Northern New Mexico is a complex weave of pride and history. In this region of ancient traditions and striking environmental and ethnic diversity, Norman Mauskopf spent a decade photographing the Hispanic people and their culture. The photographs that emerged depict the intersection of religion, injustice, community, and transcendence. Many of the prints were included in the application for the very first W. Eugene Smith Fellowship, which Mauskopf was then awarded in 2002 and Descendants was published in 2010 by Twin Palms in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The book also includes the poetry of New Mexican poet Jimmy Santiago Baca. A segment from the poem, Singing at the Gates, reads:

and newborns scream their arrivals,
and fathers with wrist chains and tattoos
cling to their little loves in parks,
and the circle widens and expands and ripples
toward every closed gate, with tribal drums beating,
gourds blowing and rattles rattling
we are here, we are here, we are here

Born in 1952 in Santa Fe of Chicano and Apache descent, Jimmy Santiago Baca was 21 in 1973, when he was convicted on drug charges and spent five years in prison. It was there that he learned to read and began writing poetry and is now a prominent poet and screenwriter. Baca is the winner of the Pushcart Prize, the American Book Award, the International Hispanic Heritage Award, and, for his memoir A Place to Stand, the prestigious International Award. Baca has devoted his post-prison life to writing and teaching others who are overcoming hardship. His themes include American Southwest barrios, addiction, injustice, education, community, love, and cultural difference. He has conducted hundreds of writing workshops in prisons, community centers, libraries, and universities throughout the country.