The Milagro Beanfield War (novel)

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The Milagro Beanfield War is a novel by American writer John Nichols, published in 1974 by Random House. It is the first book in Nichols's New Mexico Trilogy and is set in the early 1970s in Milagro, New Mexico and its environs, including Chamisaville and Donya Luz. Developer Ladd Devine, backed by town and state leaders, seeks to turn the Miracle Valley Recreation Area into a potentially lucrative upscale vacation resort by building the Indian Creek Dam and establishing the Indian Creek Conservancy District. Most residents of Milagro live in severe poverty and are suspicious of this effort, but do not understand the implications of proceeding with the development, which hinges on Devine's securing necessary land and water rights. Joe Mondragon, a ne'er-do-well town resident, sets off the conflict that drives the plot by illegally irrigating his bean field. The forces supporting Ladd Devine's project attempt to put a stop to Mondragon's actions without inflaming tensions of the townspeople, which could derail the development. A discussion of land and water rights issues underlying the novel may be found in an Encyclopedia.com entry.^[1]

In 1988 Robert Redford directed a feature film version of the novel.

Reception[]

Reviews of the book were mixed. Kirkus Reviews called the book "More alive than a grasshopper on a hot skillet", "full of good humor" and "comic drive".^[2] However, Frederick Busch, writing in The New York Times, states "Nichols's attempt to make his love for an area and his social concern coincide with his often celebrated sense of humor is doomed by his own always visible hand." He criticizes the prose as slack and the characters as stereotypical.^[3]

List of Principal Characters[]

• Joe Mondragon – owner and illegal irrigator of the eponymous bean field
• Nancy Mondragon – Joe's wife and mother of Billy, Larry, Luisa
• Nick Rael – proprietor of the town store
• Mercedes Rael – Nick's pebble throwing mother
• Ruby Archuleta – energetic, forceful proprietor of the Strawberry Mesa Bodyshop and Pipe Queen. Also a midwife and fisherman. Married 3 times, has a son, Eliu.
• Charlie Bloom – a lawyer and activist, writer for The Voice of the People
• Linda – Charlie's current wife and mother of Pauline and Maria
• Sherri Pope Bloom – Charlie's first wife and mother of Miranda
• Harlen Bechtel – proprietor of Pilar cafe and the Buck-A-Fish Trout Pond
• Bernabe Montoya – sheriff (deputy: Meliton Naranjo)
• Sammy Cantu – mayor of Milagro
• Onofre Martinez – resident whose arm was eaten by butterfly larvae, a collector of parking tickets
• Amarante Cordova – an ancient and esteemed Milagro resident
• Tranquilino Jeantete – proprietor of the Frontier bar and friend of Amarante Cordova
• Serafino Pacheco – the pig's owner
• (Billy) Ray Gusdorf – an ex-Hell raiser who has found peace and opposes the Miracle Valley Recreation Area
• Forest Service boys: Carl Abeyta, Floyd Cowlie
• Peter Hirschorn – manager of the Enchanted Land Motel
• Bud Gleason – real estate agent operating in Milagro
• Eusebio Lavadie – a wealthy town resident
• Police: Bill Koontz, Emilio Cisneros
• Herbie Goldfarb – VISTA volunteer from Brooklyn, NY
• Ladd Devine – owner of the Dancing Trout Dude Ranch, developer of the Miracle Valley Recreation Area. Sometimes referred to as Zopilote (Vulture or Buzzard)
• Flossie Devine – Divine's wife, a very close friend of Horsethief Shorty Wilson
• Horsethief Shorty Wilson – a foreman in the Devine organization
• Jerry Grindstaff – a foreman in the Devine organization
• The Governor of New Mexico
• Nelson Bookman – State engineer, in charge of water rights
• Rudy Noyes – Bookman's lawyer/advisor
• Myron Cloon – Governor's bodyguard, an insufferable dolt
• Kyril Montana – Agent of the state police and the Governor's fixer
• Xavier Trucho – high ranking state policeman

References[]