Southwest Books

The term "cowboy way" has an infectious effect on those who love cowboys and everything about them. If this is truly the case, then Paul H. Carlson is infected. He is deathly ill from "cowboy fever." His book The Cowboy Way: An Exploration of History and Culture is loaded with sixteen essays all dealing with cowboy culture. Each is well written and thoroughly researched. Paul H. Carlson is a professor of history at Texas Tech University. He has written a number of articles and several books that deal with Western American culture. Two of his books are Empire Builder in the Texas Panhandle: William Henry Bush and The Plains Indians. Since Carlson is the editor and also a contributor to The Cowboy Way, there are many other authors to make mention of. Lawrence Clayton is Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Hardin-Simmons University. He has written several books, including Historic Ranches of Texas and Watkins Reynolds Matthews: Biography of a Texas Rancher. J'Nell L. Pate is a professor of history at Tarrant County College and has written many articles and four books dealing with western history, including the award-winning Livestock Legacy: The Fort Worth Stockyards, 1887-1987. Other authors that contributed include graduate students, a freelance writer, an archivist, a reference librarian, a book review editor for the Permian Historical Annual, a French teacher, and the Executive Vice President of San Antonio College, Robert E. Zeigler. (pp. 217-219) In his preface, Carlson begins by saying, "Although there is no dominant thesis, there are many themes." (p. ix) Carlson is correct in saying there are many themes throughout the book. Each essay deals with a specific aspect of cowboys and their way of life. I must disagree with his denying the existence of an overall thesis. From what I could garner from the book as a whole, it is an effort to help the public get the truth about cowboys. I might suggest that the thesis is cowboys are an important part of America's past, but much myth has been made out of them. The book is not intended to destroy that myth but to educate us about it. There is still much about the cowboys that the public does not know. One of the essays, "Today's Cowboy: Coping with a Myth" written by Lawrence Clayton, expounds on this point. There are some out there who want to destroy the cowboy myth entirely. Clayton refers to them as "demythologizers." They "describe the cowboy as only a hired hand working for low wages . . . He was just a laborer who happened to ride a horse to do his work." (pp. 201-202) Clayton goes on to describe what efforts the demythologizers are making. He concludes by saying that with all those efforts they are not making much headway. He says that the truth about cowboys has no effect on the public. People love the cowboy and enjoy the "aura of romance that elevates him to a pure-hatred knight-errant." (p. 205) Carlson's essay, "Myth and the Modern Cowboy," expounds more on the same point. The truth and the myth both exist. It is our choice to accept or not accept both. Many of the topics or themes covered in the book help to reinforce the thesis. Each is designed to educate and not to destroy the myth. They include the origins of the word "cowboy"; discussions on vaqueros, African American cowboys, and American Indian cowboys; cowboy labor strikes; clothing cowboys wore; cowboy relationships with sheepherders and Europeans; cowboy humor; the origins of the rodeo; and western movies. Each essay is well researched and documented. Their sources include interviews, newspapers, journal articles, photographs, surveys, movies, the Sears and Roebuck Catalog, and books written by other historians. Each essay is easy to read and very informative. One essay that I really enjoyed was "Black Cowboy: Daniel Webster `80 John' Wallace" written by Douglas Hales. Hales gives a brief history of Daniel Webster Wallace who was born a slave and died a rich cattleman. At a young age, just after emancipation, Wallace started work on a ranch as a "hoss stink" caring for the ranch's horses. He soon moved up the scale to become one of very few african-American trail bosses in the late 1800s. Through hard work and a little help from friends, he was able to buy some land and cattle to start his own ranch. Good management skills and a little luck made him one of the wealthiest ranchers in all of Texas. This story is important because many don't know that there were African American cowboys and that they became important to western history. Throughout the book there are photographs depicting cowboys at work and rest. They are used to depict the subject of the particular essay and some are just for show. One essay uses the photographs as a reference to help the reader better "see" the author's argument. Susan Karina Dickey went through 254 photographs to write her essay, "Work Clothes of American Cowboys: The Pictorial Record." The Cowboy Way is written very well. Credits go to Carlson for his editing to produce a magnificent work on cowboy culture. The index and "A Cowboy Bibliography," done by Freedonia Paschall (which could be considered as essay seventeen), make the book complete and very useful. The bibliography includes the best and most accredited primary and secondary sources available today. Anyone wanting to research cowboys should consult Paschall's bibliography first. It's hard to find anything wrong with the book. If I were to do anything to change it, I would change the order of some of the essays so that the book flowed better. A couple seemed out of place and became difficult to read because they didn't seem to fit. Other than that, the book is very well done. It has brought better understanding to myself and I know that it will infect many others.

