Texas Books

As a die hard Longhorn I found the stories to be fascinating and often very funny; from Earl Campbell talking about Darrell Royal coming to visit his mom to Doug English talking about his only touchdown in college [which came off a punt blocked ironically by Earl Campell], I thought it was good reading and recommend it to any Longhorn fan who wants to hear a little of the inside 'scoop' on Longhorn football life.

Sit back and prepare to see how over the years, The University of Texas has impacted lives. While the crux of this is supposed to be just about football players, you quickly realize that this book transcends football and really touches how U.T. Austin impacts lives.

I highly recommend for anyone that has every had any connection to U.T. Austin or for any High School student that wants to understand what U.T. is all about.

Hook 'em

VERY AWESOME READ!! SIMPLY CAN'T PUT IT DOWN. THE PERFECT ADDITION TO ANY LONGHORN COLLECTION. BILL LITTLE DID AN OUTSTANDING JOB ON THIS BOOK. IT'S LIKE A LONGHORN TIMELINE FOR PLAYERS. AN INSTANT CLASSIC!!

As the title makes clear, the editors gathered the works of women writers who have ventured to put the spirit of the Southwest into words. The editors wisely divide the 100 or so essays and poems into eight categories such as "Geographies" and "The Nature of Urban Life." This allows the reader to navigate with greater ease through these vibrant, evocative and often moving pieces.

In Sandra Ramos O'Briant's wry essay "The Green Addiction," the writer recounts how her paternal grandmother "didn't like it that Daddy had married a Mexican." After her parents divorced and she left Texas with her mother for New Mexico, she was introduced to the exquisite pain of eating chile, something her non-Mexican relatives "didn't have the cojones to deal with."

And in Nancy Mairs' moving "Writing West," we get a taste of what it is to live and travel in the Southwest in a wheelchair. Her prose is spare, tough and unsentimental.

Pat Mora's "Voces del Jardín" is a homage to both the legacy and pleasures of her walled garden, which, she notes, is a "design indigenous to Mexico ... brought to the Americas by the Spanish ... a tradition Moorish and Mexican."

And, of course, there are descriptions of nature, wild and free, as in Sandra Lynn's "Poem in Which I Give You a Canyon": "Notice that this canyon is comprised of / two strata of volcanic origin: / a dark bitter chocolate and an airy vanilla."

It is a daunting task to describe fully the contours of this anthology, because so many fine writers are represented here -- including Joy Harjo, Denise Chávez and Barbara Kingsolver.

"What Wildness Is This" is a fitting tribute to the rugged complexity of the Southwest from the pens of a diverse group of women writers.

[The full review first appeared in the El Paso Times.]

Although I am a New Yorker by birth and now live in Pennsylvania, I am drawn to the Southwest by the stories in What Wildness Is This. Years before, I was attracted to that part of the country by the conferences and retreats held by Story Circle Network. When I opened the book, I turned first to the stories by women I've met through this organization. Then I searched the index for stories about places I've been: the Texas Hill Country, Austin, Phoenix, the Grand Canyon. Then I read about Utah where my husband lived for twelve years before we met and a place that remains a part of him.
Almost three hundred women sent personal stories or poems for this anthology and fifty pieces were chosen. The editors then added another fifty pieces of previously published work by writers such as Diane Ackerman, Barbara Kingsolver, Terry Tempest Williams and Naomi Shihab Nye. The result is a hundred pieces exploring the relationship of a woman's life experiences to a place, the American Southwest.
The works are arranged in eight sections: the way we live on the land (A Land Full of Stories;) our journeys through the land (Geographies: Journey Notes;) nature in cities (Home Address: The Nature of Urban Life;) nature at risk (Earth Is an Island: Nature at Risk;) nature that sustains us (The Sustaining Land;) our memories of the land (The Key Is In Remembering: Growing Up On the Land;) our kinship with the animal world (Eagle Inside Us;) and what we leave on the land when we are gone (What We Leave Behind.)
The poems, essays and memoirs I read drew pictures for me, taking me back where I've been and showing me new, yet unseen landscapes through the writers' eyes. These word artists showed me what the Southwest looks and feels like - big dangerous snakes; hot, humid summers; endless wind; parched desert; small deer and short trees; distant horizons. We only have one of those in Pennsylvania - the humid summers.
This is a rough, un-softened land unlike the Northeast where I've lived all my life. The writers' words made me want to see the river that flows through a canyon, to watch the blackbirds, to feel the "muscular wind" of Linda Joy Myers' Oklahoma ("Song of the Plains."). I want to eat tortillas in Santa Fe like Sandra Ramos O'Briant ("Chile Tales: The Green Addiction.")
My ethnic and immigrant roots pulled on me when I read about the hope of a young Jewish couple in Davi Walders' poem "Big Spring, Fifty Years After." A line from her poem "Jewish Oil Brat" could serve to summarize the whole book: "...courage rooted deep here, gushed high and fierce here..."
Reading, I pictured oil wells and gas wells and dogs in the yard. I felt what it was like to be the part-white child in an Indian school like Leslie Marmon Silko in "Not You, He Said." I laughed at the cunning of Patricia Nordyke Pando's grandmother in "Dumplings Come to Town."
So many other images remain with me: Ironwoods and cactus and dust and "the occasional elm." The lives in these stories and poems are lived outdoors, no matter the number of hours spent within four walls. The land colors everything, determines everything, and decides everything.
What makes this different from other anthologies of nature writing? Written entirely by women, the authors are an integral part of each story or poem. Kathleen Dean Moore says in the Foreword that they "break down the cultural constraints of ...European ideals of `man and nature'...and "Man as individual, ...distinguished by the presence of mind from all of nature, which is as lifeless as a millstone..."
Co-editor Susan Wittig Albert says that the editors were looking for writers who had experienced the natural world "not as Nature, objectively...'out there,' but in a deeply personal, intimate and self-revealing way `in here'."
This is a collection to celebrate not only because it adds so many beautiful female voices to the canon of nature writing but especially because our own Story Circle Network sponsored it. To paraphrase Barbara Kingsolver in "Not Long Ago," "I can't think of (a book I've read that gave me) such a clear fix on what it means to be human."

