This book was a finalist for the New Mexico Book Co-Op History Book of the Year. Most people think of Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War when Lincoln County, New Mexico is mentioned.  Yet, the county has a rich history besides that chapter of lawlessness and violence. In writing this book I wanted to tell the story of the miners and forest rangers and the Civilian Conservation Corps and early settlers. The Jornada Mogollon culture was here over a thousand years ago but had left before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world.  They have left pieces of their lifestyle in the form of pueblos and pottery.  A railroad was built in the basin below the Mesa, but the water there was full of alkaline and chemicals.  The Mesa had pristine mountain water and an engineering miracle was built in the form of a pipeline to get the water from the Mesa to the railroad.  A western religious revival in the form of the Ranchman's Camp continues this summer for the 71st year. The book is selected as a finalist for the New Mexico Book Co-Op History book of the year. Winners will be announced on November 18, 2011. All my life I have heard my family from my father's generation talk about "the Mesa" in Lincoln County.  Driving from Carrizozo to Capitan the physical nature of the Nogal Mesa was obvious.  On a sunny day you can see the sun's rays reflecting off of the Ranchman's Camp.  Three years ago my wife and I moved about a mile where my Grandparents homesteaded and I became somewhat more interested in the history of the area.  About a year ago, Becky LeJeune, a commissioning editor from The History Press was in Capitan seeking local authors to write local history.  I was put in contact with her and this book is the result of that conversation.  Writing this book was a journey for me in the discovery of the area.  The history contains nothing pertaining to people's vision of Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War.  In fact, when the Lincoln County War was raging in 1878, William J. "Billy" Gill was discovering gold at what would become the American Mine at Nogal.  Another benefit in writing this book was the ability to travel the area and compare old photographs to the lay of the land and landmarks today.  Meeting and talking with old timers, my father included, was a thrill.  Telling their stories leaves a heritage of a time a hundred years ago.  This journey was one worth taking. The book is paperback and there is no inside flap. The Nogal Mesa has attracted people since the Jornada Mogollon called it home a millennium ago. The legacy and culture of those early settlers is only part of a rich history that draws visitors to the Mesa today. This was the land of a gold prospecting craze, a bloody massacre that destroyed a village, generations of ranchers, the Lincoln National Forest Ranger's Station and the annual Ranchman's Camp, which still thrives. Local historian Gary Cozzens relates these stories and more in The Nogal Mesa: A History of Kivas and Ranchers in Lincoln County . A native New Mexican, Gary Cozzens grew up in Portales, where he graduated from Portales High School and Eastern New Mexico University, earning a double major in history and political science. Following graduation, he served in the United States Marine Corps for a total of twenty-four years, including Operation Desert Storm, and retired as a major in 1999. Cozzens is a member of the Lincoln County Historical Society, Fort Stanton, Inc., the Lincoln County Site Watch program and the Historical Society of New Mexico. He is the author of The Nogal Mesa, also published by The History Press. Gary and his wife, Shirley Crawford, live on the Nogal Mesa in Lincoln County, New Mexico.