The Crossing

El Paso, the Southwest, and America’s Forgotten Origin Story

De: Richard Parker

Narrado por: Timothy Andrés Pabon

A New Yorker Best Book of the Year * A Southwest Book of the Year “Top Pick” “American history did not begin in the Northeast. It began in the Southwest,’ Parker asserts, in this sweeping history.” —The New Yorker A revelatory work of Southwest history that recenters the American origin story two-thousand miles west of Plymouth Rock, in El Paso, Texas—heart of Indigenous power and resistance, locus of Spanish colonization of North America, centuries-long hub of immigration, and underappreciated modern blueprint for a multi-ethnic United States. "A grand tour of the Southwest, its people, culture, and history.” —S. C. Gwynne, author Empire of the Summer Moon American history is almost always told from east to west. Yet a closer look at our past reveals an untold history, one that begins not in the East, but in the Southwest—at a Texan city located near the old­est archaeological evidence of human presence in the Americas: El Paso. Situated in a naturally shallow crossing of the Rio Grande, El Paso was the crossroads of Indigenous America, the nexus of a thousand-year-old Native American migration and trade route linking Meso­american and Pueblo empires and beyond. It’s where, in 1540, the European conquest of the North Amer­ican interior began, and where the United States’ manifest destiny was later achieved. Here, East met West where the dominant transatlantic rail route, the Southern Pacific, was completed in 1881. Here, the West was “won”—the longest chapter of the Indian Wars, including the decades-long Apache Wars, was fought not on the Great Plains but in the Southwest. It’s the past and present hub of immigrant America—more immigrants have passed through El Paso than Ellis Island—and where cru­cial battles for civil rights history were fought, with the city smashing through racial and ethnic discrimination before anywhere else in the nation. The Crossing is a revelatory new work of borderlands history that recasts El Paso as the unacknowledged cradle of American history, where cultures have encountered each other for centuries and forged a thriving multi-ethnic community far ahead of the rest of the nation. As award-winning, El Paso–native journalist Richard Parker charts, this corner of the American West holds not only the framework of our American story, but also a model for a more diverse and flourishing country. This sweeping account of the American West uncovers the pivotal moments that shaped the nation:

• An Untold American Origin: Discover why the American story truly began two-thousand miles west of Plymouth Rock, at the crossroads of ancient Indigenous empires on the Rio Grande.
• The Great Pueblo Revolt: Uncover the full story of the only successful Indigenous uprising against a European colonial power in North American history and its lasting impact on the continent.
• A New Immigration Story: Explore El Paso’s centuries-long role as the true hub of immigrant America?a port of entry that saw more traffic than Ellis Island and forged a multi-ethnic community ahead of its time.
• The Real Wild West: Go beyond the myths of the Great Plains to the actual heart of the Indian Wars, where the scorched-earth strategy of the Apache Wars became the longest conflict in American history.

empowering!

I not only enjoyed hearing the history, I needed to hear it! as an American I believe we need to learn from our past mistakes. especially how we have treated minorities and people of color. as a Mexican American it is important to embrace our culture and be proud and appreciative of the sacrifices of those who came before us. thank you.

Respect El Paso!

Parker mixes the history of El Paso with the history of the United States. I believe that for him, El Paso is the “fertile crescent” that has fed the culture of America. The introduction alone is gorgeous. I learned so much about America and its heart.

Well-researched narrative of the story of the Southwest

In addition to Lekson’s work on the ancient people of the Southwest and Bernardini’s “Becoming Hopi”, Parker’s story brings it home to the present.