Unpacking Silver City: Revealing the Rich Tapestry of a Historic Town is the first comprehensive work in more than thirty years that shares the diversity of a seminal western town. Compiling the contributions of ten skilled historians this book is directly in line with the mission of the Silver City Museum to present an accurate, diverse and complex portrait of a New Mexico town; a town that exemplifies the challenges, conflict, and growth of the American West.

Assembling the work of researchers who have plumbed previously untapped resources, this book examines themes of a range of uses concerning the environment, the challenges of ethnic clashes among a diverse population, the vital and often controversial role of the federal and previous territorial governments, the major role of women and emerging health care systems, and the rich culture of ranching. Unpacking Silver City celebrates the myths as well as the captive hold the "wild west" has on the American psyche. Unpacking Silver City stands as a model of local history and its importance in providing the detail which enlivens the broader context of United States history. It's a book every student of the West and in particular New Mexico should have in their library.

Contributors include Susan Berry, Tom Hester, Javier Marrufo, Karen J. Leong, Andy Hernandez, Stephen Fox, Scott Fritz, James L. Smith, Douglas M. Dinwiddie, and Heather Moorland.