Texas Books

With so much publishing money funneled into Chick Lit and the next mass market success, it is more than just a little refreshing to find a book of poems of such caliber. Wright, with his dark, lyrical style is the sort of poet who is the real deal. His sensibilities, reminscent of Roethke and Dickey, materialize in his masterful images and his language; while his approach to nature (especially a blue crab) is fresh and unique. His perception of the South denies the current trends of focusing on the "redneck qualities" and instead, revisits Southern landscape and relationships in a tone both comically horrific and heartbreakingly beautiful. Wright is an emerging enchanter to enjoy.

Give this book a chance, and see why the University Presses are putting out the best work right now.

It's hard to remain sedate about a book that shows such promise: I was one of the few who had access to the manuscript of William Wright's Dark Orhard before it was selected for the Texas Review Breakthrough Poetry Prize. For a first time book, Wright's poetry strikes me as masterly; he has a inherent sense of line break and meter, although most of his work is free verse. In addition, Wright's work synthesizes the sensibilities of preceding poets like Roethke, Dickey, Ammons, James Wright, Richard Hugo, and, in his more lyrically obsessive pieces, Dylan Thomas; Wright's style is definitely his own. My favorite pieces from the book include "Dreaming of My Parents," "Cruelty," "Benfield, Remembered," "Dead Dog," and "In Fear of Holiness"-- all of these poems interlace Wright's half-imagined, half-experienced childhood with interior exploration, really great stuff.

Nature and humanity coalesce in some of the best, freshest poetry that I've recently read, a welcome relief from the esoteric, propaganda fueled poetry that claims much of today's literary landscape.

Not a terribly sophisticated book, and somewhat star-struck in tone, but nevertheless a very interesting and thorough account of an early Galveston socialite.

After visiting Ashton Villa in Galveston, October 2003, I decided to learn more about its famous former inhabitant- Bettie Brown. The book was actually suggested to our group as we walked through the old house. The tour whetted my appetite, and when I finally bought the book, I devoured it in one sitting. Bettie lived a fabulous life of luxury, and was a truly modern woman. There are several pictures of Bettie and her family in the book, and of Ashton Villa which is just as important as Bettie herself. The book covers the span of Bettie's life, her family history, a very long family tree, and even the life of the house after Bettie died. The 1900 Galveston storm is a prominent event in Bettie and Ashton Villa's life, and it was very interesting to read about how it affected even the very rich way of life. I recomend this book not only as a peek into Galveston history, but also as a valuable biography of a true Texas woman.

A non-stop read. Some of the most eerie and interesting characters I've ever read. My mind wrapped around the story and wouldn't let me put it down until the end. Couldn't wait until volume 2.

Dead and Dying Angels

by James A. Mangum

The first words you read after the title page is...."Please Excuse Me, I'm Killing Myself".
It's an ominous start to this well crafted gritty "novel noir" set in the south Texas sunshine.

Jamey Maxwell, a depressed, retired custom officer lives in Dos Cruces, a hot dusty town..... "forty miles from Laredo and light years from anywhere else.....where both sides of the tracks are on the wrong side of town." He has moved to the town to get away from a downturn in his life. His wife and daughter were killed in a car wreck in Houston and Jamey believes he is at fault. He sees no reason for living.

Then strange things begin to happen in Dos Cruces....a brutal rape and murder is blamed on an innocent local and Jamey is drawn into a labyrinth of mysterious events with twist and turns reminiscent of Raymond Chandler's 1930's hard boiled detective novels. Chandler with a hint of the supernatural

The first person writing style of Dead And Dying Angels is conversational and personal.....revealing sometimes embarrassing details about the main character's life. The easy prose moves the plot along giving us plenty of backstories for character development. Jamey Maxwell is a good and ethical man to whom bad things have happened and that continue to happen. His ultimate reaction to all this is violent and we find ourselves applauding.....cheering him on while at the same time knowing that we are condoning a crime. A good writer like James Mangum can pull this off with grace and style. It's the stuff of good literature.

I put the book down after reading it in one sitting and wished I could start on the second book of the projected trilogy. Hurry up James, a lot of us are waiting.

Tim Saska
Santa Fe

Too many texas children know nothing about the heroes of our state. This is a book that every responsible parent (who call themselves Texan) should read to this little ones. Don't let the stories of people like Deaf Smith die due to the incompetence of our schools or the ignorance of our media. Take up the torch for your family yourself.

A good friend's fourth grader selected this book as a gift from me while visiting my new home. She was completely absorbed by it and stimulated to remember and relate to me the Texas history she'd studied in the past year. I read it, too, and found it a good tale, well told and well illustrated.

