Book Description
Praise for Blood and Thunder
“Kit Carson’s role in the conquest of the Navajo during and after the Civil War remains one of the most dramatic and significant episodes in the history of the American West. Hampton Sides portrays Carson in the larger context of the conquest of the entire West, including his frequent and often lethal encounters with hostile Native Americans. Unusually, Sides gives full voice to Indian leaders themselves about their trials and tribulations in their dealings with the whites. Here is a national hero on the level of Daniel Boone, presented with all of his flaws and virtues, in the context of American people’s belief that it was their Manifest Destiny to occupy the entire West.”
—Howard Lamar, Sterling Professor Emeritus of History, Yale University and editor of The New Encyclopedia of the American West
“The story of the American West has seldom been told with such intimacy and immediacy. Legendary figures like Kit Carson leap to life and history moves at a pulse-pounding pace—sweeping the reader along with it. Hampton Sides is a terrific storyteller.”
—Candice Millard, author of The River of Doubt
“Hampton Sides doesn't just write a book, he transports the reader to another time and place. With his keen sense of drama and his crackling writing style, this master storyteller has bequeathed us a majestic history of the Old West.”
—James Bradley, author of Flags of Our Fathers and Flyboys
“Blood and Thunder is a big-hearted book whose subject is as expansive as they come. Hampton Sides tackles it with naked pleasure and narrative cunning: In his telling, the vast saga of America’s westward push has a logical center. The dusty town of Santa Fe becomes the nexus around which swirl the fortunes and strategies of a mixed set of serious overachievers, from Kit Carson, the original mountain man, to James K. Polk, the enigmatic president whose achievements, in the dreaded name of Manifest Destiny, were almost biblical in scope. Sides is alive to the exuberance and alert to the tragedy of the taking of the West.”
—Russell Shorto, author of Island at the Center of the World
“For a huge percentage of us immigrant Americans (those whose ancestors arrived after 1492), Hampton Sides fills a gaping hole in our knowledge of American history—a vivid account of how ‘The New Men’ swept away the thriving civilizations of the Native Americans in their conquest of the West.”
—Tony Hillerman
"BLOOD AND THUNDER is a balanced, thoughtful summary of the American conquistadors in the 19th century Southwest. Hampton Sides has re-created violent events and such inflammatory figures as Kit Carson without bias. Carefully researched, thoroughly enjoyable."
-Evan S. Connell, author of SON OF THE MORNING STAR, CUSTER AND THE LITTLE BIGHORN
A Magnificent History of How the West Was Really Won—a Sweeping Tale of Shame and Glory
In the fall of 1846 the venerable Navajo warrior Narbona, greatest of his people’s chieftains, looked down upon the small town of Santa Fe, the stronghold of the Mexican settlers he had been fighting his whole long life. He had come to see if the rumors were true—if an army of blue-suited soldiers had swept in from the East and utterly defeated his ancestral enemies. As Narbona gazed down on the battlements and cannons of a mighty fort the invaders had built, he realized his foes had been vanquished—but what did the arrival of these “New Men” portend for the Navajo?
Narbona could not have known that “The Army of the West,” in the midst of the longest march in American military history, was merely the vanguard of an inexorable tide fueled by a self-righteous ideology now known as “Manifest Destiny.” For twenty years the Navajo, elusive lords of a huge swath of mountainous desert and pasturelands, would ferociously resist the flood of soldiers and settlers who wished to change their ancient way of life or destroy them.
Hampton Sides’s extraordinary book brings the history of the American conquest of the West to ringing life. It is a tale with many heroes and villains, but as is found in the best history, the same person might be both. At the center of it all stands the remarkable figure of Kit Carson—the legendary trapper, scout, and soldier who embodies all the contradictions and ambiguities of the American experience in the West. Brave and clever, beloved by his contemporaries, Carson was an illiterate mountain man who twice married Indian women and understood and respected the tribes better than any other American alive. Yet he was also a cold-blooded killer who willingly followed orders tantamount to massacre. Carson’s almost unimaginable exploits made him a household name when they were written up in pulp novels known as “blood-and-thunders,” but now that name is a bitter curse for contemporary Navajo, who cannot forget his role in the travails of their ancestors.
Customer Reviews:
An entertaining and rewarding read........2007-10-03
I came upon this book in searching for an understanding of the historical period in which Cormac McCarthy's masterpiece Blood Meridian is set - the SW of North America in the early to mid-19th century. The book's central theme is the life and times of Kit Carson coupled with the demise of the Navajos in the face of the onslaught of American expansion. Nonetheless, in setting these themes in context, the book addresses all the forces that bore upon them - from the relationship of the early trappers with indigenous society to the seizure of New Mexico and California - in fascinating and enlightening detail. The book is scholarly and authoritative - although there was a complete absence of reference numbers in the text itself to tie in with notes at the back of the book. Even had these been inserted, more detailed references would have better exploited the enormous amount of original research clearly conducted by the author.
The style is informal with a turn of phrase that occasionally touches on the cliche. Still, for all this it is a highly readable, entertaining and vivid account. Perhaps a little hagiographic at times, but then Carson was an extraordinarily self-contained and capable man of principle and character.
In all, this is a highly rewarding book that vividly portrays the broad vistas, horrors, tragedies, heroics and sheer physical hardships that marked the clash of civilisation in America's South West. A great read.
Bury My Soul With the Navajo.......2007-09-26
If you want to dare look into a horror that can haunt you, read this heart stabbing book. It sheds light on the history of the American west and the US government's heartless to destory a people. The details of Kit Carson are as perplexing as mankind is troubling. I also recommend two other books along the same lines: On the Trail of the Pony Express and especially Walking the Trail, One Man's Journey Along the Cherokee Trail of Tears, both by Cherokee author Jerry Ellis. Ellis was the first person in modern history to walk the 900 mile route of the Trail of Tears and the book is a Native American classic, nominated for a Pulitzer and National Book Award.
Blood and Thunder.......2007-09-20
A really exceptional book. It covers one of the most interesting series of events in the history of America with complexity and insight.
