Texas Books

Big Bend Landscapes by Texas painter Dennis Blagg is a breathtaking, coffee-table artbook of oil on canvas landscapes so captivating, they seize and hold one's attention as surely as the finest of photographs. Mood, mystery, natural serenity in the Big Bend National Park of Texas fill these compiled outdoor paintings austere mountains and dry deserts with a very special dignity and beauty. A joy to simply page through at leisure, each individual painting is enhanced with a brief but informative commentary in this outstanding and memorable collection.

Unique landscape artist, Dennis Blagg, shares selected paintings and drawings of West Texas. He captures more than the camera can and his style evokes a viseral response. Perhaps you must have "been there, done that" to appreciate that each one is a gift. Blagg also shares brief notes with each entry. That adds a personal touch with a underlying theme of conservation for this special landscape. I must confess I skipped right past the introduction by Ron Tyler and straight to the views of the Chisos that I can't get out of my mind.

Big Bend Landscapes is a feast for the heart and soul for all you Big Bend National Park lovers out there and believe me there's a lot of them. Dive into all the moods of the desert and let it carry you away. I just returned from a trip to Big Bend on Feb 25, 2003 and my question is "Was it real or was it Blagg?" Make the book purchase and do the trip and you be the judge.

Great photography with poetic like readings. A different approach to enjoy this incredible Park. Actually comes alive. Took the book and relived some of the pictures with the readings in person. My way of enjoying nature through anothers eyes and words.

Great book with the most beautiful full page photos of Big Bend National Park that I have ever seen! Makes me want to go back right away. It was well worth the money...

The review by Mr. Fowler pretty much sums up the book. For me there isn't anyone who can capture images of Big Bend quite like James Evans. I have long been a fan of his work and have waited for this book for many years. For those who have never been to the Big Bend region this book offers a chance to be introduced to what makes it so special. It isn't just the landscapes, it is the people. Big Bend Pictures communicates to me what makes west Texas so special. To stare into these pictures allows me to travel back to the region and experience again the heat, the dry air, the clouds(good lord the clouds, just look at how he captures the clouds) and the people. Gaze into the eyes of his subjects and know what it means to live life. Big Bend is like no other place on earth and James' photographs are like no others.

The Big Bend area of West Texas is both seductive and elusive to visitors. The immense scale, loneliness and beauty of the desert scenery can immediately charm any visitor to this remote borderland, and many books have succeeded in extolling these virtues. However, the human denizens of the Big Bend can be quirky lot, with a big dose of individuality an apparent requirement for remaining in these parts for very long.
In this new large-format book, James Evans has succeeded admirably in capturing for the viewer the essence of the human dimension of this vast land. Yes there are panoramas and thunderstorms on these pages, but it's the direct and intimate portraits of the people that will capture your attention. Elderly ranchers (and ranch women), young children, Anglos, Hispanics, funerals, dances, homes, animals - all powerful and direct visual statements. Many of these scenes aren't pretty. There's grit and violence, poverty, sadness; but it's all real. Evans has spent the past 15 years living in the Big Bend (he has a studio and gallery in tiny Marathon, TX), taking time to really know his subjects, gaining their trust, opening a window of truth before his lens. As a regular visitor to these parts, I feel Evans has finally captured the real essence of this amazing region for all of us Big Bend lovers to enjoy.
There are 102 duotone photographs, most are full or double page. A real bonus is James' comments about each photograph in the rear appendix. It is there we come to understand a little more about each of his subjects, and ultimately a bit about Evans as well. And good value, too; lots of book here for the quite reasonable price. And I like the horned lizard endpapers.

Ron Tyler's seminal work on the Big Bend of Texas is required reading for anyone who plans a trip to the "Texas Outback". This enchanting out-of-the-way part of Texas has invited explorers and adventurers for years and Tyler's historical treatment brings all the mystery and drama of the region to the surface for the modern traveler. The maps and historical photographs blend with the text to give the reader a "sense of place" that separates the Big Bend area from other southwestern landscapes. A must read for anyone interested in the remote lands of North America.

The Big Bend region of Texas is one of the most remote and least populated areas of the United States. From the center of Big Bend National Park at The Basin it is more than 100 miles by road to the nearest Supermarket in Alpine.

The author has compiled an authoritative history of the sparsely-populated Big Bend. The prose is scholarly rather than poetic, but the story is fascinating. Included in the book are maps, old photographs, a listing and description of historic sites, a thorough bibliography, extensive notes, and an index.

The Spaniard Cabeza de Vaca and his colleagues probably passed through the Big Bend in the 1530s; and the Spanish conquest began in 1580. Later the tide was turned as the Apaches and Comanches in the 18th and 19th century depopulated the Big Bend with their constant raids on Mexican settlements. In the 19th century the "gringos" arrived at the Big Bend and established ranches, mines, and wax factories -- the wax coming from the candelilla plant. One of the most interesting sections of the book concerns the conflict between Mexican revolutionaries and bandits and the U.S army in the early part of the 20th century during the era of Pancho Villa. The book concludes with the creation of Big Bend National Park in 1955.