Compiled by true crime writer and newspaper journalist Carlton Stowers, Death In A Texas Desert is a very highly recommended anthology of seventeen crime stories taken from the pages of the Dallas Observer. These were horrific cases of notorious events that range from the search for alleged murderer Ira Einhorn, to the legacy of racist killer bobby Frank Cherry, to the last, angry days of George Hennard who opened fire in Killeen's Luby's Cafeteria killing 23 patrons. These are stories of human experience at hits darkest as exemplified by Andrea Yates who killed her five children and the impact Rusty Yates, her husband and the father of her children whose life was irrevocably shattered in a few short hours. Other stories are about missing children, a rest home murderer, and murders solved almost a century after they were committed. Through each and every story, Carlton Stowers takes his readers seriously and provides them with stories that are devoid of gossip and exaggeration as we explore the darkest sides of criminology as they played out in the lives of real people with real consequences for themselves and their communities.

I have always enjoyed Carlton Stower's books, and this is one of his best. It is a collection of true crime stories that have been published previously. The "Death in a Texas Desert" stroy is genuinely creepy. He does very good research and is a very entertaining writer.

I went to serveral book stores looking for the book I needed - to no avail. I came home and looked through the phone book to obtain book stores who might have the book I needed - to no avail. I went on line to Amazon.com and what to my wondering eyes - the book I needed. I received it in two day's time and lived happily ever after. Thank you Amazon!

This story details how people suffer and die from the repressive labor practices of pesticide-addicted agribusiness. It should give pause to people eating foods produced and harvested in places whose labor practices are known to be repressive. It should spur support for "fairly-traded" foods and also should spur investigations into the activities of agribusinesses using pesticides but probably won't because the power these corporations have over people and political systems continues to increase.

This should be considered essential reading for anyone working in the areas of public health and occupational health. It is a modern but 'classic' occupational health story, which illustrates again, that when workers are repressed, forced by economic circumstances to accept their working conditions as their employers dictate, significant health problems follow.

And the long screw of history keeps on turning...

For several years now, a new range war has erupted in the western states. Despite what is claimed on a certain "reality" television show, fire is not the lifeblood of the tribe. Water is and is the issue in the modern day range war that remains out of most media coverage despite the far-reaching implications.

The battle over water supplies now and in the future is causing major problems in the west. Beyond the fact that former deserts now have lush golf resorts, it is a fact that as the population in major cities continues to swell, water is more and more in short supply, Since water crosses political boundaries above and below ground, it is up to nations to work out ways of accommodating the scarce supply.

One way of doing this is by treaty such as the one between Mexico and the United States originally enacted in 1944. Under the treaty, Mexico is to release water which would eventually flow into the Rio Grande along the Texas/Mexico border. As those of us living in Texas know, instead, despite the many promises of Mexican President Fox to do so, they haven't released the water. Because of that fact as well as a massive multi year drought, the Rio Grande has become a river in name only. Much of the year it is nothing more than a trickle at best. The drought and treaty is the backdrop for this latest effort from Allana Martin.

In this sixth book of the series, it has been six weeks since the death of Commissioner Zanjiv Mehendru who was head of the United States Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission. He had sided with Mexico in the dispute recently angering many of the locals and earning him the derisive name "River Master." In this arid hard scrabble land around Presidio in deep Southwest Texas, his behavior as well as other actions he had undertaken were not met with appreciation and instead for many, made their lives harder as decades of behavior were suddenly against the law overnight. His death in Mexico six weeks ago was considered good riddance by many on this side of the border and still no arrest has been made.

That is until shortly after Texana Jones and her husband Clay, long fixtures in the border country, sit down in a restaurant with good friends, Mario and Olivia. Over dinner they discuss life in the border country until their dinner is interrupted by the arrival of several members of the Mexican Police. Clay is arrested and taken away without explanation and soon Texana learns that her mild mannered veterinarian husband has been arrested for the murder of Zanjiv Mehendru.

Having lived nearly all her life on the border, Texana knows that the concept of innocence or any other tenets of the United States Legal System do not exist in Mexico. Instead, under their system, the process is automatically stacked against the accused across the board on many different levels. In Clay's case, despite the fact that it can be conclusively proved he was far from the border let alone the murder site at time of death, it doesn't matter. Pressure is being brought to make sure that Clay is convicted and sentenced for the crime and proving Clay innocent isn't going to work. Instead, Texana begins to dig into the background of the victim searching for who might have done it while the pressure against her and her husband steadily mounts. Other strange events begin to occur as well which may or may not tie into Clay's problem. One that seems to get worse every day.

This is the sixth novel in the series and while it could be read as a stand alone (more so than earlier ones) I would not recommend doing so. Allana Martin does not write intense thrillers of page turning suspense. Instead, her books are more about the characters and the land of Southwest Texas. Each book, including this one, moves slowly forward as the author paints a deep picture of the region which changes subtly from book to book as the characters evolve. While she is not one to keep the reader glued to his or her seat, she has the ability within a few short paragraphs to transport the author into the whole other world of the border country of Southwest Texas, which she so clearly loves.

Which is precisely why I read her. As a native Texan who had the good fortune to be in that part of the State when I was too young to appreciate it, she has an incredible ability to bring it alive, She gets it and brings her love for the people and the curious blend of Tex-Mex culture alive. Her first book, "Death Of A Healing Woman" brought that imagery alive and every book since has built on that through great writing, ongoing character development, and a unique style all her own. She has quite a legacy at work here and serves as proof that the west and east coast driven bestseller lists often do miss quite a few very good books.