Sometimes One-Sided and Misleading.......2007-09-10
As I read through this book, I was amazed that very detailed research had been done and that both sides of the many stories/events had been told. I was severely disappointed when I read chapter 40 - The Children of the Mist when the description and events leading to, during, and after the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The author would like the casual reader to think that the whole event was endorsed by the then President of the LDS Church, Brigham Young. In my personal research, this is far from the case - the presidency of the church at that time would have never approved an act such as that. I would like to note that Mr. Sides did not give any references for quotes by Brigham Young or notes to what happened to the actual ringleaders of the massacre. This was a horrible event and the story needs to be told in the right context. These missing references make me question the quality of the real research that went into the book on a whole.
Blood and Thunder.......2007-09-05
This is a sobering history of how the west was tamed and the significant role Kit Carson played in it. Kit Carson played a key role in saving various American Indian Tribes from extinction. An excellant history of New Mexico. A must read for any New Mexican.
Book Description
From the best-selling author of Route 66 comes this long-awaited biography of one of America's most legendary folk heroes.
Award-winning historian Michael Wallis has spent several years re-creating the rich, anecdotal saga of Billy the Kid (1859-1881), a deeply mythologized young man who became a legend in his own time and yet remains an enigma to this day. With the Gilded Age in full swing and the Industrial Revolution reshaping the American landscape, "the Kid," who was gunned down by Sheriff Pat Garrett in the New Mexico Territory at the age of twenty-one, became a new breed of celebrity outlaw. He arose amid the mystery and myth of the swiftly vanishing frontier and, sensationalized beyond recognition by the tabloids and dime-store romances of the day, emerged as one of the most enduring icons of the American West—not to mention one of Hollywood's most misrepresented characters. This new biography, filled with dozens of rare images and period photographs, separates myth from reality and presents an unforgettable portrait of this brief and violent life. 60 illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
A Commendable Biography Based on Limited Information.......2007-10-01
Several efforts have been made in an attempt to untangle the short and controversial life of Billy the Kid. I would suggest that this book by Michael Wallis is probably the best since he acknowledges when little is known about his subject, and speculates about what may have happened when information is lacking. That may not satisfy some people, but that is the best he can do. Billy the Kid actually did not pick up his charismatic title until the last year of his life. He initially went by the unlikely name of Henry McCarty, then changed it to Henry Antrim when his mother remarried, William H. Bonney, and finally Billy the Kid. Where he pulled out the name of Bonney is unknown. He was a very literate person, enjoyed music, and considered Turkey in the Straw and Silver Threads Among the Gold as his favorite songs. His tuburcular mother moved the family from the eastern part of the country (New York City)? to Indiana, Wichita, Kansas, and then to the southwest into New Mexico territory in hopes of improving her health. Following her death Billy was left to shift for himself. Kid was a common nickname for juveniles at that time, and wirey would probably be the best term to describe his short and slight frame. When the book got around to describing the Lincoln County war between competing factions involving horse thiefs I had difficulty keeping track of all the individuals involved. The Kid sided with an Englishman named John Tunstall who ended up getting murdered. Billy became somewhat of an anti-hero with his dramatic escape from jail in which he killed two guards after being sentenced to death. Kit Carson comes off as a villain with he and his men laying waste to Navajo Indians, their homes, food, horses, and other animals. The remaining Navajos began a 450 mile journey to join the Apaches. This became known as the Long Walk. This brought up reminders of the Cherokee Indians in 1839 under the regime of Andrew Jackson. I believe you will find the book to be enjoyable. The author has done a commendable job based on the information available on his subject.
A very well researched work.......2007-09-01
Michael Wallis has studied his subject well. Unlike many other authors he provides quite an insight not to just Billy the Kid, but many of the other players in his short life. This then gives a complete picture of the corrupt times in which he lived. This book is a must have for Billy the Kid students.
The Life as Well as the Legend.......2007-08-05
"This is the west, sir," the newspaperman tells Jimmy Stewart in _The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance_. "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." And for over a hundred years, that is just what has happened to Billy the Kid, starting in countless dime novels and then historical reviews, a ballet by Aaron Copland, and scores of movies. Obviously the legend has a life of its own. The attraction of _Billy the Kid: The Endless Ride_ (Norton) by Michael Wallis is that the legend is fully appreciated. Wallis mentions but does not detail the many media representations the legend has presented after the Kid's death, but does show much of what the papers had to say about him during his life, and also what people who knew him said years after his death, and how unreliable it all is. There are certainly enough facts within the biography, but it is also a realistic look at the Kid's status as a legend in his own time. There were not only many false reports and representations of the Kid, but there are also voids of his life that no one can do anything but guess at. Wallis presents an enjoyable summary of what we can know as accurate and what is pure myth.
The Kid grew up in a changing masculine culture often known as "The Code of the West", which was a new way of dealing with threats. The tradition from British common law was that a man under threat was obligated to retreat until his back was against the wall and there was no alternative but to use deadly force against his opponent. The Code of the West, often celebrated as part of frontier self-reliance and integrity, merely signified that no such restraint under threat had to be shown; the courts even found that a "true man" did not have to back away from a fight, and it was a given that a man could pursue an adversary even once the threat had been lifted. The Kid was certainly one to stand his ground, and probably was on the offensive more than most, but his homicidal actions have been exaggerated. He has four confirmed killings to his name, some completely in self defense, but even before the end of his short life, the tally was being exaggerated. His enemies had good reason to do so. The Kid was caught up in what is called the Lincoln County War, a complex conflict that Wallis says "had been spawned long before in Ireland and England, in boardrooms and court chambers, in saloons and places of worship." It featured private armies of hired killers attempting to settle the conflict of two competing commercial property interests, with governmental corruption and ethnic clashes thrown in. Neither side represented "The Good Guys", and the Kid as a hired shootist was as culpable as any of the other members of the "banditti", but his opposition used him as a targeted bad boy. His own side didn't lack for corruption or malevolence, but the other side could mask its own corruption and malevolence by deliberately playing up the Kid's outlaw role and making him (despite a limited number of crimes) the most wanted man in the Southwest.
