Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest, with a Few ObservationsDobie, J. Frank (James Frank)
History
Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest, with a Few Observations
Dobie, J. Frank (James Frank)
Southwest, New -- Bibliography
JAMES, W. S. _Cowboy Life in Texas_, Chicago, 1893. A genuine cowboy who
became a genuine preacher and wrote a book of validity. This is the best
of several books of reminiscences by cowboy preachers, some of whom are
as lacking in the real thing as certain cowboy artists. Next to _Cowboy
Life in Texas_, in its genre, might come _From the Plains to the
Pulpit_, by J. W. Anderson, Houston, 1907. The second edition (reset)
has six added chapters. The third, and final, edition, Goose Creek,
Texas, 1922, again reset, has another added chapter. J. B. Cranfill was
a trail driver from a rough range before he became a Baptist preacher
and publisher. His bulky _Chronicle, A Story of Life in Texas_, 1916, is
downright and concrete.
KELEHER, WILLIAM A. _Maxwell Land Grant: A New Mexico Item_, Santa Fe,
1942. The Maxwell grant of 1,714,764 acres on the Cimarron River was at
one time perhaps the most famous tract of land in the West. This history
brings in ranching only incidentally; it focuses on the land business,
including grabs by Catron, Dorsey, and other affluent politicians.
Perhaps stronger on characters involved during long litigation over
the land, and containing more documentary evidence, is _The Grant That
Maxwell Bought_, by F. Stanley, The World Press, Denver, 1952 (a folio
of 256 pages in an edition of 250 copies at $15.00). Keleher is a
lawyer; Stanley is a priest. Harvey Fergusson in his historical novel
_Grant of Kingdom_, New York, 1950, vividly supplements both. Keleher's
second book, _The Fabulous Frontier_, Rydal, Santa Fe, 1945, illuminates
connections between ranch lands and politicians; principally it sketches
the careers of A. B. Fall, John Chisum, Pat Garrett, Oliver Lee, Jack
Thorp, Gene Rhodes, and other New Mexico notables.
KENT, WILLIAM. _Reminiscences of Outdoor Life_, San Francisco, 1929. OP.
This is far from being a straight-out range book. It is the easy talk of
an urbane man associated with ranches and ranch people who was equally
at home in a Chicago office and among fellow congressmen. He had a
country-going nature and gusto for character.
KING, FRANK M. _Wranglin' the Past_, Los Angeles, 1935. King went all
the way from Texas to California, listening and looking. OP. His second
book, _Longhorn Trail Drivers_ (1940), is worthless. His _Pioneer
Western Empire Builders_ (1946) and _Mavericks_ (1947) are no better.
Most of the contents of these books appeared in _Western Livestock
Journal_, Los Angeles.
KUPPER, WINIFRED. _The Golden Hoof_, New York, 1945. Story of the sheep
and sheep people of the Southwest. Facts, but, above that, truth that
comes only through imagination and sympathy. OP. _Texas Sheepman_,
University of Texas Press, Austin, 1951. The edited reminiscences of
Robert Maudslay. He drove sheep all over the West, and lived up to the
ideals of an honest Englishman in writing as well as in ranching. He had
a sense of humor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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