Pasó Por Aquí and the Desire of the Moth: Two Classic Novels of New Mexico

Description

Eugene Manlove Rhodes, who coined New Mexico’s official state nickname “the Land of Enchantment,” was a superlative writer of fiction in the Southwest during the early twentieth century. This new annotated edition of two of his best novels provides the ideal introduction to this unjustly neglected writer.

A real-life cowboy, rancher, miner, and army scout for twenty-five years before launching his literary career, Eugene Manlove Rhodes depicted the times and terrain of southern New Mexico in popular fiction hailed for its realism. He elevated the Western novel to a literary art form.

Rhodes is best remembered today for the brief novel that is generally considered his masterpiece, Pasó por Aquí. Inspired by the 1905 robbery of the First National Bank of Belén, Rhodes’s story follows bank robber Ross McEwen as he is pursued across the deadly wasteland of the infamous Jornada del Muerto by a posse led by legendary New Mexican lawman Pat Garrett.

Like Pasó por Aquí, The Desire of the Moth offers a revisionist Western featuring a hero on the lam from the law–but in this story, largely set around Las Cruces, New Mexico, the alleged criminal is actually an innocent man targeted for lynching by his political opponents.

This new annotated edition of two of Rhodes’s best-loved stories includes an introductory essay and notes by critic Gary Scharnhorst.
Binding Type: Paperback
Contributors: Eugene Manlove Rhodes,Gary Scharnhorst (Editor)
Published: 05/19/2026
Publisher: Unm Press
ISBN: 9780826369574
Pages: 144
Weight: 0.40lbs
Size: 0.35″ H x 8.50″ L x 5.50″ W

About the Author
Eugene Manlove Rhodes (1869-1934) was one of New Mexico’s greatest and most underappreciated writers. Many of his books were adapted for Hollywood films, including The Girl He Left Behind Him, The Desire of the Moth, and Pasó por Aquí.

Gary Scharnhorst is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English at the University of New Mexico; the author or editor of over fifty books, including award-winning biographies of Mark Twain and Owen Wister; the past president of the Western Literature Association; and the editor of the scholarly journal American Literary Realism.