The Southwest

Defining the Southwest is as varied as the landscape. W. Eugene Hollon in The Southwest: Old and New says, “the term ‘Southwest’ as hereinafter used refers only to the four large states of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona” (6). William T. Pilkington in My Blood’s Country is more specific: “Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, plus parts of Oklahoma, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and Southern California (excluding Los Angeles)” (8). J. Frank Dobie’s definition in his Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest is the most elastic: “The principal areas of the Southwest are…Arizona, New Mexico, most of Texas, some of Oklahoma, and anything else north, south, east, or west that anybody wants to bring in” (14).
Understanding the Southwest requires