Showing The Lightning Field: Travels in and Around New Mexico by Robert Eaton

"The Lightning Field" is a series of portraits of
people and out-of-the-way places in New Mexico and, occasionally,
neighboring states. In the spirit of Ian Frazier’s "Great
Plains" and Bruce Chatwin’s "In Patagonia," Robert Eaton
illustrates the intimate connections between the land and the people
who inhabit it. In recounting his travels, Eaton combines a fine eye
for natural detail with a generous and compassionate spirit.

Eaton ranges throughout the region, and few of his destinations are on
the standard tourist itinerary—this is not the New Mexico of
Albuquerque, Santa Fe, or Taos. We spend a day at a huge work of
"minimalist land art" near Quemado, a weekend at an isolated
Benedictine monastery near Abiquiu, and a winter in the haunting and
disconcerting isolation of Chaco Canyon. The author skillfully weaves
physical description, history, and personal anecdote, whether he is
exploring the stark beauty of the high plains of northeastern New
Mexico or the remote border region of the boot heel.