ISSUE 484

NON-FICTION

Cowboy Artists of America by Michael Duty with Introduction by Don Hedgepeth, 2002. The Greenwich Workshop, www.greenwichworkshop.com, 216 p., 14" x 11", Over 250 full color paintings and sculptures, $95., Hard 0-86713-083-0.

This vibrant collection brings together the artwork of active, ermitus, and deceased members of the prestigious Cowboy Artists of America. It comes at a time when western artwork has reached a wider audience than ever before in history. Covering the art over the last four decades, this text pays homage and provides a valuable reference for enthusiasts and libraries. The book is artwork in itself in brilliant Southwestern colors and is published on the twentieth anniversary of the Cowboy Artist of America Museum in Kerrville, Texas. In his introduction entitled "Tradition and Change: Michael Duty writes, "Ever since the 1830s, when George Catlin, Karl Bodmer, and Alfred Jacob Miller first ventured up the Missouri River to record a wil land and exotic people, the American West has been a compelling subject for artists." This book traces that history through the eyes of those who saw to capture that rugged and vibrant beauty.

Water and American Government: The Reclamation Bureau, National Water Policy, and the West, 1902-1935 by Donald J. Pisani, 2002. University of California Press, Berkeley 94720.

This work is a reexamination of the Reclamation Act of 1902 which was intended to remodel an unsettled West and jumpstart the economy of the Depression. According to Pisani, "the bureau's bold irrigation plans were rooted more in nineteenth-century individualism than in the twentieth-century ethics of cooperation and planning, more in a society of competing individuals than in an integrated commonwealth of small farmers." While the book looks at a particular case in American History, it also shows an inward look at our countries' politics.

Bravo of the Brazos: John Larn of Fort Griffin, Texas by Robert K. DeArment with a foreword by Charles M. Robinson III, 2002. University of Oklahoma Press, 4100 28th Avenue N.W., Norman, Oklahoma 73069-8218, 224p., 21 b&w illustrations, 2 maps, $29.95, hard 0-8061-3415-1.

John Larn finally gets his say, at least when DeArment divulges the names that Larn meant to divulge himself. Here is the story of the Texas outlaw John Larn and the tales of how, before his death at the age of 29, took law into his own hands, then took it even a step further. Judge, jury, and self-appointed executioner, Larn himself was murdered when he was about to blow the cover of respected citizens. History buffs will enjoy this biography set along the Clear Fork of the Brazos River in northern Texas.

Howard Terpning: Spirit of the Plains People by Don Hedgpeth with an Introduction by Elmer Kelton, 2001. The Greenwich Workshop, www.greenwichworkshop.com, 180p., $85., full color artwork, hard 0-86713-060-1.

The Artist Howard Terpning says, "I become emotionally involved in my painting, especially when I am portraying some significant scene such as a spiritual ceremony or ritual. I put my own emotions into the picture and hope those emotions will be reflected in the people who look at it." This book captures the work of Terpning in page after page of full color reproductions of his paintings of Native American life. Terpning has been referred to as the "Storyteller of the Native American People." Scenes depict the simple daily life and momentous occasions, each with the emotions of human experience prevalent. "I want to show them as a people who were not always at battle but as a people who raised children, made love, cooked meals, hunted buffalo." The book is beautiful and important.

Landscape of Desire: Identity and Nature in Itah's Canyon Country by Greg Gordon, 2003. Utah State University Press, 7800 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322-7800, www.usu.edu/usupress, 226p., 6" x 9", $19.95, soft 0-87421-560-9.

Greg Gordon takes readers and a group of Sierra Institute students on a physical and intellectual journey into Muddy Creek and the Dirty Devil River from Interstate 70 to Lake Powell to address environmental issues important to the Utah land. While the book narrates the trip is also discusses a wide range of issues including mining, grazing, dams, recreation, wilderness, and land management. Plants, animals, ecology, and human impacts play an important role in the story Gordon has to tell.

Writing Western History: Essays on Major Western Historians edited by Richard W. Etulain. University of Nevada Press, Mail Stop 166, Reno, NV 89557-0076, www.nvbooks.nevada.edu, 392p., 6" x 9", $19.95, soft 0-87417-517-8.

It has been a decade since the publication of Etulain's work and since it was lauded as "a vital contribution to the historiographical literature of the American West." This new paperback edition contains a new foreword by Glenda Riley. The book provides an introduction to the major figures in Western history. Importantly, it offers insight into the debate about the meaning of the frontier experience and the nature of regional history. The format is a collection of essays from current western history scholars who analyze the work of earlier historians and their contributions to the field. This is an important contribution for understanding Western History.