What a treat! Not only are the stories and poems inside the cover delightful, passionate, insightful and/or all of the above, but handling the book itself is a delight. From the picture on the cover connecting past and present to the decaled edges and the weight of the pages, What Wildness is This is a pleasure to handle.

Inside, riches flow. Here you will find women who pour out their passion for, and their connection with places in the Southwest. The places vary from solitary canyons casting protective shadows from the blazing sun through open prairies with dancing grasses to city backyards shielding home-nests of families from urban chaos. The women who write these words write with deep feeling, fine writing and connections to Nature. These are not mere descriptions; in many cases, they are love songs.

About half of the almost 100 writers in Wildness were chosen from a call for entries by Story Circle Network, a national organization dedicated to helping women tell their stories. The others are previously published writers including Joy Harjo, Terry Tempest Williams and Barbara Kingsolver.

In the introduction, Kathleen Dean Moore writes, "the women write with a heady freedom from definition and expectation, exploring the folds and shadows of the whole geography of language and land, heart and mind." The writings are arranged into themes such as: how we live on the land, our journeys through the land, nature uncovered in urban life, our kinship with the animal world, what we hope to leave behind and other related topics.

Cindy Bellinger says it well in her "This Land on my Face", "It seeps under your skin, coursing through your veins like footsteps following old mountain trails. Before you know it, the land settles on your face. And you know you're home." There are so many delicious quotes that I can not include them all. The poetry, much of it written by First Americans, soars. As I read, I look into my own backyard, and nod my head in harmony with the writer. I remember the trails I've hiked in Bandolier National Monument in New Mexico. I am given the feeling of having been where I will never, in this reality, go. And, I, always a city gal, can taste the honeysuckle, experience the dust and feel the sweat provided by vivid memories of rural life in the Southwest,

What Wildness is This takes you not only deep into the Nature of the Southwest but also into the natures of many selves. Ry reading this anthology, you will find yourself visiting your own inner landscape as well.

by Judith Helburn
for Story Circle Network Book Reviews
www.storycirclebookreviews.org
reviewing books by, for, and about women

These authors really know their stuff! Lots of information to help your chances of actually observing these native beauties in the wild. Conservation is a repeated theme throughout. Texans will be blown away by the incredible photos! I love mine.

The authors, a husband-wife team, combine their specialties to create an exciting experience for the reader. Joe is a biologist and photographer, and Ann is a writer. They have crafted a beautifully executed book. The writing is excellent; the photography is exquisite; the organization is wonderful; and the information is easily digestible for the lay person. The authors have spent years chasing down these delightful and beautiful orchids and now bring their beauty to you. The University of Texas Press has created a book of high quality and beauty with great color photographs. Fifty-four types of orchids are discussed and described in their natural habitats. Each of the regional sections are described and orchids living in each listed. Orchids are listed by flower color, genus and species, and scientific names. One appendix lists species distribution by county. The list of references and index add great value to the book.

