{"product_id":"the-lost-cities-of-el-norte-coronados-quest-the-unconquered-west-and-the-birth-of-american-indian-resistance-9780063383883","title":"The Lost Cities of El Norte: Coronado's Quest, the Unconquered West, and the Birth of American Indian Resistance","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBy the bestselling author of \u003cem\u003eAstoria, \u003c\/em\u003ea thrilling and masterfully crafted narrative of the Conquistador Francisco Coronado's expedition across 2,500 miles of the vast uncharted North American interior--\"El Norte\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e Misterioso\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\" --where he was turned back by fierce indigenous resistance that would thwart white rule for the next three hundred years. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1540, the grandest exploring expedition ever assembled in the Americas paraded north from the ruins of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, a glittering column of 2,000 men heading into the unknown. Their destination was \u003cem\u003eEl Norte Misterioso\u003c\/em\u003e--The Mysterious North, present-day United States--where fabulous cities of gold were rumored to shine beyond the horizon. Two years later, survivors began stumbling back, half dead. Lost to poisoned arrows, brutal deserts, starvation, cold, desertion, and countless other hardships, 90% of those who left would never return. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLed by Francisco Coronado and backed by the full weight of the Spanish empire, the superpower of its day, they had expected to seize the land, steal its riches, and subjugate its peoples, just as they had so recently done to the mighty Aztec and Inca empires. But instead they encountered the unconquered American West, populated by complex societies of indigenous nations, masters of a vast and unforgiving landscape who fiercely resisted this European \"incursion\" onto their lands. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCoronado and his people traversed 2,500 miles of unmapped terrain, ranging across the present-day U.S. states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and finally Kansas. They were the first Europeans to gaze upon the Grand Canyon and the Rocky Mountains; made first contact with the Puebloan peoples; crossed the Sonoran Desert and the Great Plains, where they encountered endless herds of bison and the nomadic tribes who followed them. After leading the largest exploring cavalcade ever assembled in the New World, wearing his gilded armor and bobbing plume, Coronado retreated back to Mexico City two years later accompanied only by a hundred or so hangers-on and carried on a litter, a broken man. America's Southwest and Plains would remain unconquered for the next 300 years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Peter Stark\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Mariner Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/14\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 432\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.33lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.20h x 6.37w x 1.23d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780063383883\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/01\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/15\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eStark, Peter:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePeter Stark \u003c\/strong\u003eis an adventurer and historian. He is the author of \u003cem\u003eAstoria: Astor and Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire\u003c\/em\u003e, a \u003cem\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/em\u003ebestseller and a PEN USA Literary Award finalist. A former correspondent for \u003cem\u003eOutside\u003c\/em\u003e magazine, Stark has also been published in \u003cem\u003eSmithsonian\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe New York Times Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eMen's Journal\u003c\/em\u003e. His other books include \u003cem\u003eYoung Washington: How Wilderness and War Forged America's Founding Father, \u003c\/em\u003ea finalist for the George Washington Book Prize; and \u003cem\u003eGallop Toward the Sun: Tecumseh and William Henry Harrison's Struggle for the Destiny of a Nation\u003c\/em\u003e. Based in Montana, he and his family have also lived in Mozambique and Brazil.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"booksdeli.com","offers":[{"title":"Peter Stark \/ Hardcover \/ English","offer_id":47858842960029,"sku":"9780063383883","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0619\/5648\/9373\/files\/img_d725400a-9a78-4752-ad55-dc31e4d41f9b.jpg?v=1776861728","url":"https:\/\/booksdeli.com\/products\/the-lost-cities-of-el-norte-coronados-quest-the-unconquered-west-and-the-birth-of-american-indian-resistance-9780063383883","provider":"booksdeli.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}