Hard Scrabble: Observations on a Patch of Land by John Graves, with a new introduction by Rick Bass and a new afterword by the author, 2002. Southern Methodist University Press, PO Box 750415, Dallas, Texas 75275-0415, 296p., 6" x 9", $14.95, soft 0-87074-472-0.

This book is much like sitting with a Texas writer and being captivated by the turns the conversation takes. It is a rare treat to have such an occasion. First published in 1973, John Graves once again offers readers audience for his unique insight and style. Graves is Texas and his writing truly shows this. His words move at the pace that time moves out on his land and his writing is filled with the respect and admiration he has for the land. He writes, "Hard Scrabble is my main account of this love affair, which lasted for about thirty years, not really ending but petering down when such activities as digging post holes in hard and rocky dirt and getting kicked by cows in chutes had gotten to be a bit onerous . . ."

Surviving Conquest: A History of the Yavapai People by Timothy Braatz, 2003. University of Nebraska Press, Bison Books, 233 North 8th Street, Lincoln, NE 68588-0255, www.nebraskapress.unl.edu, 336 p., 6" x 9", $55., hard 0-8032-1331-X.

This is the history of the Yavapai Indians who have lived for centuries in central Arizona. This is their struggle with survival in a desert environment and their dealings of alliances, rivalries, and trade. Tracing their tumultuous history, Braatz reveals the experiences of the Yavapai people beginning in 1863 with the invasion of U.S. settlers and soldiers. He follows them as they, in 1875, were relocated across Arizona to the San Carlos Apache Reservation. The sad twenty-five years that followed were a time when they desperately wanted to return home. Returning home was complete in 1901 but the story continues to show the change of the Yavapai People.

Documents of Texas History edited by Ernest Wallace, David M. Vigness, and George B. Ward, 2002, The Texas State Historical Association, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station D0901, Austin, Texas 78712-0332, 337p., $24.95, soft 0-87611-188-6.

This is the second edition, the first being published in 1963. This edition adds three wildly changing decades of Texas history. The additional documents chosen for this edition, according to the introduction "cover a broad range of social, cultural, and political movements which have shaped the history of Texas, and which address important national issues as well." The book is invaluable as it offers the real moments in time in "living records." Documents chosen include photographs, articles, speeches, notes, letters, songs, advertisements, and even book reviews. For historians this is a handy reference, and for history enthusiasts, it is a fun insight into moments in time as they happen.

Ancestral Hopi Migrations Patrick D. Lyons, The University of Arizona Press, 355 S. Euclid, Suite 103, Tucson, AZ 85719-6654, www.uapress.arizona.edu, 130p., 8 1/2" x 11", $16.95, soft 0-8165-2280-4.

Working with the "chemical sourcing of ceramics and analysis of painted pottery designs", Lyons traces Hopi migrations in the late prehistoric period. While ancient migrations have been guessed and speculated about, Lyons takes to tangible evidence.

The Diaries of John Gregory Bourke: Volume One November 20, 1872-July 28, 1876 edited and annotated by Charles M. Robinson III, 2003. University of North Texas Press, PO Box 311336, Denton, TX 76203-1336, www.unt.edu/untpress, 288p., 6 x 9, $49.95, hard 1-57441-161-6.

The publication of John Gregory Bourke's diaries will make these important documents now readily available. Bourke recorded in detail and illustration his years as a young cavalry lieutenant in Arizona in 1872 through his time as aide-de-camp Brigadier General Beorge Crook. His entries cover early Apache campaigns, the Great Sioux War, the Cheyenne Outbreak, and the Geronimo War. Reading his words shows an intimate look into military life on the western frontier and gives a close-up glimpse of American Indian civilization. This is Volume one in a projected six volume set.

Hopi Tales of Destruction collected, translated, and edited by Ekkehart Malotki, 2003, University of Nebraska Press, Bison Books, 233 North 8th Street, Lincoln, NE 68588-0255, www.nebraskapress.unl.edu, 288p., 6 x 9, $27.95, soft 0-8032-8283-4.

When civilizations lie in ruins it is remarkable how voices can be preserved as they are here in this collection of tales about the ancient Hopi villages. These voices make the past available once again, opening back up cultural values and social motivations that would remain silently locked in the ruins. The tales here are of the Sikyatki, Hisantongoopavi, and Awat'ovi, which were destroyed by natural disasters and human clashes. Interestingly, these clashes are one of the strongest messages heard: how corruption and evil can destroy from within. This is a special English-language edition.

