Reviews for History of Mexican Archaeology: The Vanished Civilizations of Middle America

The average rating for History of Mexican Archaeology: The Vanished Civilizations of Middle America based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-03-16 00:00:00 Barry Burrus I'm disappointed that GoodReads doesn't pull up both co-authors' names for this title, as I personally know Dennis McBride, the second co-author. He and I both live and work in the metro area of Las Vegas, Nevada. What I like about this account of the building of Hoover Dam -- on the Colorado River between Nevada and Arizona -- is that it's not one person's long oral history followed by the next person's long oral history, followed by the next. (Don't get me wrong. There's a value in hearing one person's history without interruption.) But the focus here is not on any individual. The focus is on the dam project. So the authors chose, instead, to organize their material not by the person speaking it, but by topic. Each topic -- such as workers' dorms, the dog who lived on the dam site, work accidents, etc. -- is presented through snippets of pertinent information from a variety of speakers. This is the kind of valuable history that must be done while the people who played a role are still alive. I'm so glad McBride and Dunar captured these oral histories.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-06-05 00:00:00 Michael Mansfield My grandpa, Tommy Nelson, (mom's dad) came to Boulder City, NV to start work on building Hoover Dam. He started work at the dam at the very beginning and stayed on until it was finished. Then, he worked at the dam for years, until his retirement, as an electrician there. His love of the dam ran so deep! He is on all of the documentaries (since about the late 80's) about building the dam and what it was like. There is even a table top bronze statue of my Grandpa Nelson in the visitors center playing his trumpet. Another one of his great loves. When I stumbled on this book in Barnes and Noble, I couldn't believe it. My Grandpa and all of his friends talking about "the good ole days". What a treasure for me to find.