So it was that after an astonishing escape from the jail in Lincoln, the Kid was pursued by a posse including Pat Garrett. None of the legends about the Kid and Garrett being companions, pals, or fellow-outlaws are true. Garrett gunned him down in 1881, and his death was world news. A New York paper didn't start the exaggerations, but merely continued them, when it wrote that the Kid "had built up a criminal organization worthy of the underworld in any of the European capitals." The distortions were present during the Kid's lifetime, and have continued; he is a psychopathic serial killer, or a loner out for justice against the system, or a benefactor of the downtrodden, depending on which version of the legend is favored by times or tellers. Wallis's is a winning account of a small life which popular fascination has insisted on writing large.
Fabulous book.......2007-07-23
I travel extensively throughout New Mexico for my job and therefore bought the book-on-CD version of this text. It was fascinating, particularly as I drove through areas discussed in the book; Silver City, Santa Fe, Las Cruces. In terms of a book on Billy the Kid, this work is interesting and helps bring perspective to the story surrounding this folk hero. More important, however, is that the author did a beautiful job of conveying the realities of the times--for cowboys, Native Americans, Hispanics, African Americans, and the others who found their way to New Mexico. Living in New Mexico, it is fascinating to see how our peculiar ways of doing things in this state dates way back; some changes, much stays the same. I recommend this book for anyone interested in Billy the Kid, 'Old West' history, and New Mexico politics. Great job! Thanks for making my driving more tolerable.
Tedious and pedantic.......2007-07-20
Despite several attempts, in terms of a detailed reading, I didn't make it very far into this book: page 64 to be precise. After that I skimed it and, quite frankly, found nothing worthwhile here.
The author's style is, putting it mildly, bizarre. This is 1871, mind you. No electricity. Few labor saving devices. This is Wichita, Kansas, a place not particularly noted for balmy summer weather. Yet author Wallis has the temerity to write "Life in Wichita may have seemed sweet as huckleberry pie for Catherine McCarty. Her steamy City Laundry did a brisk trade thanks to the bundles of soiled hotel and whorehouse linen . . ." Wallis is describing a tubercular woman performing hard physical labor for long hours in less than a hospitable setting. Sure enough, two pages later Wallis writes "[a] stifling hot laundry was far from the ideal place for someone battling a chronic respiratory illness.
"
Wallis' use - or rather misuse - of language is jarring. In another instance, he has the family of the still young boy who would become the notorious Billy The Kid of "slipping" into a state, as if there was something furtive in their movement. There wasn't and the language is a poor attempt to add drama to an ordinary incident. The device doesn't work no matter how many times it is employed - and it is employed all too often.
Wallis takes off on a rant about and against handguns. There's little sense here. Elizabethans were complaining of violence in the streets just as modern day Houstonians do. The availability of early Colt revolvers had little to do with the sometimes lawless character of Western towns.
Not long after, Wallis complains of vigilante justice which was, in fact, an expression of the civilizing impulse. It may have been rough and ready, but it showed the desire of ordinary people for the protection of law.
Wallis makes many gratuitous comments of this kind. He takes the 19th Century folks to task for their lack of environmental sensitivity, ethnic tolerance and so on.
By page 64, I'd had it.
There are many other books available on Billy The Kid, which stick to their subject, avoid language eccentricity and don't try to apply 21st Century political correctness to the 19th Century.
Jerry
Book Description
The dust storms that terrorized America's High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since, and the stories of the people that held on have never been fully told. Pulitzer Prizewinning New York Times journalist and author Timothy Egan follows a half-dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, going from sod huts to new framed houses to basements with the windows sealed by damp sheets in a futile effort to keep the dust out. He follows their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black blizzards, crop failure, and the death of loved ones. Drawing on the voices of those who stayed and survivedthose who, now in their eighties and nineties, will soon carry their memories to the graveEgan tells a story of endurance and heroism against the backdrop of the Great Depression. Egan captures the very voice of the times its grit, pathos, and abiding heroismas only great history can. Combining the human drama of Isaac's Storm with the sweep of The American People in the Great Depression, The Worst Hard Time is a lasting and important work of American history.
Customer Reviews:
Unbelievable!.......2007-10-03
This book was fantastic. Although the majority of books I read are fiction, I'm not hesitant to read good non-fiction. This book was so well written that it reads like a taut novel. Along with Seabiscuit and The Devil in the White City, it is one of the best historical books I've read. Very well researched and thought out. You almost can't believe that this could have actually happened. You feel like you know the characters, and you certainly root for them even though you seemingly know how it will turn out. I would recommend this book to any avid reader - fiction or non-fiction.
Hopefully, we will learn from our past.......2007-10-02
This is an important event in US history that is so relevant today, supplying more fuel for both side of the ongoing debate on global warming.
I found it a bit difficult to stay connected to the characters. In spite of that, the story remained interesting, showing the plight and hardships endured by the generation before us, and bringing us an awareness of our fragile ecosystem.
Eye Opening and Hard to Put Down.......2007-09-25
A must read for history buffs and readers in general. Information places the midwest, its people, and past in an entirely different light of appreciation. (Absolutely Facinating)!
Fine story, good history, a little light on analysis.......2007-09-18
Egan's *Worst Hard Time* is intriguing and largely well done, if a bit relentless. Granted, he's writing about a phenomenon that dragged on for years, repeatedly raising and dashing ever-slimmer hopes; the people who lived the "Dust Bowl" years were literally worn out, but Egan needed to do something more with the material than recreate that sensation. Toward the last third of the book, in particular, a kind of sameness creeps into the narrative, as if Egan didn't really know what else to say -- which I suspect is connected to my sense that he relied too much on too few sources (including a diary that he overuses) -- and his slightly jerky style gets distracting (he's not a great one for writing transitions). For me, one failing is that Egan never explains, in any specific way, the origin and cause of the "black dusters" and other freakish weather phenomena of the "Dust Bowl" era. He tells us that the dust storms came because the topsoil had been carved off by overfarming (and then aggravated by the abandonment of unsuccessful farms), but a meteorological or ecological explanation - even a nontechnical one - wouldn't have been a bad idea. His description of the CCC efforts at re-grassing the plains left me with significant questions that he doesn't answer: Given that the dust storms continued unabated throughout the effort, what was the government's strategy for protecting the newly planted grass during the time it would have taken for it to mature enough to hold the soil? And how did they water it? In addition, I'd have appreciated a more substantive "bring us up to date" chapter at the end that explained more clearly what happened in the wake of the human and policy failures of the Dust Bowl. Nor would a little class analysis have hurt -- other than wagging a kind of general finger at get-rich schemes perpetrated both by private interests and by the government, he seems careful not to accuse anybody too directly of creating an ecological disaster, of maiming (psychologically and literally) and killing tens of thousands of people, or of engaging in a kind of class warfare that embodied the ferocious social Darwinism of Depression-era capitalism. Finally, I'd just point out that the book isn't really the story of "survivors" of the Dust Bowl; there are essentially no survivors, and this is no movie-of-the-week tale of grit, courage, and heroism that win out in the end. The people Egan follows are bleak and broken, and their desperation is palpable. *Worst Hard Time* begs the question: Is there any redemption? I think Egan knows there was none, but he seems loathe to say it in so many words.
