The Santa Fe Trail has a special allure in Southwestern history. It was a trail that linked two frontiers—the far northern frontier of the newly formed Mexican nation with the westward expanding United States. The Trail also crossed the traditional lands of many Indigenous nations marking the trail as a nexus between nations and cultures. Within a generation the Santa Fe Trail became the route for advancing United States interests and the expansionist policies of Manifest Destiny. Women were not distant from the challenges and dramas as well as the adventure of crossing the continent before railroads. Crossings introduces readers to women whose experiences on the trail embrace those themes and so much more.

An expert guide to the people of the Santa Fe Trail, Frances Levine has curated a view of the American West that finally gives voice to many of the women who made this journey. The book will introduce audiences to the place of women over the long and fascinating history of the trail.