New Mexico

Name: White Sands Missile Range
Brand: Darren L. Court
SKU: 9780738558783
Price: 24.99 USD
Availability: InStock

Fall beneath the ancient spell of New Mexico history. Hike through the canyons around the Bandelier National Monument to walk in the steps of millennia of continuous human habitation. Embark on the USS New Mexico, the vessel that inscribed a landlocked state into the sea. Tour historic ranches that hold together generations and hurtle through the state on Route 66, stopping by Santa Fe to celebrate the architecture of our nation’s oldest capital city. Our New Mexico history books peer into the mysteries of the Land of Enchantment. [View all New Mexico books]

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White Sands Missile Range

$24.99

New Mexico and the Civil War

$21.99

Holloman Air Force Base

$24.99

Kirtland Air Force Base

$23.99

World War I New Mexico

$21.99

White Sands Missile Range

9780738558783

$24.99

Since the official flag raising on July 9, 1945, the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) has become an integral part of global defense for the United States. A mere week after formation, Project Trinity tested the first atomic bomb at an isolated site, which was 100 miles north on what was then part of the Alamogordo Bombing Range—a test site for B-17 pilots. Back at White Sands Proving Ground, as it was then named, personnel were unaware of the massive new weapon tested to their north. Instead their focus was upon the arrival of what would be 300 railroad cars of captured German V-2 rockets and associated equipment. Later that year, over 100 captured German scientists, among them Werner von Braun, would arrive at White Sands to assist in V-2 technology, launching America's race to space; tens of thousands of rockets and missiles have since been fired on the range. Thousands of family members also lived and worked at the range, and their stories can be found inside as well.

New Mexico and the Civil War

9781609491376

$21.99

Although the New Mexico Territory was far distant from the main theaters of war, it was engulfed in the same violence and bloodshed as the rest of the nation. The Civil War in New Mexico was fought in the deserts and mountains of the huge territory, which was mostly wilderness, amid the continuing ancient wars against the wild Indian tribes waged by both sides. The armies were small, but the stakes were high: control of the Southwest. Retired lieutenant colonel and Civil War historian Dr. Walter Earl Pittman presents this concise history of New Mexico during the Civil War years from the Confederate invasion of 1861 to the Battles of Valverde and Glorieta to the end of the war.

Holloman Air Force Base

9780738595283

$24.99

Since its initial construction as a British overseas training base on February 6, 1942, Holloman Air Force Base has been at the forefront of cutting-edge technology for national defense. Throughout the last 70 years, Holloman has been known to push the envelope in regards to training, research, and military operations. Some of the amazing accomplishments performed at Holloman include the Fastest Man Alive, Col. John P. Stapp's record-setting runs down the rocket test track; the Highest Step in the World, taken by Capt. Joseph Kittinger at 102,800 feet over the New Mexico desert, and training for the first chimpanzee in space, Ham, in preparation for manned spaceflight. The isolated desert base would also become identified with the F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter, made famous during the opening hours of Operation Desert Storm.

Kirtland Air Force Base

9781467128872

$23.99

In late 1939, the US Army leased from the City of Albuquerque 2,000 acres adjacent to the municipal airport to house a small Air Corps detachment servicing transient Army and Navy aircraft. From these humble beginnings, construction began on Albuquerque Army Air Base on January 7, 1941. Starting as a B-17 training base in the months prior to World War II, the airfield would contain a bombardier school, glider replacement center, and four-engine transition school. On February 25, 1942, at the special request of Gen. Henry Hap Arnold, Albuquerque Army Air Base was renamed after Col. Roy C. Kirtland, one of the early Army aviation pioneers. Today, Kirtland Air Force Base has evolved into a military base different in many respects from its predecessor installations—Oxnard Field, Sandia Base, and Manzano Base. The base's presence is significant to Albuquerque's economic and social life, as well as housing several of the nation's most important defense research and development organizations.

World War I New Mexico

9781467135313

$21.99

In 1917, five years after New Mexico received its statehood, the United States entered World War I. With border tensions festering between Mexico and the United States, Germany attempted unsuccessfully to secure Mexico's allegiance with its Zimmermann Telegram. More than sixteen thousand New Mexicans joined the military, while civilians supported from the home front. Groups like the Knights of Columbus, YMCA and the Salvation Army, as well as Governor W.E. Lindsey's New Mexico Council of Defense, raised military funding. Author Daniel R. Cillis recounts the Land of Enchantment's influence on World War I from its beginning through to the 1918 Armistice.