A Good but flawed Bookend.......2007-09-03
Timothy Egan's _The Worst Hard Times: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl_ has been a nice bookend to other books I have read on the Depression. These include Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States, John T. Flynn's The Roosevelt Myth, Jim Powell's FDR's Folly, and Friedman & Schwartz' A Monetary History of the United States. Egan's book provides a human perspective on momentous times.
Although Egan alludes to the state's complicity in the conditions that produced those hard times, and at the end acknowledges the bad long term effects of FDR's intervention, he definitely sets FDR, Hugh Bennett, and farm policy as the heroes of his story.
The state's complicity lies in first running the natives out, then establishing incentives to farm the land rather than use it for grazing. The long term effect has been to establish detrimental farm subsidies. On the one hand, price supports promote overproduction of commodities like cotton, which the government then buys and dumps, depressing world markets and further impoverishing African farmers. On the other hand, convoluted policies such as sugar price supports, ethanol incentives, and ethanol import tariffs are intended to raise corn prices, further impoverishing Mexican peasants. Roosevelt also pursued wide-ranging efforts to dam rivers and pump the Ogallala aquifer dry, environmentally destructive programs that will come to be hung around the neck of "capitalism". It is a sad reflection on people who worship FDR's policies as the salvation of impoverished American farmers while ignoring the ill effect of those policies on the impoverished farmers in the rest of the world and on our own environment.
Egan's book highlights the real stories of real people. In the context of those times, when it seemed reasonable for the state to encourage homesteading and farming prior to the closing of the West, when the prospect of prolonged drought seemed dim prior to 1932, when the invoice for the social cost of their actions was not yet due, what might have happened to those people in the absence of the New Deal? We don't know, but Egan's stories are valuable details of what did happen to them.
Still, one cannot help but think that Egan has absorbed just a little too much of the high school version of those events. The high school version is that the farmers were too dumb to know what they were doing, so FDR hired some smart men who invented and taught contour plowing and the use of trees for windbreaks, and then they paid the farmers to let some fields go fallow. It is an unusually common myth.
The conservation measures discussed had been around long before FDR took office. Contour plowing in particular was practiced by the ancient Phoenicians. In the early 1800s, Thomas Jefferson had promoted it on his own farm. These techniques were not unknown to moderns: Pancho Villa promoted contour plowing.
Egan relies on an article, "Small Farms, Externalities and the Dust Bowl of the 1930s" by Zeynep K. Hansen and Gary D. Libecap, published by the NBER. Among other things, the article discusses erosion as an example of several kinds of externality. Suspension of fine particles was costly to farmers as lost soil, but they also caused health problems to humans and livestock. Saltation and creep are externalities in which the topsoil from one farm is deposited on another farm, not only killing the wheat but also burying the downwind farm's erosion control stubble. In the article, they note that prior to the creation of the Soil Conservation Service (SCS), "The two leading erosion control methods in the 1930s were strip cropping with strip fallow and windbreaks of trees or brush. Both provided barriers to lower surface wind velocity and carrying capacity, but the former was more prevalent because trees could not be grown in many parts of the plains. Strip fallow also had the advantage of building up soil moisture and roughness, which reduced erodibility, whereas tree windbreaks actually absorbed moisture from surrounding ground." This is interesting because it shows that (1) Dust Bowl farmers did practice conservation before FDR saved them, and (2) one of the fables from the high school version, FDR's commitment to using trees to block the wind, was not only a failure, but probably caused more damage. To his credit, even Egan describes the tree idea as a failure.
Further in the article, Hansen and Libecap explain, "To completely combat regional erosion, all of the cultivated acreage in a topographical area of similarly erodible soil would have to be included in a "wind erosion unit" of 50,000 to 500,000 acres or more. The optimal farm sizes for addressing wind erosion and production, however, were not the same. Most estimates by agricultural economists and extension agents in the 1930s of appropriate production sizes for the region suggested two sections of land, 1,280 acres, depending on location in the plains. Few scale economies could be realized beyond that size. Nevertheless, in the 1930s, most farms were smaller than the prescribed levels for optimal production. The Great Plains was covered by hundreds of thousands of small farms. This condition was largely a legacy of the Homestead Act that limited claims to 160 to 320 acres when the region was settled between 1880 and 1925." This is the same opinion reported by Egan of Hugh Bennett, the first director of the SCS. The area covered by Egan's story was formerly the domain of Plains Indians who thrived on grass-fed buffalo. The first whites to successfully live on the land ran the XIT cattle ranch. It was government policy to replace both with small claims farmers, and that -- aside from running off the natives -- is the key cause of the Dust Bowl. According to Bennett's report (quoted from Egan), "'Mistaken public choices have been largely responsible for the situation,' the report proclaimed. Specifically, 'a mistaken homesteading policy, the stimulation of war time demands [World War I] which led to over cropping and over grazing, and encouragement of a system of agriculture which could not be both permanent and prosperous ... The Federal homestead policy, which kept land allotments low and required that a portion of each should be plowed, is now seen to have caused immeasurable harm. The Homestead Act of 1862, limiting an individual to 160 acres, was on the western plains almost an obligatory act of poverty.'"