Giant Under the Hill: A History of the Spindletop Oil Discovery at Beaumont, Texas, in 1901 by Judith Walker Linsley, Ellen Walker Rienstra, and Jo Ann Stiles, 2002, The Texas State Historical Association, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station D0901, Austin, Texas 78712-0332, 304p., $29.95 hard 0-87611-182-7.

Texas and even world history changed when Spindletop exploded in Beaumont, Texas. To make it even more interesting, the group of people involved were perhaps the most unlikely for it to happen to. In Giant Under the Hill three Texas natives/historians write the narrative of the whole story from the backgrounds of colorful characters who set out to drill Spindletop through the chaos and changing world that took place afterward.

Books and Reading: A Book of Quotations edited by Bill Bradfield, 2002, Dover Thrift Edition, Dover Publications, 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, New York 11501, 80p., $1.50, soft 0-486-42463-4.

On the topic of books it might be easy to imagine that brilliant minds might have a great deal to say. It is true. Here is a collection of witty, insightful, meaningful quotes from some of the brightest minds including Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, Jerry Seinfeld, Anna Quindlen, among a long list of others. The collection is made up of 450 quotes such as Seinfeld's, "The big advantage of a book is that it is easy to rewind. Close it and you're right back at the beginning." The book is thin and paperback making it a perfect easy read or reference.

Food and Drink: A Book of Quotations edited by Susan L. Rattiner, 2002, Dover Thrift Edition, Dover Publications, 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, New York 11501, www.doverpublications.com, 64p., $1.50, soft 0-486-42209-7.

When the topic is food and drink, leave it to writers, humorists, and celebrities to have much to say on the topic. Rattiner has assembled a collection of such musings as C. K. Chesterton's, "Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese." This collection is small and compact which makes for easy reference and use. Other commentators include Mark Twain, W.C. Fields, Julia Child, Andy Rooney, Marilyn Monroe, George Bernard Shaw, and Robert Morley, among others.

The Spanish Struggle for Justice in the Conquest of America by Lewis Hanke with a personal and professional reminiscence, 2002, Southern Methodist University Press, PO Box 750415, Dallas, Texas 75275-0415, 266p., 6 x 9, $16.95, soft 0-87074-466-6.

First published in 1949, this book is reknown for what it offers Latin American history in English. It's basis is the discussion of the legitimacy of conquest and shows the important culture-altering encounters between Native Americans and Europeans. Areas important to this issue, mainly political, legal, and moral, are discussed in depth and presented in a clear and insightful way. This edition also offers an introduction by legal scholar Susan Scafidi and historian Peter Bakewell.

Reading the Virginian in the New West edited by Melody Graulich and Stephen Tatum, 2003, University of Nebraska Press, Bison Books, 233 North 8th Street, Lincoln, NE 68588-0255, www.nebraskapress.unl.edu, 294p., 6 x 9, $39.95, soft 0-8032-7104-2.

This is a collection of essays examining Owen Wister's novel The Virginian, published in 1902, that established most of the now familiar conventions in the western novel genre. While the essays discuss the work, they also discuss the impact and the future of western writing looking forward to what it will bring. Using the novel as a basis, topics such as gender and race issues, varying media retellings, and the "new" west are discussed with enthusiasm. Importantly, the publisher points out, "their essays represent a new western literary studies, comparable to the new western history."

Fifty and Beyond: New Beginnings in Health and Well-Being by Susanna Starr, 2002, Paloma Blanca Press, PO Box 1751, Taos, New Mexico, 87571, www.PalomaBlancaPress.com, 148p., $14.95, soft, 0-9720084-4-6.

Susanna Star writes about the conditions the body, mind, and spirit experience after the age of fifty. Her purpose is not to provide a how-to guide of things to do, but she instead offers an overall view of lifestyle that is geared toward those who want to embrace a future with a healthy outlook in the second half of their lives. The text reads like a friend sitting down and offering help. Some topics covered are: exercise, health and food, personal growth, new opportunities, reading and writing, sex and consumerism, and inspiration.

Cattle in the Cold Desert, Expanded Edition by James A. Young and B. Abbott Sparks, 2002, University of Nevada Press, Mail Stop 166, Reno, NV 89557-0076, www.nvbooks.nevada.edu, 336p., $19.95, soft 0-87417-503-8.

