mexico Book

This is actually a pretty gripping narrative of historical events in Spanish New Mexico - the book focuses entirely on exploring the individuals involved, the differences between the Pueblos, factions, alliances, diplomacy, battles, etc.

However, I criticize the fact that the author seems to treat the Spanish-Pueblo relationship as that between "neighbors" and "cousins", setting up an almost buddy-buddy description of what was always a fundamentally exploitative colonial regime.

For example, towards the end of the book on page 175 "seventeenth-century Pueblos and Spaniards had worked out the basis of a dynamic coexistence. More by experience than by plan, more by peaceful exchange than by war, they had learned to live together yet apart. And they continue to do so today". This seems like an odd conclusion, given that the previous 100 pages had been spent discussing by my count at least 6 separate phases of war and rebellion. Or the fact that many of the Puebloans who grew fed up with the Spaniards simply moved among the independent Hopi and Navajo (which the author discusses!). Or even the conclusion of "they continue to do so today", which completely papers over ongoing social and land claim conflicts between indigenous peoples and Spanish/Mexican populations from the 16th century up to today.

There are similar examples of explicitly papering over these difficult relationships throughout the book. Even if the author was convinced of the questionable choice to not critically examine the racial, social, and economic consequences of imperialism and colonialism, the book would have been far stronger if Kessel had simply stuck to writing a straightforward historical narrative without inserting dubious kumbaya.