Egan repeatedly suggests that farmers were ready to try anything, and holds up the federal program as their savior, but fails to note that early federal programs were failures. It wasn't until the initiative fell to the states that the programs succeeded. Hansen and Libecap explain, "Given the mixed incentives to participate in erosion control, the response to calls for voluntary collective action was limited. Indeed, the SCS noted a lack of voluntary farmer participation in the erosion control programs outlined in the demonstration projects. ... More direct and coercive government intervention came in 1937 with inauguration of Soil Conservation Districts (SCDs) that had the authority to force farmer compliance and the resources (subsidies) to cover the costs of erosion control. The SCDs were local government units and required state legislation for establishment." According to Hansen and Libecap, "Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, at the center of the Dust Bowl, enacted wind erosion laws in 1935", but Egan fails to note those, favoring the pro-FDR narrative.
Federal policies created the conditions for this environmental and social disaster. That is not a theoretical, paper claim: even Hugh Bennett agreed that the federal Homestead policy was a mistake. The federal SCS was a failure while the state-led SCDs succeeded. The Nature Conservancy and not the federal government pioneered the use of prescribed fire to maintain the health of the grasslands. Grass-fed buffalo are being reintroduced to the grass-fire-buffalo ecosystem as a sustainable food source. It turns out that laissez-faire would have been the best policy and that federal programs have only made things worse. I wish Timothy Egan had paid more attention to that part of the narrative.
Book Description
Hailed as "a rip-snortin', six-guns-blazin' saga of good guys and bad guys who were sometimes one and the same," Robert M. Utley's Lone Star Justice captured the colorful first century of Texas Ranger history. Now, in the eagerly anticipated conclusion, Lone Star Lawmen, Utley once again chronicles the daring exploits of the Rangers, this time as they bring justice to the twentieth-century West. Based on unprecedented access to Ranger archives, this fast-paced narrative stretches from the days of the Mexican Revolution (where atrocities against Mexican Americans marked the nadir of Ranger history) to the Branch Davidian saga near Waco and the recent bloody standoff with "Republic of Texas" militia. Readers will find in these pages one hundred years of high adventure. Utley follows the Rangers as they pursue bank robbers, bootleggers, moonshiners, and "horsebackers" (smugglers who used mule trains to bring liquor across the border). We see these fearless lawmen taming oil boomtowns, springing the ambush of Bonnie and Clyde, facing down angry lynch mobs, and tracking the "Phantom Killer" of Texarkana. Utley also highlights the gradual evolution of this celebrated force, revealing that while West Texas Rangers still occasionally ride the range on horseback and crack down on smugglers and rustlers, East Texas Rangers--who work mostly in big cities--now ride in high-powered cars and contend with kidnappers, forgers, and other urban criminals. But East or West, today's Rangers have become sophisticated professionals, backed by crime labs and forensic science. Written by one of the most respected Western historians alive, here is the definitive account of the Texas Rangers, a vivid portrait of these legendary peace officers and their role in a changing West.
Customer Reviews:
The REAL story of the Texas Rangers - the good, the bad and the ugly.......2007-06-27
An accurate accounting of the modern-day Texas Rangers. A must read for the Texas Ranger enthusiast and those interested in the history of law enforcement in Texas. I loved the section about "Garrison's Rangers". A real good read!! I highly recommend.
A VALUABLE ADDITION TO TEXAS HISTORY.......2007-03-18
Much to the pleasure of Texans and history buffs acclaimed historian Robert Utley returns with his sequel to Lone Star Justice (2002) thus bringing the saga of the Texas Rangers to the present day. Many have been introduced to the Rangers via television with such programs as Walker or Texas Ranger, yet it is left to Utley to deliver the most telling and intriguing story of all.
We read, "One Riot, One Ranger. A single Ranger could quell an incipient riot. Rangers and Texans alike reveled in the image of the stalwart, fearless lawman facing down an angry mob. On occasion it came close enough to happening to provide at least an inspiration for the slogan."
Yes, the Rangers were and are, for many, men of mythic stature. Utley debunks some myths while perpetuating others. History is at its most fascinating as the Rangers enter the twentieth century leaving their beloved horses behind and chasing criminals in motorized vehicles. They're no longer after rustlers but set their sights on modern criminals and the utilization of contemporary methods, such as forensic science.
With Lone Star Lawmen readers view the Mexican Revolution (a dark point in Ranger history) and visit towns made rich and lawless by oil. The dramatic capture of Bonnie and Clyde is retold, as well as the Branch Davidian tragedy near Waco.
Prodigiously researched Lone Star Lawmen is one more valuable addition to Texas history.
- Gail Cooke
Truth Trumps Mythology--Not a Moment Too Soon.......2007-02-18
As a proud native Texan I have relished the mythology of the Texas Rangers as much as anyone else. But after a century and three quarters of a steady diet of stories of larger-than-life Rangers who could do no wrong it is past time that we begin to understand these lawmen as the real men they were. Some of what they did was extraordinarily good and some extraordinarily bad. Robert Utley, who has never yet stepped back from pushing fact in the face of popular mythology, has helped us know the genuine background of Texas as few others have done.
The Best History of the Texas Rangers, Period........2007-02-18
Robert Utley shows again why he is the dean of western history with the second part of his masterful account of the Texas Rangers. While this isn't as romantically wild and woolly as the previous volume--it's inevitable, as automobiles replace horses and the solving of cases relies on more technical tools--it's still engaging and colorful. A great historian--and a great storyteller--does a magnificent job once more.
A True Master Rescues History from the Pit of Myth.......2007-02-18
Robert M. Utley follows his masterful account of the first century of the Texas Rangers, Lone Star Justice, with another tour de force, bringing the story up to date. Brilliantly written and meticulously documented, as always with this celebrated historian of the West, this book traces the transformation of a frontier peace force at the beginning of the 20th century to today's internationally recognized investigative and law-enforcement force, a small band of efficient professionals whose frontier history will always hang over them. Casting off frontier ways was not always easy, politically or professionally, as Utley clearly explains. He is not afraid to deal with the controversial aspects of his subject's history, in particular repeated charges of racism and high-handed brutality. This is no love poem to this sometimes controversial organization, as Utley takes on the negative as well as the positive, with judiciouos balance. On the whole, his judgment of the Rangers, for all the regrettable elements of their past, is favorable, and he concludes that the organization has not so much overcome its history as learned from it. A welcome corrective to the romanticizing that usually characterizes stories about the Rangers. Recommended to anyone interested in the history of Texas, the West, and law enforcement. Given that issues involving the US border with Mexico are in the forefront lately, this book provides informative background.
