MAJESTIC JOURNEY: Coronado’s Inland Empire by...

MAJESTIC JOURNEY: Coronado’s Inland Empire by Stewart L. Udall, photographs by Jerry Jacka (Museum of New Mexico: $19.95; 176 pp.). Former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall traces the routes Francisco Vasquez de Coronado might have taken on his ill-fated search for the fabulous Seven Cities of Cibola in 1540. After leaving Mexico, Coronado roamed as far north as Kansas and as far west as California. Udall uncritically praises the Spanish explorers and conquistadors, whom he credits with nurturing “an idea called the American Dream” in the 16th century. Jerry Jacka’s dramatic photographs of the land, flora and ruins of the Southwest compliment the text.