Cowboys Cowgirls Cowchips: True Tales From The Long X, Long S, And Spade Ranches is a revealing and entertaining compendium of information on everything that makes a true modern cowboy from the perspective of by Doris McClellan. As McClellan has found home to the land of the cowboy for over thirty years, she retains an ultimate and intimate grasp of the true eye behind the brim. Cowboys Cowgirls Cowchips delves deep into the mentality, personality, and individuality of the cowboy roaming the modern ranch, and for its unique and accurate telling of the societal misconception of the cowboy today, is very highly recommended reading, especially for anyone interested in contemporary Texas ranch life.

How many people reading this know that badgers and coyotes sometimes enter into cooperative relationships in order to hunt more successfully? Elegant, artful, and playful illustations accompany a blunt text about hunger and duress during a drought in the U.S. Southwest. A single mother badger with two dependent pups teams up with an old coyote to hunt for food. Working together they are able to secure enough food for themselves as well as the two young pups. But when one pup is taken for food by an eagle, the mother badger takes the remaining pup and moves on. Eventually, the drought ends. Many of the pictures feature cross sections into the desert floor. Root masses, rocks, and rodent warrens are visible in the manner of an 'Ant Farm' toy. Each picture features shards of broken pottery embedded underground. There are also the ancient and crumbling structures left behind by the Anasazi people over a thousand years ago. The animals have inherited it all.
The author provides an engaging and educational 'afterward' to the story describing his fascination with the Southwest, the Anasazi and the behavior of coyotes and badgers. When he says that he has actually observed a coyote and a badger interacting cooperatively, I was glad that he was inspired to write this beautiful book.

A mi me encargaban leer libros en la primaria... Y entre nuestros compañeros nos prestabamos los libros que teníamos... Lamentablemente en español casi no hay libros aptos para niños y este libro es uno de los pocos que yo pude leer y que me prestaron que es excelente para los niños... Se los recomiendo ampliamente... Esta muy bonito y muy entretenido...

Never would one expect the stories of one man's erection be so thought provoking. I would recommend the book to all my students to read for the intellectual and philosophical aspects its has. The author has done a great job of turning the ordinary, evryday sphicter into an enormous source of pride for all men.

Ms. Kopp finds something to love about all her subjects, from the "loveable beast" of a black bear to the "hairy, scary and misunderstood" taratula. With her wit and way with words she brings New Mexico's wild inhabitants to life. When and if we do encounter any of them, we'll be ready with increased understanding and appreciation. I'm looking forward to reading this book to my grandsons.

Jere' Franco has illustrated the sacrifice and important contributions Native Americans have made to the war effort, both in combat and on the home front. This book highlights the fact that despite centuries of warfare and oppression, Native Americans revitalized the warrior code and demonstrated their patriotism by fighting for the same U.S. Government their forefathersopposed. The photos capture the faces of the dedication and purpose Indians brought to the war effort, and Franco's writing reflects the extensive research she invested into telling this important, but often neglected, segment of history. Of unique interest to me was was how the Third Reich attempted to sway Native Americans against the American government, even to the extent of declaring the Sioux Nation "Aryan" and promising to repatriate the annexed lands back to native people should they rebel against their country. The cultural observances Indian people remark on in the course of the war are particularly intriguing, and following the reading of the book one is left with a profoundly-lasting appreciation of Native people and the role they played in protecting the interests of their nation. Whether your interest is in Indian culture, military history, anthropology, government reforms, or international relations, Crossing the Pond displays all of these elements in telling detail and challenges the assumption that Indian people have not contributed to America's security. In fact, given their consecutively high-enlistment rates in the military across the 20th Century, many have given their lives to protect the land and values of the ancestors. A wonderful book and an appropriate tribute to Native veterans.

Every single receipe I've tried (and it's a lot of them) is a real palate pleaser. It's my main cooking tool for Southwestern and Mexican cooking.

Reaching back centuries and moving forward to the present day, Bryant's text details the development of the Southwestern cultural scene in an immensely readable fashion. The enormous impact of women, both as contributors and as patrons, in the building of and continued growth of the arts throughout Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arizona and California, receives particular attention. An informative and highly enjoyable book!

Cycle Of Seasons In Corrales by freelance writer Ruth W. Armstrong is an inspirational celebration of the turn of the seasons in Corrales and throughout New Mexico. Love of life, memories of the past and keen awareness of the present permeate this spiritual treatise. Enhanced with the photography of Ruth and Ellis Armstrong, Cycle Of Seasons In Corrales an impressive and timeless evocation and well worth the reading by anyone who appreciates what nature offers as the Earth encircles the Sun.