Historians have long admired Ralph Emerson Twitchell"s The Leading Facts of New Mexican History, considered the first major history of the state. Put succinctly by former State Historian Robert J. Torrez, "Twitchell"s work (of which this is one of the first two volumes Sunstone Press is reprinting in its Southwest Heritage Series) has "become the standard by which all subsequent books on New Mexico history are measured." As Twitchell wrote in the preface of his first volume, his goal in writing The Leading Facts was to respond to the "pressing need" for a history of New Mexico with a commitment to "accuracy of statement, simplicity of style, and impartiality of treatment."