"At its heart, New Mexico is the protagonist of this novel...Eichstaedt's descriptions of the state, and the city of Santa Fe, show a deep familiarity with the Land of Enchantment." --The Santa Fe New Mexican.

“The Ridge” is an enticing story. What makes it so is not just the compelling plot but also the book’s accuracy. Characters are true to life, not cliches, and Eichstaedt’s descriptions of northern New Mexico are vivid. Luke’s reportorial accounts read like the real thing. Eichstaedt is spot-on with his depiction of small-town Hispanics, and the arrogant anti-media lines from the rancher who heads the club might have come out of the mouth of a Washington pol. “The Ridge” is a little gem. --Sandra Dallas, The Denver Post

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Burned out and world-weary, veteran journalist Luke Jackson longs for a story to put him back on the front page of The New Mexican, Santa Fe’s historic daily newspaper. hat story comes when he ventures north to cover a land grant protest in the state’s pastoral and predominately Hispanic region. The protest leaders want to reclaim grazing rights given to their ancestors by the Spanish and Mexican governments several hundred years earlier, but now lost. Those rights were wrongly ignored, they contend, when the present-day Southwest, including California, became part of the United States in 1848 under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The treaty ended the war between the United States and Mexico. Rather than remaining with the original grantees, large sections of the land were grabbed by the railroad companies carving their way to the West Coast.The Hispanic community, more hungry and desperate than ever for land to graze their growing flocks, take up arms and occupy the land. A standoff with authorities ensues and Luke finds himself caught in the middle of a fight over land rights with roots deep in the history of the American Southwest that takes all he has to get out alive and write the story of a lifetime. A suspenseful literary thriller set in a remote and exotic corner of the American Southwest, The Ridge will put you on the edge of your seat and keep you there. Includes Readers Guide.

Peter Eichstaedt is a former long-time resident of northern New Mexico. He was a reporter with The New Mexican and The Albuquerque Journal newspapers who covered issues in northern New Mexico and in the New Mexico Legislature. He is a former U.S. Fulbright scholar and he taught journalism in Albania, Slovenia, and Armenia. For two years he was the country director in Kabul, Afghanistan, for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, where he worked with Afghan journalists promoting free speech and good journalism.

On the Cover: The poster in the cover image is by Emanuel Martinez. Use by permission.

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Hardcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-637-0
208 pp.,$34.95

Softcover:
6 x 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-534-2
208 pp.,$23.95

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-718-5
208 pp.,$4.99