The Big Bend is a tough country with a colorful history and this book is worth reading, especially if you plan to visit Big Bend National Park.

Smallchief

I grew up in the Dallas area so I have always been interested in Dallas history. This book by Darwin Payne is very interesting and readable, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Dallas history. Even if you aren't a history buff, any Dallas area resident will find this book just fascinating! I was lucky and took one of Professor Payne's classes at SMU many years ago. His love of Dallas history is infectious! You will see what I mean if you read this book!

I bought this book back in 1995 after seeing a local Dallas PBS feature on the book. It is well worth the money. An excellent history of the city, if you live or lived in Dallas you will enjoy it.

I used to read Sunny Nash's column in the Bryan-College Station Eagle. It was my favorite part of that paper and I was saddened when she left. Bigmama Didn't Shop at Woolworth's is an amazing look back at what for some Americans -- either for our age or our background -- is an unknown history.

Every White person in America should read this book! Sunny Nash writes the story of her childhood without preaching or ranting but she made me realize for the first time just how much skin color changes how one experiences the world. When she was just three years old her grandmother taught her how to read 'colored' and 'white only' because that was a survival skill just as important as 'Don't get in a car with strangers.' The book is remarkable. I was taught, and I teach, that skin color doesn't matter any more than hair color. But, if your skin color is brown, it matters a great deal to a great number of people. I needed to learn that, Sunny Nash is a great teacher.

Billy Bardin is a story about a boy and his marginalized grandfather, how they get to know each other, some history, and work together to save one of the oldest trees in the state. Based on real events, "Billy" is a great read, regardless of where you are.

I really liked this book. The story is about a boy who takes on land developers and gets an historic oak tree moved, rather than cut down. It's based on actual events that happened in Arlington, Texas a few years back. It's an excellent book for the older child, probably 9 on up. My 11-year old grandson loved it.

Ms. Penson has also written a wonderful book based on events in Arlington in the 1870s, You're an Orphan, Mollie Brown, with a heroine sure to appeal to today's adventurous girl.

This is a collection of 14 essays that vary greatly in focus and scope from the narrow nearly academic "Study of the Woodcreepers of Tropical America" to the wide open view of "Mexico by Train" and Through Peruvian Amazon by Gunboat".

Skutch's training is as a biologist and naturalist but his talents as a writer and his enthusiasm in the field have combined to help produce these fascinating essays. As someone interested in the birds and natural history of Central and South America I enjoyed each chapter. The Epilogue:"The Appreciative Mind" resonated with some of my own thoughts on birds and nature. Here again Skutch has written something I wish I could write, a philosophy of the appreciation of nature. It is particularly enjoyable when reading to find an author that has already collected thoughts that you yourself have stumbled about on. Here Skutch writes so eloquently on the enjoyment of nature and birds and the imperative to protect what has taken millenia to form that I have the greatest admiration of him.

Alexander Skutch traveled around much of Latin America as a USDA botanist in the 1930s and 1940s. His job involved such work as surveying the Amazon for rubber trees and studying the various plant life found in this remarkable region. However, his real love was the birds. It's difficult for birders to make their sport sound interesting to lay people but Skutch has a way with words that will capture the imagination of anyone with an interest in nature. He's a gentle soul who lived through interesting times, including the 1948 Costa Rican Revolution. His essay, "Birding during a Time of Revolution," is not only one of the most fascinating birding adventures I've ever read but it also perfectly captures the follies of man in this region, and throughout the world for that matter. My other favorite is "Birding on a Gunboat in the Amazon"-an essay about a military mission that Skutch made in the 1940s to survey the Amazon for rubber trees. While the times have changed in Central America, many of the birds remain the same. If you enjoy Latin America, and its culture, history, flora, and fauna, you will cherish this book and read Skutch's stories again and again.

People ought not only to read these sorts of books more often, but to write them. Birdsong is the sort of character-driven novel you'd expect from Walker Percy, in which characters, during the course of a day or a week, discover their freedom, realize the influence of others in their lives, the motivation behind that influence, and whether or not it has a right to be there. Dewey confronts each aspect of his past, vaguely aware that he is in a rare introspective moment that will allow him to separate his past from his present, and ultimately, choose his future.

The novel is set in 1958 before the drug, etc. scene. So the characters are valid to the period. A wonderful novel.

A very fascinating read. As a classic movie fan, I enjoyed reading about the existence of these films. The photographs and lobby cards provide a sneak peek into a historical time.

IN THE READING OF THIS BOOK I FOUND THAT IT GAVE A CLOSE SUMMARY OF THE BLACK MOVIE INDUSTRY,AS IT,WAS, AS NEW AS A BABY BOTTOM COMING INTO THE WORLD. FROM DAY ONE,I WISH THERE WERE MORE BOOKS OF THIS NATURE IN THE LOCAL LIBRARY,IN DOWNTOWN WHITE AMERICA, JANEEN CURRY