“Cibolero,” the new novel by Kermit Lopez, is a tale of sorrow and terror, hope and triumph, set in 1800’s New Mexico.  Antonio Baca, a former “Cibolero” or buffalo hunter, pursues his daughter’s kidnappers in Post-Civil War era New Mexico and Texas.  “Cibolero” is a fictionalized account of the Hispanic experience before and after the conquest of the Southwest by the United States.  

On one level, “Cibolero” is an action-oriented adventure tale as Antonio Baca sets out to rescue his daughter from an invading band of Texas Rangers using his skills as a Cibolero hunter. On another level, “Cibolero” deals with the following issues:

• Racism, ethnicity and society in the “old West”
• The historical ties of large parts of the present western United States to Mexico and Spain

“Cibolero” is a fictionalized account of a true but overlooked part of U.S. history.