Texas Books

seemingly endless plains, farmed into a quilted patchwork of green squares and circles, abruptly dissolved into a brownish red fractal universe.

at 34.946 north 103.438 west is one of the most striking features. you can check it out online at the terraserver or on any map program. of course they could never do justice to what it really looks like. i've been obsessing over this area for a few days now, although i hope it'll pass before i crank out bucks for yet another book i don't really need.

Charlie just wanted to prove she could take a risk. But buying that sexy red dress caused chaos! She agreed to act the fiancée for only one night! But Davis's mother, Ellen, was so easy to love and Charlie had soon agreed to seeing Ellen the next night. The well-meant lie became a large tangle as more and more people became involved.

Jim, seeing that the couple really belonged together, began making waves. He included Charlie's two ranch brothers. Davis began to admit his feelings for Charlie, but Charlie refused to even consider Davis as a possible real husband! She had lived her entire life on the ranch with her brothers. She knew the dangers of rodeos! Since Davis intended to become a cowboy, they had no future together.

***** To me, Charlotte was more of an Imp than an Elf. Both main characters were stubborn as mules and as immovable as boulders! But even heavy boulders can be forced into motion, as author, Kathy Carmichael, proves within these pages!

This story was pure delight! Full of places in which I could not stop my chuckling from becoming audible! Highly recommended reading! *****

This is a great little book. I'm delighted that it is back in print. It is the story which led to the movie, "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," a great movie with Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds.

But, the book is nothing like the movie! It's even better. In the first place, it is history, not fiction. This is the story of the oldest continuously operating brothel in Texas. It first opened for business in 1844, in La Grange, Texas, where it became an institution which the community not only tolerated, but looked at with a certain pride.

The Chicken Ranch was protected by a succession of sheriffs, who, according to the author, did so out of the goodness of their hearts, and because the Chicken Ranch was a source of invaluable intelligence into criminal activities in the county.

The author, Jan Hutson, who moved to Texas when she married, and is intensely interested in Texas history, writes from a knowledgeable and sympathetic viewpoint.

Hutson is extremely hard on the TV personality, Marvin Zindler, whose efforts she credits for shutting the famous old house down. She portrays him as a toupee wearing, sensation-seeking "jerk" who went on a vendetta against the Chicken Ranch, seeking personal aggrandizement by making it a cause celebre.

"Busting sixteen obscure whores from Houston was not going to grab any headlines. But the Chicken Ranch was not obscure; it was a name familiar to every schoolboy in Texas. The house was doomed because its public relations had worked too well."(Page 109)

This is a great little book. This new edition is a reprint and virtually identical, but of far better quality and less expensive than the first edition.

The book is full of chuckles, and is a delight to read. I recommend it highly.

Joseph Pierre

This is the story of the longest continually operating brothel in the state of Texas

It is the story which led to the movie, "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," a great movie with Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds.

But, the book is even better than the movie. It is a factual account, rather than a fictionalized version, as was the movie. The Chicken Ranch first opened for business in 1844, in La Grange, Texas, where it became an institution which the community not only tolerated, but looked at with a certain local pride, resisting all out-of-town efforts to close it down.

It was protected by a succession of sheriffs, who, supposedly, did so out of the goodness of their hearts, and because the Chicken Ranch was a source of invaluable intelligence, used to control criminal activities in the county.

The author, Jan Hutson, writes from a knowledgeable viewpoint, having moved to Texas upon her marriage, where she developed an intense interest in local history.

Hutson is extremely hard on the TV personality whose efforts she credits for shutting the famous old house down. She portrays him as a toupee wearing, sensation-seeking "jerk" who went on a vendetta against the Chicken Ranch, seeking personal aggrandizement by making it a cause celebre.

"Busting sixteen obscure whores from Houston was not going to grab any headlines. But the Chicken Ranch was not obscure; it was a name familiar to every schoolboy in Texas. The house was doomed because its public relations had worked too well." (Page 109)

This is a great little book. It is full of chuckles. You won't be able to put it down.

