Join author Peter Stark as he discusses his thrilling and masterfully crafted narrative of the conquistador Francisco Coronado’s expedition across 2,500 miles of the vast, uncharted North American interior, where he was turned back by fierce Indigenous resistance that would thwart white rule for the next three hundred years. 

In 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 El Norte Misterioso—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 percent of those who left would never return.

Led by Francisco Coronado and backed by the full weight of the Spanish empire―the superpower of its day―the men 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 an unforgiving landscape who fiercely resisted this European “incursion” onto their lands.

Following the presentation, Peter Stark will sign copies of the book, which is available for purchase at the Autry Store.