Customer Reviews:
Good Attempt at a Dry Subject.......2007-09-26
This book is a tough one to get through, not through any fault of the Author but due to the dryness of the material. I am currently in the process of reading a book on every US President and this book seemed to be the best one out there on Zachary Taylor.
I would recommend if you are trying to find out more about the subject, but if you are looking for a great historical page turner, you need to look elsewhere.
Comprehensive but often dull biography of our twelfth President.......2007-09-18
I am currently reading a biography of every President in order and Bauer's book seemed like the obvious choice for Zachary Taylor.
This book is a bit difficult to rate fairly as I doubt any full biography of Zachary Taylor could be made into a great read. Indeed, Bauer's biography is excellently researched and organized. The writing, although a bit uninspired, is easy to read and well presented. At times, however, this book is very dull and in my opinion Bauer tends to error on the side of going into too much detail. Taylor's military career had few standout moments and most of the first part of the book focuses more on Taylor's transfer from fort to fort along the western frontier.
If there is a President for which a short biography would suffice Taylor is it, and while at slightly over 300 pages of text Bauer's tome is by no means exceedingly long, at the end of the book I felt that it could certainly have been cut down by about 100 pages while still providing a comprehensive biography. Undoubtedly, however, this is the best one volume biography of Taylor available (why anyone would need to read Holman Hamilton's two volume work is beyond me) and certainly more than adequate for its task.
Bad attempt with limited research.......2007-03-03
This was a terrible attempt at scholarship. The book is poorly written and gives an overview with no specifics except for military encounters. This author should have focused his efforts on a military account of Taylor's life because after reading I feel I know nothing about the man. Admittedly there are severe source deficiencies when dealing with this subject but a much wider study could have been undertaken. Sadly there is not much written on Taylor and this does a poor job of adding to the scholarship.
Old Rough and Ready's Story.......2006-03-09
This was a good read in that it described Zack Taylor's military carreer and political excursion thoroughly. The book does a good job of keeping interest in a less than interesting character. Taylor seems to be somewhat of a whiner throughout his military career, but he was a good soldier. The author's description of his campaigns in Mexico cause the reader to wonder why Taylor was hailed as a hero of the war, but since he was in charge, he got the credit. His political success wasn't any more impressive and we were fortunate to have such an able bodied politician/statesman in Fillmore to take over upon Taylor's death. I recommend this book to anyone interested in 19th century politics.
Highly Recomended.......2005-07-30
I have read a number of presidential biographies and this was one of the best organized and best written. The author breaks down Taylor's life into substantive themes. Now, I am NOT saying the Taylor is the most interesting president to study. I am saying, however, that this is one of the best books that you will find regarding biographies of presidents.
Book Description
Gardening is now the favorite outdoor leisure activity in America. Homeowners realize the health benefits available from gardening and the potential increase in their home's property value.
Regional gardening titles offer the most useful advice because they provide credible information on the plants that perform best in specific states. Gardeners want information they can trust and use successfully in their own gardens.
The Texas Gardening Guide is converted to a full-color edition with updated plants and the latest information on Texas gardening trends. It is revised by Dale Groom, the popular author and co-author of two other Cool Springs Press titles on gardening in Texas.
Customer Reviews:
repetitous.......2006-07-08
Too much repetition. For each entry: If you have problems, your local plant dealer can give you advice. Well, often the advice you get is not accurate. Lots of references to what his granny grew. It's great he loved his granny, but that is folksy and not useful information. Ignores the problems with periwinkle and red tip photinia diseases.
Pictures are very good. Book is well organized. Bibliography leaves out some important other books by competing radio call-in hosts.
I get the impression that Mr. Groom is a nice, well-intentioned man, but this is not a definitive work on Texas decorative gardening.
Great Color, maybe not enough variety.......2006-06-27
I purchased this book after wanting to revamp my lawn. Each page is filled with great detail on each common plant, vine, etc. found in Texas. I found it helpful that it lists the common bugs (if any) that would possibly attack the plant. The book is filled with huge colorful pictures. It is a lot more helpful than the original book Dale Groom has (I have both). I recommend this book to any one who doesn't know a lot about the plants that thrive in the many different areas of Texas.
Although I think this a great book for any Texan, I almost wished there was more variety. I used this in combination with Home Landscaping: Texas (Home Landscaping). Happy Planting!
Great book.......2005-09-21
I really like this very simple to read and understand book. It is great for checking out what plants you want to plant.
Part of a collection..........2005-07-03
As a quick reference this book compliments a gardener's information resource. This one can go with you as you do a "walk through" of a landscape design. Excellent photographs help you visualize your ideas.
Best Book for North Texas.......2005-01-29
I am a professional Horticulturist and love this book! Even though I know my plant material, the ideas and info in this book are very helpful to me in my industry. And it is written so that someone who doesn't know plant material will also learn a lot. It is an easy read and thorough covers each plant. This is the one book that I keep with me for reference all the time. I would call it my Bible for North Texas Plant Material. I have met Dale several times and he is very knowledgable about this industry and what works in North Texas. You can be sure that what he says in this book is the truth.
Book Description
Do I prune my hydrangea in the fall or do I wait until early spring?
When is it safe to put out tomatoes?
Can I divide iris now?
If you have ever asked yourself questions like these, Month-by-Month Gardening in Texas is for you. Gardening is a journey, not a destination. The day-by-day gardening experiences - planting a few onion sets in the first warm afternoon of spring… the surprises - a purple crocus before the snow has even gone … the satisfaction - fresh green beans on the dinner table, or tomatoes, bright and red, safely in quart jars … these are the things that keep the gardener coming back year after year.
Month-by-Month Gardening in Texas is packed with information that explains what needs to be done and when it needs to be done in the Texas garden. Topics include:
- The most effective planting techniques.
- How and when to prune.
- The best season for fertilizing your lawn.
- The differences between bare-root, container, and balled-and-burlapped plants.