Joseph Pierre,

It's too bad this book is out-of-print. It's a dandy. Maybe you can get a copy through Amazon's rare and out-of-print service. It is the story which led to the movie, "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," a great movie with Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds.

But, the book is nothing like the movie! It's even better. This is the story of the oldest continuously operating whorehouse in Texas. It first opened for business in 1844, in La Grange, Texas, where it became an institution which the community not only tolerated, but looked at with a certain pride.

It was protected by a succession of sheriffs, who, supposedly, did so out of the goodness of their hearts, and because the Chicken Ranch was a source of invaluable intelligence into criminal activities in the county.

The author, Jan Hutson, seems to write from a knowledgeable--even intimate--viewpoint. She says in her Acknowledgements that she could not have written it without her husband's "enthusiasm in humoring my eccentricities" and her children's patience and pride.

Hutson is extremely hard on the TV personality, Marvin Zindler, whose efforts she credits for shutting the famous old whorehouse down.

She portrays him as a toupee wearing, sensation-seeking "jerk" who went on a vendetta against the Chicken Ranch, seeking personal aggrandizement by making it a cause celebre.

"Busting sixteen obscure whores from Houston was not going to grab any headlines. But the Chicken Ranch was not obscure; it was a name familiar to every schoolboy in Texas. The house was doomed because its public relations had worked too well." (Page 109)

This is a great little book. If you can get hold of a copy, you will not be able to put it down.

Joseph Pierre,
Author of THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS: Our Journey Through Eternity

Dobie talks about this land of shadows where we meet Alice Henderson, who faced down fifty cow thieves; Don Milton Favor, who built his own fort while making treaties with hostile Indians; and Cheetwah, a mystic Indian chief who vanished into the mountains to keep vigil over hidden treasures. These and other characters spring from the pages of Dobie's book with a vigor and purpose that makes the heart sing.

The Texas of the Big Bend country is where Dobie's prose satisfies, "Outlandish pictures painted down the sides of caves by aborigines which no white man can now decipher...a jagged and gashed land where legend has placed a lost canyon, its broad floor carpeted with grass that is always green and watered by gushing springs, its palisaded walls imprisoning a herd of buffalo...somewhere in this land credulity has fixed a petrified forest with tree trunks seven hundred feet long."

The author claims, "After I hear a tale I do all I can to improve it," and this is an understatement. Readers who possess a sense of wonder will enjoy this book. History often cloaks personages with dusty trappings, stuffy sayings, and mixed motives so time has faded the awe that Drake, Cortez, Raleigh, and Coronado experienced. Dobie illuminates the wonder of the children of Coronado as they chase their dreams and draws us into their world of enchantment.

Francisco Coronado never found his golden riches or the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola during his time in the Southwest. When he returned in 1542, and told the truth about his barren search, he wasn't believed. One person who did believe said, "Granted he did not find the riches of which he had been told -- he found instead a place in which to search for them."

And the search continues. For centuries Coronado's vision of wealth has lured countless thousnads to the Southwest where tradition and myth have marked mountains, rivers, and ancient ruins with boundless treasures. This book follows long forgotten Spanihs trails, buffalo trails, cow trails, and areas where there are no trails as searchers dig for riches which eludes their grasp. Others, rather than searching, have sat and told stories of lost mines, buried treasure and of ghostly patrones who guard the treasures -- adding layers to the myths that abound in the land of Coronado.

This book lovingly describes Spanish influence and tradition on the Sountwest and combines a terrific cast of characters, interesting situations, and Dobie's unmatched skill at weaving a tale. The author's footnotes are at the end of the text and are filled with tales and legends of lost mines and treasures. There's an interesting section on the elaborate Code of Treasure Symbols used by the Spaniards. An excellent glossary of idioms used in the Southwest follows that section.

There is more to the American West than gunfighters, farmers, bankers, cowboys, and miners. The author has given us the realm of the dreamers.

However, if you like animals and the people who care for them you will like this book and the sequel, Texas Doc.