Using cattle baron John Sparks' case as he established a ranch in Nevada, the authors here demonstrate how Sparks' failure is a direct result of ignoring the impact of grazing animals on the ecology of the sagebrush/grasslands of the arid Great Basin. Taking the story from the beginning, knowing the experiences that Sparks' had, the case serves as a means of looking at the effects of such ranching. According to the introduction, "this volume traces the history of man and his herds and flocks of domestic animals as they exploeted the forage resources of a pristine environment" (xii).

Interpreters with Lewis and Clark: The Story of Sacagawea and Toussaint Charbonneau by W. Dale Nelson, 2003, University of North Texas Press, PO Box 311336, Denton, TX 76203-1336, www.unt.edu/untpress, 174p., $24.95, hard 1-57441-165-9.

This is an exploration of the two main characters who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their expedition for Thomas Jefferson. The book takes a different perspective, challenging the long-held views that Toussaint Charbonneau was "a man of no peculiar merit." The author delves into the lives and experiences of Charbonneau., tracing and discussing his life even after Sacagawea's death.

American Sensations: Class, Empire, and the Production of Popular Culture by Shelley Streeby, 2002, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA 94720, www.ucpress.edu, 384p., soft 0-520-22945-2.

The back cover tells it all, "this innovative cultural history investigates an intriguing, thrilling, and often lurid assortment of sensational literature that was extremely popular in the United States in 1848--including dime novels, cheap story-paper literature, and journalism for working class Americans." Shelley Streeby looks into the influencing forces while analyzing the sensational literature of George Lippard, Metta Victor, Mary Denison, among others. A work scholarly in nature yet entertaining, the book contains an extensive bibliography of sources discussed.

Standing Ground: Yurok Indian Spirituality, 1850-1990 by Thomas Buckley, 2002, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA 94720, www.ucpress.edu, 325p., soft 0-520-23389-1.

An important distinction that Buckley makes in understanding the spirituality of the Yurok tribes of Northern California and the common contemporary view of it is that it was for them a goal directed towards the whole person and directly tied to the relationship with community. This spirituality is seen as the prime changing force in this primitive culture, making the statement, "culture, here, is not a thing but a process, an emergence through time. The text, then, is a unique look inside the "spiritual training and practice within an American Indian social network."

A Revolution Remembered: The Memoirs and Selected Correspondence of Juan N. Seguin edited by Jesus F. de la Teja, 2002, The Texas State Historical Association, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station D0901, Austin, Texas 78712-0332, 216p., $19.95, soft 0-87611-185-1.

An important question of Mexican-Texan or Tejano history is examined here in the case of Juan Seguin, trying to reestablish his reputation as a patriot of Texas. Many questions are raised and answers are provided through three parts: the first, an essay by de la Teja examines Seguin and his father in early Mexican Texas history. The second part is a collection of Seguin's accounts, and the third are documents corresponding with the written accounts. It is understandable why there were accusations of Seguin being a traitor, and the author tries to eschew these. It is also understandable why his character as a contributor deserves to be reinstated for his performance in service. The question that will prove most interesting: what kind of man can go out for reinforcements and then come back after all his comrades are killed and collect the ashes? Is it admirable or questionable? Perhaps no book can answer that.

Captain John H. Rogers, Texas Ranger by Paul N. Spellman, 2003, University of North Texas Press, PO Box 311336, Denton, TX 76203-1336, hard 1-57441-159-4.

Spellman offers a biography of Captain John H. Rogers that offers a significant contribution to Texas Ranger history. Rogers has the distinction of being one of the "Four Captains" that helped to transform a wild and lawless West, the Frontier Battalion days, into a more civilized and functioning twentieth century. Rogers played a major role in establishing law and order in West Texas and many of the incidents are retold here in detail. Spellman establishes that Rogers was a different sort of lawman, one who used a Bible as well as a gun.

The Pacific Slope: A History of California, Washington, Idaho, Utah, and Nevada by Earl Pomeroy, 2nd Edition with a new foreword Elliot West, University of Nevada Press, MS 166, Reno, NV 89557-0076, 488p., 5 7/8 x 9, $21.95, soft 0-87417-518-6.

First published in 1965, this work was hailed as an influential study presenting one hundred and twenty-five years of history of California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, and Nevada and detailing the events and people that shaped the West politically, socially, and geographically. This edition presents this study in a new paperback format. Critics wrote of it in 1965 that is was, "important and pathbreaking" and "a landmark in western historiography." The University of Nevada Press offers this new reprint again for its importance is establishing themes and issues that later emerged as defining forces in the changing West.

