Cibolero

By Kermit Lopez

Book Overview

For years, Antonio Baca lived the wandering and restless life of a Cibolero, or buffalo hunter, following the great herds that roamed the endless Llano Estacado-the high plains of a region that would... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 059543567X
• ISBN13: 9780595435678
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Length: 184 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Beyond Santa Fe

Our heroes have always been cowboys. Kermit Lopez helps us to "know better." History has always been written by the winners. The conquered and their stories, histories, disappear into the sands of time. Thank you, Kermit Lopez, for a peek back into the other history. Texans feared the LLano Estacado, that dreadful, featureless plain that encompassed eastern New Mexico and western Texas, a plain that the Spanish, led by Coronado, a people who had already navigated the world's great oceans, had supposedly navigated successfully only by dint of stakes, estacas, driven into the plain along their route to Kansas, kind of like a Hansel and Gretel trail of crumbs. The Texans feared the llano and its denizens, the Comanche. The Spanish had been at home on the llano for two hundred years, harvesting the buffalo, el Cibolo. Ciboleros, galloping along the fringes of a herd of buffalo racing across the plain, lances at the ready, risking death beneath the thundering hooves, courageous, they were not afraid of dealing with the Comanche. The Texans, deprecated, depreciated them as Comancheros. Antonio Baca, retired Cibolero, must now hunt the Texans, as he once hunted the Cibolo, across the llano. Texans who have ravaged his family and kidnapped his daughter. Lopez knows his history. He also knows how to spin a good story. This tale is worth five stars. Lopez grabs you somewhere out in the middle of New Mexico and doesn't let you go until he has ripped aside the blinders, veils, and deposited you, eyes wide open, hundreds of miles away in western Texas. This is a must read for anyone with an interest in "other" histories, other slants on the American story, other views of New Mexico beyond the Santa Fe experience.

A fun and informative read

I enjoyed Cibolero. It helped fill in an empty spot in the history of a state I love: New Mexico, a place with a claim to more history than most of the states on the east coast, no matter how few of us know about it. Cibolero takes its place among other novels dealing with New Mexican history as Death Comes to the Archbishop (Paul Horgan) and Daughter of Fortune (Carla Kelly), among others. I came to enjoy the way Mr. Lopez cut between his story and the early life of the protagonist, even though it took a little getting used to. I hope he will write more about his state, and in more detail. He has a talent for description. I'd like to see more of it!

Soldier Blue Meets The Lone Ranger

Kermit Lopez has chosen an unusual subject for his second novel, a western set in historical New Mexico in the period immediately following the Civil War. New Mexico and Texas were not yet states. The area was populated with Indians and New Mexicans native to the region, and the white settlers were slowly encroaching from the east. It was a time of tension and strife sandwiched between the final statement concerning slavery and the incorporation of statehood. A somewhat renegade band of Texas Rangers enter New Mexico territory while seeking to capture a runaway slave who has reportedly had an affair with a white woman, clearly a hanging offense in Texas. The plot unfolds as this particular gang of thugs meets Antonio Baca, a farmer and retired buffalo hunter. Cibolero is a short novel that successfully describes the human condition spread over a magnificent landscape. Mr. Lopez obviously wants to let his fictional plotline tell the true story of the less than compassionate relationships among the Indians, Spanish-speaking New Mexicans, and many Texans during this dark period of our history. Cibolero is one of those books that deserve four-and-a-half stars. Its only weakness lies in the details of its presentation, specifically within the dialogue spoken by its lead characters. The author is trying to convey the image of Texans as a little too consistently nasty and ignorant, while the native New Mexicans speak fluent English peppered with the Spanish words for an assortment of items indigenous to the area. Does Mr. Lopez want to step up on his podium or show off his historical acumen? I could never shake the memories of my favorite old Westerns I had watched as a kid. When I was a kid, I read many of the hardcover Lone Ranger books written by Fran Striker. The Texas Ranger who was nursed back to health by Tonto was clearly presented as the good guy, and he pursued The Cavendish Gang relentlessly. One of my favorite movies of the '70's is Soldier Blue, in which the savagery with which the U. S. Cavalry slaughtered the Indians is splattered bloodily over the screen. Kermit Lopez' Cibolero walks a really delicate trail between these two classic extremes while clearly utilizing plot developments from both stories. Antonio Baca picks up his buffalo hunter's lance as if it was The Lone Ranger's mask, but unlike Striker's stories, history has not been whitewashed for kids. Cibolero has been thoroughly researched and presented as an accurate snapshot of the history of the region. Like the two western classics mentioned, Cibolero attempts to compress a lot of emotion and stress into a brief, fictional storyline. For the most part, Mr. Lopez has succeeded in this admirable, but daunting, mission.

Oft Neglected Aspect of Southwestern History

Mr. Lopez has succeeded in recreating a long-vanished time, when nomadic buffalo hunters (Ciboleros) roamed the high plains of New Mexico. The story is set against a backdrop of high historical drama, with the land changing rule from New Spain to Mexico and finally to the forced annexation by the US, bringing sweeping changes and violent conflicts. Little is said in mainstream Southwestern history about the Nortenos of New Mexico, who are a people apart, distinguished by a unique culture, close bonds to their land, and in tenacity of resistance to subjugation. This novel employs memorable characters and drama to bring this time and culture to life.