- Eleven plant categories, including Annuals, Bulbs, Herbs, Vegetables, Houseplants, Lawns, Perennials, Roses, Shrubs, and Trees.
- Twelve monthly calendars for each plant category - 132 calendars in all! - that make is easy to find the proper gardening advice.
Whatever your gardening interests or the time of year, you can take the guesswork and mystery out of gardening. You will become a more satisfied gardener … and your garden will show it!
Customer Reviews:
Great book for novices and experts alike..........2007-05-13
I bought this book for my son. He recently got married and he and his wife are now the proud owners of a new home in the area. Although he thought he knew how to maintain a yard, he quickly realized he didn't have a clue. He knew his lawn needed to be mowed, that the grass needed to be fed and watered, and that his wife wanted some flowers, shrubs and trees planted, but that was just about it. What he needed was an easy, step-by-step book explaining not only what needed to be done but when it needed to be accomplished as well...and this book says it all. He now knows what he needs to do to have a beautiful lawn and garden, what items should be done each month, what plants work best in our area, and how to go about doing it all.
Maintaining a yard can be an overwhelming experience for us all, but when the process is explained in detail month-by-month, as it is in Dale Groom's book, it's much easier to comprehend.
Month-by-month Gardening in Texas.......2005-09-18
The book was in new condition. Very fast shipping. Would recomend to anybody.
A Wonderful Guide - Especially for We Compulsives.......2005-08-05
As a true gardening moron, this book gives me hope that I can successfully grow plants without taking medication to assuage my anxiety. I like to know how, when and why and Groom's book covers all those bases. Divided into sections on annuals, perennials, trees, shrubs, etc., each section takes you from January to December telling you what to do each month. For me, this takes an overwhelming task - How to Garden - and breaks it into managable, understandable tasks.
Makes FIguring out when....easy!.......2003-08-18
You might need to know your yard needs Nitrogen...but when is the best time to add the fertilizer?
How often should I trim my roses?
When is the best time to plant shrubs?
In categories including bulbs, roses, shrubs, trees and yards, you will learn the best time to do the various tasks of maintaining a beautiful yard and garden. For those of us in Texas (or similar zones) it's an essential guide that deals with our warm winters and hot summers.
I love it! Very helpful information that I refer to regularly to know what needs to be done 'this month'.
Not designed to be a colorful rendition on plants, if you're looking for a picture-book, this is not for you. But it's well organized and easy to read or browse. There are lists of plants that do well in our area, with some warnings of plants that don't do well, say, in the panhandle, where the climate is different.
Unless you're a master gardener, or even if you are, this would be a beneficial guide.
Perfect!.......2003-03-13
By now even I, a Philadelphia gardener who visits Houston every 6 weeks or so, know that Dale Groom is a genius--Texas style. In "Month-by-Month Gardening in Texas," he and his equally wonderful cowriter, Dan Gill, provide a treasure trove of information for everything from roses to houseplants in the easiest-to-use format I've ever encountered.
You want to know what you need to do in March? Turn to the large, easy-to-read, illustrated (but not too much) calendar-type March pages. You'll find out how much water your houseplants need, if and when you need to prune your bushes, if it is too early or too late to plant your annuals, and so forth. The at-a-glance style of the book provides quick and easy answers that anyone can understand.
Very serious gardeners, who are interested in the details of propogation and grafting, for instance, will not find the depth of information they need in this book. This is exactly what it says it is: a month-to-month guide. This was a gift to me from a near-and-dear Texan, and I cherish it. You will too.
Average customer rating:
- Great, real deep
- I guess it depends on what you are looking for
|
The Children of NAFTA: Labor Wars on the U.S./Mexico Border
David Bacon
Manufacturer: University of California Press
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ASIN: 0520237781 |
Book Description
Food, televisions, computer equipment, plumbing supplies, clothing. Much of the material foundation of our everyday lives is produced along the U.S./Mexico border in a world largely hidden from our view. Based on gripping firsthand accounts, this book investigates the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement on those who labor in the agricultural fields and maquiladora factories on the border. Journalist David Bacon paints a powerful portrait of poverty, repression, and struggle, offering a devastating critique of NAFTA in the most pointed and in-depth examination of border workers published to date.
Unlike journalists who have made brief excursions into strawberry fields and maquiladoras, Bacon has more than a decade's experience reporting on the ground at the border, and he has developed sustained relationships with scores of workers and organizers who have entrusted him with their stories. He describes harsh conditions of child labor in the Mexicali Valley, the deplorable housing outside factories in cities such as Tijuana, and corporate retaliation faced by union organizers. He finds that, despite the promises of its backers, NAFTA has locked in a harsh neoliberal economic policy that has swept away laws and protections that Mexican workers had established over decades. More than a showcase for NAFTA's victims, this book traces the emergence of a new social consciousness, telling how workers in Mexico, the United States, and Canada are now beginning to join together in a powerful new strategy of cross-border organizing as they search for economic and social justice.
Download Description
Food, televisions, computer equipment, plumbing supplies, clothing. Much of the material foundation of our everyday lives is produced along the U.S./Mexico border in a world largely hidden from our view. Based on gripping firsthand accounts, this book investigates the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement on those who labor in the agricultural fields and maquiladora factories on the border. Journalist David Bacon paints a powerful portrait of poverty, repression, and struggle, offering a devastating critique of NAFTA in the most pointed and in-depth examination of border workers published to date. Unlike journalists who have made brief excursions into strawberry fields and maquiladoras, Bacon has more than a decade's experience reporting on the ground at the border, and he has developed sustained relationships with scores of workers and organizers who have entrusted him with their stories. He describes harsh conditions of child labor in the Mexicali Valley, the deplorable housing outside factories in cities such as Tijuana, and corporate retaliation faced by union organizers. He finds that, despite the promises of its backers, NAFTA has locked in a harsh neoliberal economic policy that has swept away laws and protections that Mexican workers had established over decades. More than a showcase for NAFTA's victims, this book traces the emergence of a new social consciousness, telling how workers in Mexico, the United States, and Canada are now beginning to join together in a powerful new strategy of cross-border organizing as they search for economic and social justice.