Valor Across the Lone Star: The Congressional Medal of Honor in Frontier Texas by Charles M. Neal Jr., 2002, The Texas State Historical Association, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station D0901, Austin, Texas 78712-0332, $39.95, soft

This book represents exhaustive research on the subject of the men and their deeds in frontier Texas who received the Congressional Medal of Honor in the last half of the nineteenth century. The events depicted are exciting ones as they show men at their best: full of bravery and dedicated to comraderie in the face of imminent danger and disaster. This award for the highest valor in action and the stories and men behind them make for an important addition to Texas history research. The acts of the finest are told with as much excitement as must have been felt at the time. The human spirit rises in reading them as it did in those moments of victorious choice.

The Great Frontier by Walter Prescott Webb, 2003 paperback edition, University of Nevada Press, MS 166, Reno, NV 89557-0076, 464p., 6 x 9, $21.95, soft 0-87417-519-4.

Western history would not be the same with Walter Prescott Webb's The Great Frontier, and neither would be the debate of issues surrounding the history of the region. While Webb's conclusion are still debated, this book established the importance of the history and future of the West in the broader picture of democratic civilization. Webb "interprets the settlement of the American West in the global context of the expansion of European civilization between the fifteenth and twentieth centuries" thus establishing the hypothesis that this movement gave birth to individualism, capitalism, and political democracy. In a new foreword by Western historian William D. Rowley, the importance of the work is once again offered, demonstrating that, "without quest and discovery, the spark of New World democracy might be stifled by Old World bureaucracy and, far worse, by rise of totalitarianism, which was the challenge of Webb's generation as well as those to come" (xiii).

Landscape of the Spirits: Hohokam Rock Art at South Mountain Park by Todd W. Bostwick and Peter Krocek, 2002, The University of Arizona Press, 355 S. Euclid, Ste. 103, Tucson, AS 85719, 330p., 7 x 10, $27.95, Soft 0-8165-2184-0.

With many full-color photographs, this book both serves as a guide to exploring and also a history and study of rock art in the Hohokam territories above Phoenix in South Mountain Park. The book is full of illustrations and explanations covering the ancient images of animals, humans, geometric shapes, among other depictions. Interpretations are also offered and are based on Native American ethnographic accounts. Bostwick has conducted research on the Hohokam culture since 1979.

Race and Homicide in Nineteenth-Century California by Clare V. McKanna Jr., 2002, University of Nevada Press, Mail Stop 166, Reno, NV 89557-0076, 168p., 6 1/8 x 9 1/4, $29.95, hard 0-87417-515-1.

McKanna studied documents such as coroner's inquest reports, court case files, and prison registers to analyze patterns of homicide and the differences in how each race fared in the system. He demonstrates the clash of race, law, justice, and imprisonment showing how the different backgrounds left each unprepared for the new system that was emerging. McKanna includes figures, tables, and photographs.

The Sagebrush State: Nevada's History, Government, and Politics by Michael W. Bowers, Second Edition, 2002, University of Nevada Press, Mail Stop 166, Reno, NV 89557-0076, 256p., 6 1/8 x 9 1/4, $16.95, soft 0-87417-516-X.

According to the publisher, "since its publication in 1996, The Sagebrush State has served as the text for the Nevada Constitution component required for graduation from all Nevada colleges and universities." Topics covered include: :Nevada: Origins and Early History," "Nevada Territory and Statehood," "Civil Rights and Liberties in Nevada," "Political Parties and Elections," "Interests Groups and Lobbying," "The Nevada Legislature," and continues through topics of executive, judiciary, city and county goverments, and state and local finance. This is the text to read to understand Nevada goverment.

I Would Rather Sleep in Texas: A History of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and the People of the Santa Anita Land Grant by Mary Margaret McAllen Amberson, James A. McAllen, and Margaret H. McAllen, 2003, The Texas State Historical Association, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station D0901, Austin, Texas 78712-0332, p., $39.95, hard 0-87611-186-X.

To tell the history of the Lower Rio Grande Valley is not only a daunting task, but the telling of a daunting time. The mix of characters, as one might imagine, range from Spanish conquistadors and Mexican revolutionaries to women who faced the extreme nature of this part of the world. According to the authors, "it was and remains a crossroads of international cultures." Tracing the history of a Spanish land grant, the writers of the text lay out an immense and amazing history of "frontier cultures, rowdy politics, and periodic violence." Importantly, it is told by descendants who can almost feel the plights of the ancestors. This gives voice to this important borderlands history.