This book is clearly a labor of love on the part of the authors, and is one that should be very useful to nature lovers in general, and both amateur and professional orchidologists. The photography is excellent, giving a feel for both the habitat and individual plants and flowers. There is only one very rare species that is not pictured. The index is well done and quite useable. The authors have done a superb job of promoting the cause of orchid conservation -- including such things as "How to Save Our Native Orchids: What You Can Do" on page 5. They have a good general discussion of orchid life cycles, their habitats, mycorhizal associations and pollenators. For those not familiar with Texas the inclusion of a vegetation map and a short description of each major vegetation type is very useful. Orchids are listed by: 1) flower colour, 2) by vegetation/habitat types, and finally species distributions by county are given. One orchid Habenaria quinqueseta does not have a distribution map, but since it was collected over 150 years ago, we shouldn't be too concerned. The only real lack that I have found is that there is no key to the genera and species given. This is an excellent book that every serious orchid species enthusiast should have in their book collection -- if only for the wonderful photography.

My daughter was reading it and I looked at it out of curiosity to see what it was about. I started reading and I couldn't put it down. It's a fascinating story about a family that fought for justice and won. It's more exciting that a Clancy novel!

A book every one should read. Hard to believe how the IRS treated this family. Unbelievable.

Picked up this book because Charlie Moncrief is a friends father. Started reading this book and could not put it down, the story is told so well and the emotions and the drama are so put together -- reads like a Ludlum, and the amazing thing is that it is all real.

Highly reccomend.

The man's name is Willie Kocurek. If you have never met him, then you have missed out on an opportunity to know a true "Austin Icon". Of his many mantras, "Where there's a Willie, there's a way", speaks volumes of his success. This book is an entertaining glimpse into what has made the man what he is today. I know Willie - and thanks to this book, I now know the way!

A piece of Willie Kocurek's lovable stories to take home with you! I have heard Willie speak and his book comes to life with his wonderful stories! I could actually see him as a child stomping the sauerkraut!

Thanks, Willie, for sharing your life and your wisdom with us. We should all strive to be like you!

The people at the bookstore are probably still talking about the nut who danced around the featured books table last night. I couldn't help it... I was completely caught off guard by the title staring at me: "The Wit and Wisdom of Willie Kocurek."

My little celebration dance concluded, I snatched up the book and ran to the counter, never bothering to look at the price. It wouldn't have mattered.

Too excited to drive home, I read the first several chapters in the parking lot, then drove home and finished it. I'll probably reread it every year or two from now on. In my humble opinion, no library is complete without one of these little beauties in it. Everyone needs to know Willie Kocurek.

The story of the morning that I met Willie by accident has become the favorite chapter of many readers of my own New York Times bestseller, Secret Formulas of The Wizard of Ads. (Chapter 75: A Bright Red Bow Tie)

Willie Kocurek is one of those rare people that you should go out of your way to get to know. Buy this book and you'll carry the pearls of Willie's humor, audacity, wit and wisdom in your heart for the rest of your life... a bargain at any price.

Found the author's book while searching for relatives of Beppie Leslie Culin Roskruge, who is likely the great aunt of Virginia Culin Roberts - because I found and am attempting to return what may be a sentimental heirloom of Beppie's to a living relative.

Good book, good author - just like her famous great aunt was.

I found the book well written, with Ms Roberts' delivering a colorful portrayal of western history. As a resident of the Nogales - Patagonia - Sonoita area I found her work verifiable and acurate, providing myself and by family a valuable source of information on our local history.

A side note: The Pennington family homestead was recently rediscovered and preservation efforts will hopefully save the remaining structure.

This book was extremely excellent, and life-like. Ms. Virginia Culin Roberts did an excellent job writing this book. Way to go Virginia!

This book was a good introduction for me to read more about women who lived in Paris, but like so many, they went there to live a life ahead of their time.

Not really a biography, tho it is very biographic. Not really a study of Feminism, tho most of the women were early pioneers. Not really a study of Lesbians, tho most of the women were, at least, bisexual. What this book does, and it does it extremely well, is illustrate how these women struggled to 'define' themselves, as artists, as authors, as sexual beings, as individuals at a time when women were generally perceived as little better then simple minded children factories. From Gertrude Stein to Djuna Barnes to Natalie Barney (Rene Vivian...'a life spent looking for death')such different people but sharing a common thread of struggle (and cost). I've read a lot about this period and these women, and no book has given me a better understanding of them and emotional empathy with them, then this book.

I picked up this book out of interest in expatriate Americans in the early part of the 20th century. I was immediately drawn into the worlds of these writers and artists and ultimately learned about incredible characters like Sylvia Beach, who was the first person to publish James Joyce's Ulysses, and Margaret Anderson, publisher of the modernist The Little Review.

As a feminist scholar, Benstock analyzes the places these women occupied in the Paris scene as well as in a world in transition. She admirably examines the literary works of the writers, but the book never feels solely like a book of criticism. Biographical information abounds and gives each chapter something of a story arc.

For readers who enjoy biographies of literary personalities but often miss the lack of detailed discussion of a writer's works, this book will not disappoint. And if you are at all interested Paris in the early part of the last century, modernism, or any of the many women discussed in the book (Edith Wharton, Djuna Barnes, Gertrude Stein & Alice Toklas, HD, Mina Loy, etc.) this book will be an invaluable source of information.

