Nick Pappas

Old mailbox gets a new look outside Dawson Cemetery

By Nick Pappas / January 10, 2024 / Comments Off on Old mailbox gets a new look outside Dawson Cemetery

Dawson Cemetery visitors will notice something different as they approach the historic burial ground this year. The mailbox that used to contain a notebook for visitors to record their impressions has been replaced by a more decorative memorial box designed and constructed by two New Mexico men with Denver roots. Philip Cavos Jr., a welder…

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Q&A with book blogger Deborah Kalb

By Nick Pappas / December 19, 2023 / Comments Off on Q&A with book blogger Deborah Kalb

I’d like to express my appreciation to Deborah Kalb for featuring my interview about Crosses of Iron on her book blog last week. Kalb, a former Washington journalist and author in her own right, has published “Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb” since 2012. My Q&A can be found here.

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TV interview: ‘New Mexico in Focus’ on KNME-TV (PBS)

By Nick Pappas / December 14, 2023 / Comments Off on TV interview: ‘New Mexico in Focus’ on KNME-TV (PBS)

I’d like to thank host Russell Contreras and the staff at New Mexico PBS station KNME-TV for inviting me to talk about my new book, Crosses of Iron: The Tragic History of Dawson, New Mexico, and Its Twin Mining Disasters. The interview aired Dec. 8 on the station’s New Mexico in Focus program. Both the…

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Dawson lost a true champion with the passing of Fred Becchetti

By Nick Pappas / December 14, 2023 / Comments Off on Dawson lost a true champion with the passing of Fred Becchetti

When I started work on Crosses of Iron four years ago, one of my biggest fears was that one or more of the people I would come to know might not be with us by the time the book came out. That wasn’t me being paranoid. It was a realization that many of the people I…

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Old Dawson townsite makes national list of major ranches for sale

By Nick Pappas / November 16, 2023 / Comments Off on Old Dawson townsite makes national list of major ranches for sale

The Dawson Elk Valley Ranch is back in the news. Under the headline “Aging Billionaire Cowboys Are Now Selling Their Iconic American Ranches,” Forbes magazine published a story in September that listed the nation’s nine largest ranches currently on the market. The old Dawson townsite made the list at No. 5 by size (50,000 acres)…

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Book-signing events attract families with ties to Dawson

By Nick Pappas / November 10, 2023 / Comments Off on Book-signing events attract families with ties to Dawson

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m always amazed at the number of people I meet at speaking engagements who have a direct or indirect link to Dawson. That was true before Crosses of Iron was released, and it’s certainly true now that the book is available online and at New Mexico bookstores. Cases…

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SouthWest Writers: An interview with author Nick Pappas

By Nick Pappas / October 3, 2023 / Comments Off on SouthWest Writers: An interview with author Nick Pappas

On Oct. 3, two days after the official release of Crosses of Iron: The Tragic Story of Dawson, New Mexico, and Its Twin Mining Disasters by the University of New Mexico Press, SouthWest Writers published a Q&A interview with me about the book on its website. SouthWest Writers, which was founded in the early 1980s,…

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First book review: Albuquerque Journal

By Nick Pappas / October 1, 2023 / Comments Off on First book review: Albuquerque Journal

For a first-time author, you can’t ask for more than to open your local Sunday newspaper and find a review of your new book — and a good one at that. Especially on the exact day of the book’s official release. But that’s what happened on Oct. 1 when I opened to the books section…

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World Journal: Newspaperman Nick Pappas tells Dawson story

By Nick Pappas / September 14, 2023 / Comments Off on World Journal: Newspaperman Nick Pappas tells Dawson story

In early September, I received an email from Sharon Niederman asking if I would be willing to meet with her to talk about the upcoming release of my book, Crosses of Iron: The Tragic Story of Dawson, New Mexico, and Its Twin Mining Disasters. Naturally, I said “yes,” and we met a few days later…

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Time has come to give back to the Dawson community

By Nick Pappas / September 7, 2023 / Comments Off on Time has come to give back to the Dawson community

Now that we’re within a few weeks of the Oct. 1 release of Crosses of Iron, I want to call your attention to a few words that appear in the Acknowledgments section at the back of the book. There you will find an expression of my heartfelt gratitude to the Dawson community for its encouragement…

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