Even with all the US history books I’ve read as an adult in an attempt to make up for all of the things that weren’t taught to me back in school, one thing that has still proven particularly hard to shake as a New Englander is the very skewed perception that the country as it is all began heavily originated with European settlements popping up on the East Coast. Suffice to say, as a result I have developed a strong appreciation for all the works that I’ve read that remind me that the country also has very, very heavy origins in the Spanish-influenced southwest, and “The Crossing” now joins the ranks of those books. El Paso is a city that tends to lie completely off my radar, I must confess, so I really enjoyed being able to learn about its history in such depth. Even more appreciated is author Richard Parker’s unapologetically strong stance that his home city is emblematic of the United States, providing this Yankee an almost radical new point of view that I’ll be happily mulling over for quite some time now.

Detailed, engaging, intensely thought-provoking….”The Crossing” really just proved to be a major treat of a history read!