Dear Claudia,
Not a long response at all!  Tell me more; you've piqued my curiousity.  I now know that it covers 17th century families in central Mexico, not only Los Altos.  I also appreciate you telling me that it is most practical if your research extends that far back.   While all my families are indeed from central Mexican states and consist of very old 17th century names found there, I haven't made the connection to them.  As I mentioned, I'm a novice and have only made definite verifiable connections to the early 18th century in Mexico and Spain. 
 
How many volumes are there?  If the families are alphabetized, I could research Calderon, Diaz, and Lizundia in the second volume, but I would be most interested in the third--Onate, Rubio, Santelices, Valderrama, Villagran, and Zepulbeda! 
 
Again, thank you so much for sharing your expertise.  It allows me to make better sense of comments made within the group and place them in the proper context.  It was a pleasure.
 
Alice
     
 
    

--- On Fri, 4/2/10, claudiacasillas@gmail.com wrote:

From: claudiacasillas@gmail.com
Subject: [Nuestros Ranchos] Retonos Volumes I & II - for Alice Blake and Joseph de Leon
To: research@lists.nuestrosranchos.org
Date: Friday, April 2, 2010, 5:16 AM

Hello Alice and Joseph.  I'd like to take a minute and address your very honest question about the contents of the books by Mariano Gonzalez-Leal.  Your question resonates with me because I too had the same curiosity but never bothered to ask, because when it comes to book: "Yeah, I want them even though I don't know what's inside, and I sometimes regret buying them."  It's my secret addiction... 
Considering that we are all at different levels of research and understanding about our genealogies, I think it's a good gesture for those who are more advanced in their studies to give more than a perfunctory answer to your question.  That's what we're here for, right?

The series is a comprehensive study of the families who lived and settled the regions of Nueva Galicia.  It's not specific only to Los Altos, as there are many families mentioned in the books who lived in Aguascalientes, Guadalajara, Zacatecas, etc.  The first volume gives an overview of the geography, historical setting, and local culture.  It has some (but not many) family trees, mostly from the 17th Century, so if you're hoping to make a connection - you should have traced some lines back at least that far.

The series is split alphabetically, and since I only have the first and second volumes, I can only attest to these two.  Volume two has a total of 40 families/surnames histories (starts with ACEVES and ends with GOMEZ-HURTADO DE MENDOZA).  I must admit that I found a couple of discrepancies - so a lesson learned is to always seek to double-check and confirm that the information is accurate, no matter who the author is.  All and out: it is an invaluable source of information.  I was able to make many discoveries that otherwise, I would not have made.  The author has dedicated a lot of hard work to these books, and I can't wait to see the revised versions!

I hope this (long) description gives you a better picture.

-Claudia