Customer Reviews:
Great, real deep.......2007-04-15
Struggle and hope. That's what I thought of this May the 1st of 2006, when seemingly millions of people across the US, mainly Latinos, rallied to support so-called illegal immigrants. These immigrants have literally spent a long time struggling both in the nations they came from and here in the US as business people get rich from their labor. But that day there was hope. In this day of globalization where corporations have the ultimate freedom to cross borders at will in the search for higher and higher profits, while workers cannot without becoming "illegals", it was a day that seemed to signify that "Si, se peude!" They stood up to a government punishing its own people trying to escape a poverty created by the economic policies created by that very government.
What exactly is going on at the US-Mexican border? It seems so far away to me, but in a town I grew up near, you can see the backlash and blame on immigrants for US citizens losing jobs to what is really that fault of neo-liberal attacks like NAFTA. In Hazleton, PA (about 45 minutes from my native Carbondale), some of the most draconian laws against immigrants ever passed sailed through recently. But it all comes back to the border. It turns out that Mexican immigrants are not so docile after all,and that they, just like any people who have been wronged over and over, will stand up for themselves. David Bacon, a labor journalist who works for the Nation, illustrates this well in "The Children of NAFTA: Labor Wars on the U. S./Mexico Border".
Bacon looks at what exactly is happening on the border. He starts by exploring the grape pickers of Southern California. Most had come to the US to seek higher wages than they could have possibly gotten in Mexico. But after NAFTA (North American Free Trade Association), the companies at which they had won better wages after decades of fights with the Caesar Chavez's United Farm Workers (UFW), many suddenly found that they lost these jobs as they moved to Mexico's Mexicali Valley where they could pay those workers as much as a third less than the mainly Mexican immigrants in the US. In the Mexicali Valley, farmworkers (who often bring their children to the fields since there is no affordable school or daycare) could barely afford to pay their bills or get groceries, leading to many families sharing homes in order to pool their resources.
Along this same border has risen the infamous Maquiladora (duty-free and union-free factories) industry, which is now a global term but originated as a term for clothing manufacturers along the US-Mexico border. These have swelled since NAFTA, and one of the allures is that it is very hard to form an independent union in Mexico. However, Bacon illustrates that over the past decade of NAFTA Mexico, several independent unions have arisen in the face of a hostile ruling PRI, and then PAN, governments. At the same time, US unions have begun to pull away from their former cold-war, anti-communist sentiment and have slowly recognized that American workers and Mexican workers both lose because of NAFTA and that they must work together in order to survive, The UE, (United Electrical), an independent union, sent the first support to the new independent unions and conducted co-campaigns on the border to organize Maquiladoras into unions to demand better conditions and wages. Interestingly enough, it also began the question of shifting their tactics, since while US unions usually pressure companies until they can win or get some of their goals, Mexican unions usually see the government as their main enemy since the Mexican government maintains industry control over wages and will often not let companies raise wages if it will effect an entire industry (another reason US companies like moving to Mexico).
Some of the stuff in this book honestly was shocking how far 1st world companies would go to crush 3rd world workers. There are countless stories in "Children of NAFTA" of brutal beatings of union organizers. They (factory managers) shipped in temps in many stories to vote for the company government-sanctioned union in factory-wide elections, which too seemed many times to galvanize Maquiladora workers against the management. Black-lists, revenge wage-reductions, and brutal attacks on factory workers' pro-union demonstrations almost made reading it unbearable. However, as the labor organizers learned to deal with NAFTA, the one thing I came away from is that the only hope that we human beings fighting for a better future for our children have is that we can never turn our backs on anyone in a struggle. If global corporations can be everywhere, labor unions must be too. While we engage in these struggles locally, our minds must think globally, as the phrase goes.
I guess it depends on what you are looking for.......2005-10-20
If you are looking for a biased account of the human tragedy that is Mexican labor, this might be the book for you.
If you are looking for a analysis of what is happening and WHY. You may be disappointed.
David Bacon clearly wishes that he was the Saul Alinsky of Mexico. If you don't know who Saul Alinsky is, you may have just found your next reading subject.
It's not that its poorly written. It is just not impressive in any way. If you can't get enough of Mexico or if you need something to read between globalization protests, you will love it. But its hard to just jump in with an open mind and not be disappointed.
Customer Reviews:
Hatfields and McCoys.......2007-05-24
Recd the book in a timely fashion and the book was in great shape. Very pleased with the service.
Great book.......2006-12-27
we are decendents of the hat fields and my dad has been doing research on them. I gave him this for Christmas and from what I hear he loves it and cant hardly put it down.
Very thorough.......2005-09-11
I was looking for a book to give me a factual narrative of the Hatfield-McCoy feud. I took a chance ont his book and was nicely rewarded. Heavily footnoted and scrupulously dispassionate, the book gives a clear and concise rundown of the events leading up to, during, and as the feud wound down. In the course of doing so, this book also debunks many of the myths and some of the commonly held beliefs of what took place during this feud. Indeed, the book also gives details on other feuds that occurred during the years that the Hatfield-McCoy feud ravaged the Tug River valley. It is a good, easy to read book. The only failing of the book is that the pictures section is heavily tilted towards the Hatfields. I don't know if this is because the McCoys did have as many pictures or what. But a better balanced photo section would be helpful.
Compact yet informative telling of the famous feud!.......1999-01-02
Much has been written of the feud yet in this book I found a "good read" along with a very historical study. Also inside the front and back covers you will find a family tree graphic to help you trace possible relations.
Book Description
A rich gathering of essays that evoke the unique and mysterious appeal New Mexico has had for some of the twentieth century's best-known writers. Included are selections by Mary Austin, Oliver La Farge, Conrad Richter, D.H. Lawrence, C.G. Jung, Winfield Townley Scott, John DeWitt McKee, Ernie Pyle, Harvey Fergusson, and Lawrence Clark Powell. Hillerman's preface and introduction are choice specimens of his incisive humor and his own deep love of the state.
“Should be required reading for all those who call themselves New Mexican.”—James Arnholz
Famous writers tell of the fascination of New Mexico.
Customer Reviews:
The Spell of New Mexico.......2005-09-13
This is a must read for anyone seriously interested in the state of New Mexico.
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