The author did a wonderful job with the stories. His research about the early dwellings was superb and the illustrations brought it very much to life. Not only will school children enjoy this book, it will also appeal to adults.

As an Architect, I am always on the lookout for quality books that help my children understand the beauty of Architecture through the ages. This book does just that, but does quite a bit more in the process. Through the use of interesting fiction and beautiful illustrations, the reader is exposed to indigenous Texas Architecture in a way that leaves him with a renewed appreciation for the history of Texas and Texans. I'm eagerly awaiting Mr. Arbuckle's next book!

Delightful stories of early Texans and the homes they built and inhabited from the days of Comanche Indians to the dust bowl and depression days of the 1930s. The reader is involved through the excellent story telling and gains an understanding of why the buildings were made out of the materials used. There is good explanation of the logic behind the type of construction and materials used to build a Tipi out of buffalo hides, a sod house and dugout made of mud, a dog-trot cabin, and a planter's antebellum mansion. The detailed drawings and informative descriptions also contribute to the total enjoyment of these stories. The author is an architect and parent who presents his stories with love and understanding of people and buildings. Grades 3-6.

This is an outstanding work that should be on the shelf of everyone interested in the history of flight. Here are my reasons for recommending the work.

First, there has not been any genuine attempt to write a comprehensive overview of the history of air power since Robin Higham published his book, "Air Power: A Concise History" in 1972. This work, of course, is an expansion and updating of that earlier book. I believe it fulfills a real need in the historical literature because of its broad perspective, sweeping conclusions, and multinational character. Higham is at his best in synthesizing the interrelationships of air power from nation to nation and conflict to conflict. He is equally at home with American, European, and Asian aspects of the story.

Second, I believe that the author has effectively explored the evolution of the doctrine of air power and incorporated the seven major ingredients of air power into his discussion:

1. Strategic bombardment of enemy production facilities and marshalling yards (with both land- and sea-based aircraft and missiles). Strategic bombing took on enormous importance because it was the most spectacular mission an air component could accomplish without assistance from ground forces.

2. Aerial interdiction, a close relative to strategic bombardment, but not exactly the same, for its purpose is to stop the flow of enemy assets to the battlefield.

3. Air superiority, control of the airspace over the battlefield and the classic dogfighting of fighters.

4. Air interception, fighter defense of friendly territory.

5. Ground attack and close air support, aircraft used in direct support of ground forces for victory in a battle. This is the classic case of infantry calling in air strikes seen in many Hollywood war films. In reality, it is a very important and difficult skill to master, especially in hitting a target while missing the friendly troops nearby. Another component came into this after World War II with the rise of helicopters that have a special place in accomplishing this mission but are owned, at least in the U.S., by the Army rather than the Air Force.

6. Airlift, an especially important aspect of air power usually ignored or taken for granted. It was the measure of victory in certain aspects of World War II (e.g. keeping China in the war through the Hump airlift and in airborne operations), in the Berlin Airlift, in the siege of Khe Sanh, in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, and perhaps in the deployment for the Gulf War.

7. Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence (CI) has been critical to the successful use of air power. These include such things as reconnaissance, AWACs, DEW Line, navigation, radar, fire control, and the Global Positioning System.

Third, the author every effectively explores two themes--continuity and change--to give unity to the book and make the past useful for understanding recent events. Providing a suggestive description of air power in recent conflicts, Higham demonstrates how tactics and strategy sometimes paralleled those employed by air commanders of much earlier eras.

Fourth, the author's most interesting chapter is his last one, in which he offers some lessons for those involved in air power strategy and doctrine today. That suggestive chapter will find use in a variety of settings.

This is a must read book, and I would go further to add that it should be re-read, annotated, and referred to repeatedly.

100 Years Of Air Power & Aviation By Robin Higham (a former R.A.F. pilot and Professor Emeritus at Kansas State University) deftly weaves together theory and historical examples of the evolution of aviation during the past century, ranging from the Wright brothers and World War I, to modern day commercial airlines and aviation innovations. An extensive and "reader friendly" text is enhanced with a sprinkling of black-and-white photographs which combine to informatively trace the an on-going, world-altering saga of human invention and ingenuity as reflected through the courage of pilots and dedication of aviation pioneers. 100 Years Of Air Power & Aviation is clearly recommended as a core addition to any academic or community library Aviation History collection.

I used this book last year when I visited Dallas/Fort Worth and I plan on using it again this year. Since I only make one week trips to see my family, I'm sure that I'll be using this book for several years to come! (Or until the next edition comes out!)

Have used book to find unique attractions in the DFW area. Has help find places we never would have uncovered without the aid of the book. Great resource!