Big Bend National Park and Vicinity Author(s): Thomas C. Alex

[presidio]

Just ordered mine....   $31.85 for both with FREE SHIPPING!

$22.94 for both from Amazon, plus I ordered another doodad I'd been wanting to combine with something to push the order over $25 for the free shipping.

This is  $11 cheaper than ordering it from the NHA with the 15% member discount, and almost $16 less if you're not an NHA member.

[SHANEA]

From the Stephen F. Austin State University Alumni Magazine "The Sawdust" Spring 2010 Issue.

Ah, I also hail from SFASU!  2x

Your pick. .jpg format or .pdf format (Adobe reader 8.0 and above)
Admin note: we've got enough problems with data storage without duplicates...

[badknees]

I looked at a copy in PJ the other day. Lots of photos and autographed version.

[RichardM]

I just ordered a new copy from alibris.com's Paperbackshop for $8.20 shipped (after using $1 discount coupon "SALINGER"). I would've preferred to buy it from a local retailer out in Big Bend and gotten Tom to autograph it for my Dad, but I'm stuck here in H-town.

http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?binding=&mtype=&keyword=Big+Bend+National+Park+and+Vicinity

P.S. Don't tell my Dad I'm going to read it before he gets it for Father's Day.

[RichardM]

I just ordered a new copy from alibris.com's Paperbackshop for $8.20 shipped (after using $1 discount coupon "SALINGER"). I would've preferred to buy it from a local retailer out in Big Bend and gotten Tom to autograph it for my Dad, but I'm stuck here in H-town.

http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?binding=&mtype=&keyword=Big+Bend+National+Park+and+Vicinity

P.S. Don't tell my Dad I'm going to read it before he gets it for Father's Day.

Oops, looks like I failed to notice the "Edition: CRDS", which apparently indicated that low price was for the historic postcards. Now I'll have to order the book. Cost me $17.01 (shipped) this time. Hopefully it'll get here quicker than the postcards, which took over two weeks.

[SHANEA]

Hiya, while we are on the subject of books, make sure you pick up a copy or two or three, maybe four of this book.  They make wonderful Christmas presents.  It's only 149 days away... 

Don't forget the postcards as well...

Written by Big Bend National Parks own park archeologist.   

 


 

[alextr]

Considering my relation to the author I may be a little biased however, I thought the book was extremely well done and I am proud to have a copy of it. I would recommend it for anyone who is a BBNP lover.

[SHANEA]

Just received word that it is now gone into it's 3rd printing run.  Demand remains high for this highly acclaimed book - destined to be a Pulitzer Prize winner.

[SHANEA]

Still in the news...  award winning...

[Homer67]

I still love The Big Bend: A History of the Last Texas Frontier by Ron Tyler.  I know it's an older book, but I have yet to find one with as good documentation.  I like the bibliographical essay...invaluable for research!

[Sophora Bean]

I thought Tyler was the most outstanding authority for many years and to a degree, his work remains  one of the more comprehensive among the extant histories of the area. Ron Tyler hits many of the historical high points but he is rather Anglo-centric. As he says on page 213, "Although some Big Bend place names recall the days of the Spaniards and Indians, most are of more recent origin, reflecting the Anglo-American society that settled the region as well as the pragmatic and common character of the settlers."

As pointed out in Big Bend NP & V, page 12, the area was already settled by Hispanic people. "By 1805...[there were] ...the settlements of San Carlos, San Antonio, Altarez, Piedritas, and Salada south of the Rio Grande."

"In many Spanish settlements like San Carlos, [Hispanic] Europeans intermarried with native people, creating a rich intercultural mingling of Old World and New World knowledge and traditions. This combined ancient knowledge equipped people with unique practical wisdom, enabling their survival in an otherwise hostile environment. "

It appears that the wisdom gained through 'intercultural mingling and the resultant 'combined knowledge' gave these original settlers a pragmatic nature enabling them to survive quite well. Hispanics were here a hundred years before the Anglos took over the land.

BBNP&V attempts to illuminate such bias amongst the earlier Anglo authors and gently throw it out the proverbial window.

Much research since Tyler (1975) has brought to light information from original sources that refute not only Tyler but others. Gomez, mentioned above in this thread, is one whose research is original solid and unlike Tyler, Gomez did not rehash and paraphrase the same sources.

A good ranching history is David Keller's Below the Escondido Rim.


Again, original research.

I still go back to Tyler occasionally, but only to jog my foggy memory and then I try to find the more reliable primary sources.
IMHO

[SHANEA]

This must read book needs to be at the top of your Christmas shopping list for you and yours...