First Impressions: A Reader's Journey to Iconic Places of the American Southwest tells the story of fifteen iconic sites across Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and southern Colorado through the eyes of the explorers, missionaries, and travelers who were the first nonnatives to describe them. Noted borderlands historians David J. Weber and William deBuys lead readers through centuries of historical, cultural, and environmental change at sites ranging from Carlsbad Caverns, the Grand Canyon, and Mesa Verde to such living Native communities as coma and Zuni. Lovers of the Southwest, both residents and visitors alike, will delight in the authors' skillful evocation of the region's sweeping landscapes, its rich Hispanic and Native heritage, and the sense of discovery that so enchanted its early explorers.