The simple title does not indicate the breadth and depth of this study, which traces the thousand-year history of plazas, squares, and public spaces in New Mexico from the perspectives of history, anthropology, geography, architecture, planning, and urban design. Coverage of the fate of this tradition and the locales in the 20th century (1915 to 1980) sweeps in discussion of suburbanization, heritage tourism, the emergence of professional urban planning and the City Beautiful movement in the early part of the century, cultural narratives, and modernist place-making of the 1960s and 1970s. This ambitious volume had multiple sponsors including the School of Architecture and Planning, U. of New Mexico, the Foundation for Landscape Studies, and the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, Southern Methodist U. It is abundantly illustrated with contemporary and historical photos, as well as drawings and plans. Editors Wilson and Polyzoides, based, respectively, in New Mexico and California, are prominent in their fields of architectural history and architectural design. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)