Meet the Author,
Joe de Kehoe.
Joe de Kehoe is the son of a career US Navy master chief petty officer and grew up on and near Navy and Marine Corps bases in California, Japan, Florida, and South Carolina.
Joe graduated from California State University, Northridge in 1970 with a BS degree in Geology and earned an MS degree in Geology from San Diego State University in 1972. It is probably a result of his geologic field work as a student that he acquired an enduring appreciation for the outdoors and a love for the subtle beauty and solitude of the desert. He has written dozens of articles for desert newsletters, has given talks to groups about the history of the Eastern Mojave Desert, and frequently leads groups on trips to visit remote sites for a first-hand look at desert localities.
During a 30-year career as an international petroleum exploration geologist, he worked in overseas posts for Mobil Oil and Diamond Shamrock Petroleum Corp. He has lived and traveled extensively in the United Kingdom, Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa, India, and the Himalayas. He is now retired and still makes frequent trips to the Mojave Desert.
“Comprehensively illustrated with photos and maps, well-written and very well organized, Joe de Kehoe’s people-oriented historical narrative of the Eastern Mojave Desert is a unique and welcome addition to our Southern California library’s local history collection.”
If you would like to contact Joe, leave a comment or a suggestion, or send him a book review, please fill out the form below. You may also reach him directly at trailsendpublishing@yahoo.com.
“Before reading The Silence and the Sun I had little knowledge of these Eastern Mojave Desert communities. This was largely due to the fact that historical information on this region remains mostly inaccessible to the average person. However, all the thorough information that the author gathered into this book (much of which is rare) has made this once unknown region much more familiar to me — in fact, I now feel a new found connection to the land. If you are interested in such desert railroad and mining towns as Chubbuck, Cadiz, Milligan, and some of the old Route 66 places such as Amboy, Bagdad, Danby, and Chambless, then you will find this book a beacon of light for a region that has largely remained in the dark.”
