I am pleased to announce the publication of Nothing Lasts Forever, my latest Old New Mexico novel and the fourth volume of my Locke Family Saga series. This book continues my emphasis on deeply researched historical fiction set in mid-1800s New Mexico and finds Alma Locke in Taos in late 1846/early 1847. Here's the book description: On Thursday, January 19, 1847, long-simmering tensions erupted in bloodshed in Taos, New Mexico, brought to a head by the recent American takeover during the Mexican American War.

August is an eventful month in New Mexico history. There’s the 1680 revolt, when the Pueblos people threw out the Spanish settlers. That one started on August 10. There’s the 1837 revolt, when the …

Preparations for war were in full swing in Santa Fe that second week of August, 1846. Rumors of the approaching American army under Stephen Watts Kearny had been swirling all summer and became more…

In a recent post about the Santa Fe plaza, I included a set of maps. If you look closely, you’ll notice that even the oldest of them identifies a small building on the south side of the square as t…

When Stephen W. Kearny’s Army of the West marched from Missouri to New Mexico in Summer 1846, they were trailed by a number of non-military wagons, most of them driven by merchants. One of these me…

When the Spanish settlers created the Santa Fe, New Mexico plaza in 1610, it was roughly twice the size it is today, even though they didn’t have sufficient buildings to surround it. That would com…

Shortly after American troops invaded New Mexico in Autumn 1846, they discovered four pieces of Mexican artillery in a village south of Santa Fe. Apparently, Governor Manuel Armijo had taken the gu…

Amazon.com: Vietnam War Elegy eBook : Tollefson, G. Lowell: Books

Amazon.com: Vietnam War Elegy eBook : Tollefson, G. Lowell: Books

Amazon.com: Season of Mists: 9780692470176: Tollefson, G. Lowell: Books

If you’ve been fortunate enough to tour an adobe home here in New Mexico, you may have noticed the corner fireplaces which are a signature element in these houses. Often built in a corner, the trad…

Aaaaaand. Drumrolls please! It’s here! My novel An Unhappy Country is now available wherever books are sold. And I’m celebrating with a sale! It’s August 1846. The U.S. army has taken Santa F…

I normally review books set in or about New Mexico in the 1800s, but I couldn’t resist sharing In The Shadow of Sunrise by Jennifer Bohnhoff with you. This novel tells a story from a much earlier t…

The recent suggestion that the U.S. should annex Canada and Greenland sounds strikingly familiar. The same argument—that the land masses in question are strategically important and therefore must b…

In my forthcoming novel set in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the young people at the heart of the story don’t go home after church. They go to the plaza. They aren’t the only ones. In fact, American newcom…

Join the review team for An Unhappy Country. Read it for free before the rest of the world does. Share your honest review. Discover hundreds of other books in your favorite genres.

In my March 5 post, I mentioned that one of the things that nineteenth century Americans disparaged when they first arrived in New Mexico was what they called “mud houses.” Newspaper correspondent …

The thirty-day countdown to publication of my novel An Unhappy Country has begun! It’s August 1846. The U.S. army has taken Santa Fe without firing a shot. The Mexican American War is over in…

The Americans in Santa Fe before the U.S. invasion in 1846 were almost all merchants. These men brought a range of goods into New Mexico. Fabric, from calico to cashmere. Butcher and other types of…

Join the review team for An Unhappy Country. Read it for free before the rest of the world does. Share your honest review. Discover hundreds of other books in your favorite genres.

YouTube video by Loretta Miles Tollefson

YouTube video by Loretta Miles Tollefson

The name “Taos” conjures many things. An ancient pueblo. A Mexican outpost. Gringo mountain men. A violent revolt. A funky 21st century village. But the village and pueblo are two separate places. …

YouTube video by Loretta Miles Tollefson

I’m pleased to announce that my Old New Mexico novel An Unhappy Country will be published in April 2025. A murder mystery, this novel is set during the Mexican American war and focuses on eve…

YouTube video by Loretta Tollefson

In 2022, one of Peter Thiel's favorite thinkers envisioned a second Trump Administration in which the federal government would be run by a “CEO”

As the Treasury Department offers some new spin about Elon Musk’s takeover of payment systems and ousting of a top career official, Senator Ron Wyden tells us why this “reeks of a cover-up.”

Commentary from the heads of two prominent historical associations on Trump’s recent executive order on “radical indoctrination” in schools.

An order from the U.S. Department of Interior this week which seeks plans to enable mining and oil and gas production on federal lands.

By Friday, February 5, 1847, the Taos insurrection against the American occupation of New Mexico was over. All that remained was the formal surrender of Taos Pueblo leader Tomás Romero. The America…

When Sterling Price set out from Santa Fe in late January to meet the Mexican insurgency from Taos, he was accompanied by a rag-tag group of men who would be instrumental to his ability to carry ou…

The Mescalero Apache president said she has received "multiple calls" about "rumors of incidents" involving tribal members and ICE.