The head of the United States section of the International Boundary and Water Commission Zanjiv Mehendru has made many enemies in America for his decisions favoring Mexico. In Mexico he is regarded, as a hero so when he is murdered, there is a public outcry for the judicales to catch his murderer. When Clay and Texana Jones, the owners of Texana's Trading Post and a veterinary practice go across the Mexican border to the town of Ojinaga to dine with friends at a local restaurant, Clay is arrested.

It is only later that Texana learns that her husband is believed to be the killer of Mehendru but when she goes over their records, she has proof that Clay was nowhere near Ojinaga the night the homicide occurred. The magistrate dismisses her evidence preferring that of a prostitute who insists says she saw Clay kill Mehendru. Someone politically high up wants Clay convicted and Texana must find out whom that person is if she ever wants to see her beloved husband back home with her where he belongs.

Life on the border is definitely different and La Frontera has a culture and a history different from the rest of both countries. The protagonist must work within a court system that finds a suspect guilty until proven innocent and the only way that she can free her husband is to offer up an alternative suspect. Friends on both sides of the border work together to uncover a conspiracy that is keeping an innocent man incarcerated. Allana Martin has written a culturally colorful amateur sleuth novel.

Harriet Klausner

When your typical blues fan thinks of cities that were important to the development of this great art form, he usually thinks of Chicago and maybe Memphis. However, Alan Govenar and Jay Brakefield make the case for Dallas, Texas as a major center for the developement of the blues in no uncertain terms. Of course, Deep Ellum and Central Track is not a blues book per se, but rather a well researched historical and sociological treatise on the birth and development of Big D's Deep Ellum and Central Track districts from the earliest days to the present. The authors use lots of primary source interviews with the surviving denizens of this fascinating area of town and paint a truly engaging picture of the lifestyles and business practices of these predominantly black and Jewish areas, particularly around the 1920's heyday of the earliest great blues artists. Such immortal founding fathers as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson and "Oak Cliff" T-Bone Walker were crucial to the growth of the art form, and these and innumerable lesser artists are covered in meticulous and loving detail. The authors also spend plenty of time covering contributors to the local jazz and country music scenes as well, particularly jazz hornman Buster Smith, and country pickers the Light Crust Doughboys, where western swing icon Bob Wills got his start. Even though the work has a decidedly scholarly bent, the numerous stories of such colorful characters as gambling mogul Benny Binion and mammoth shoeshine entrepreneur "Open the Door Richard", provide enough reading pleasure to keep even casual fans enthralled. Researchers will love the nearly one hundred pages of source appendices, and fans of history, sociology, music, and Big D will all want to read this book as soon as possible, for it proves, among other things, that Dallas, Texas was and is a fascinating city, as well as a major contributor to the history of the blues art form.

This is a well researched and well written description of a time and place in Dallas in the 20's and 30's that has long been overdue. The history of blues, jazz, gospel and country was written in Deep Ellum. It was a "good read", and I recommend it highly.

If you like Hillerman's characters, than you will probably like Miller's. She has captured the dry, honest character of the Arizona world and has a scientists eye for her surroundings. The stories just keep getting better! Thanks Ms. Miller and keep Frankie digging.

I could not put down this book. I found it exciting, fast moving, educational, terrorizing and just plain kept me on the edge of my seat. I didn't want it to end and I can't wait for book three to come out. Write fast, Susan!!!

From the Cover: "Skillfully combining mysticism and history, [this book] brings to life the plight of the residents of Presidio, a village on the border between Texas and Mexico that neither side truly wants to claim as its own. Beginning in 1883 and continuing through 1970, the lost souls of Presidio - both living and dead - tell their own stories, revealing the history of their town to be one of desolation and poverty, where the Devil is the only visitor, and the original occupants and their ancestors have lost their land and consequently the right to rule their own lives. narrated by the villagers' voices - including a lawyer, a renegade, and even an unborn child - the residents of the town strongly evoke through their own words the troubled life of the displaced Mexican. Brito's powerful imagery and passionate writing bring us to a clearer undersanding of these people and their lives than is likely to be found anywehre else."

ARISTEO BRITO'S NOVEL IS AN EMOTIONAL JOURNEY. HIS SINCERITY IS OBVIOUS AND HIS IMAGES ARE TRUE PRINTS OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT.I HAVE NOT BEEN SO MOVED BY THE INTENSITY OF A NOVEL IN A LONG TIME. THE PLIGHT AND HEROISISM OF A PEOPLE SO OPPRESSED COULD ONLY BE DESCRIBED SO ELOQUENTLY BY ARISTEO BRITO. I AM ONLY SADDENED THAT I COULD NOT READ IT IN IT'S FIRST EDITION OF SPANISH, BECAUSE I IMAGINE HIS WORDS WERE EVEN MORE COMPELLING AND BEAUTIFUL.