Big Bend Books

[BigBendHiker]

DavidL's reply to the post on "A Most Singular Country" about reading the various books on Big Bend got me to thinking which is a dangerous thing...

I wonder if we could setup a sticky that has a list of the books and authors about Big Bend and the region? And, include a link to the Big Bend Natural History Association webpage where many, if not all, could be purchased.

I found the link from the Big Bend book thread that was posted earlier this year and copied the titles and authors of the books that were in the thread (alphabetized by title; I may have missed some and if so, please add to the thread):

http://www.bigbendchat.com/portal/forum/index.php?topic=112.0&highlight=books


1. A Homesteader's Story by J. O. Langford
2.  A Most Singular Country by Arthur R. Gomez
3.  Amphibians and Reptiles of Texas by James R. Dixon
4.  Beneath the Window by Patricia Wilson Clothier
5.  Big Bend Country by Ross A. Maxwell  
6.  Big Bend Country, Land of the Unexpected by Kenneth B. Ragsdale
7.  Big Bend of the Rio Grande: A Guide to the Rocks, Landscape, Geologic History, and Settlers of the Area of Big Bend National Park by Ross A. Maxwell
8.  Big Bend Panorama (not what you think it is)
9.  Big Bend Vistas by MacLeod
10.  Big Bend:  Three Steps to the Sky by Deckert
11.  Chronicles of the Big Bend by WD Smithers
12.  Circuit Riders of the Big Bend by WD Smithers
13.  Contrabando: Confessions of a Drug-Smuggling Texas Cowboy" by Don Henry Ford, Jr
14.  Drug Lord by Terrace Poppa
15.  Early Trail Drives of the Big Bend by WD Smithers
16.  Geology of Big Bend National Park, Texas  by Maxwell, Lonsdale, Hazzard and Wilson
17.  God's Country or Devils Playground by Nelson
18.  Hiking Big Bend, by Laurence Parent
19.  How Come It's Called That by Hallie Stilwell
20.  I'll Gather My Geese by Hallie Stilwell
21.  Land of the Desert Sun by D. Gentry Steele (Tom Alex pictured on the back cover)
22.  Life Along the Border by C. A. Hawley
23.  Little known history of the Texas Big Bend by Glenn Justice
24.  Lizards on the Mantel, Burros at the Door by Etta Koch
25.  More Tales of the Big Bend by Elton Miles
26.  My Goose is Cooked by Hallie Stilwell
27.  My Name is Frederick Rice and I Was Born Here by Stanley Ewald
28.  Naturalist's Big Bend by Roland H. Wauer & Carl M. Fleming
29.  One Ranger by Jauquin Jackson
30.  Portraits From the Desert by Bill Wright's Big Bend
31.  Quicksilver: Terlingua and the Chisos Mining Company by Kenneth Ragsdale
32.  Rio Grande an excellent hardback full of short stories
33.  Story of Big Bend National Park by Jameson
34.  Stray Tales of the Big Bend by Elton Miles
35.  Tales from the Terlingua Porch by Blair Pittman.
36.  Tales of the Big Bend by Elton Miles
37.  Texas Big Bend Country by Wuerthner
38.  Texas Camel Tales by Chris Emmett (1932)
39.  The Big Bend Country by Virginia Madison
40.  The Big Bend Country of Texas by Madison
41.  The Big Bend: A History of the Last Texas Frontier by Ronnie C. Tyler
42.  The Pelican Guide to the Big Bend Country by McCarty
43.  The Texas Outback by Caleb Pirtle
44.  The Way I Heard It by Fulcher
45.  Wildflowers of the Big Bend by Warnock and Koch
46.  Wings Over the Mexican Border by Kenneth Ragsdale

Some new additions:
"Big Bend Landscapes" by Dennis Blagg, TX A&M Univ Press, 2002
"Big Bend National Park", Univ of TX Press, 2006
"Exploring the Big Bend Country" by Peter Koch and June Cooper Price, Univ of TX Press, 2007
"Texas Bird Adventures in the Chisos Mountains and on the Northern Plains" by Herbert Brandt, published in 1940.



BBH

[bdann]

I've been trying to buy a book every trip to the park for abour four years now.  I've gotten a few off Ebay and a couple of Half Price Books as well.  Chronicles of the Big Bend by WD Smithers is one of my favorites, I love all the old photography.  I have a first edition of that one.

Also really enjoyed the Etta Koch book and the Patricia Wilson Clothier book.

[BigBendHiker]

Great comments, there bdann.

That is how we have started our collection.  Visit the PJ Bookstore when we first get to BIBE to purchase a book or two.  Without TVs and the other technology, our evenings at BIBE are free to read and relax.


BBH

[Lemming_of_the_BDA]

This one should be on the list as well:

"My Name is Frederick Rice and I Was Born Here" by Stanley Ewald.

[BigBendHiker]

Thanks.

I had not heard of that one.  I edited the list in my original post and added it.


Thanks,
BBH

[Lemming_of_the_BDA]

DavidL's reply to the post on "A Most Singular Country" about reading the various books on Big Bend got me to thinking which is a dangerous thing...

I wonder if we could setup a sticky that has a list of the books and authors about Big Bend and the region? And, include a link to the Big Bend Natural History Association webpage where many, if not all, could be purchased.


26.  Tales of the Big Bend by Elton Miles[/i]

IIRC, Elton Miles published two more books in this vein. The second was "More Tales of the Big Bend". I forget the title to the third, but it was along the same lines as the first two. I'll look for it when I get home. Hopefully, my beautiful, young, Big-Bend hatin' bride hasn't sold it to Half-Price Books.

[BigBendHiker]

They are up there:
18.  More Tales of the Big Bend by Elton Miles
25.  Stray Tales of the Big Bend by Elton Miles
27.  Tales of the Big Bend by Elton Miles

Yes...hopefully, it has not been sold.  But, if it has, you can probably buy another copy of it.  That keeps the economy going. :?


Thanks,
BBH

[Casa Grande]

DavidL's reply to the post on "A Most Singular Country" about reading the various books on Big Bend got me to thinking which is a dangerous thing...

I wonder if we could setup a sticky that has a list of the books and authors about Big Bend and the region? And, include a link to the Big Bend Natural History Association webpage where many, if not all, could be purchased.

I found the link from the Big Bend book thread that was posted earlier this year and copied the titles and authors of the books that were in the thread (alphabetized by title; I may have missed some and if so, please add to the thread):

http://www.bigbendchat.com/portal/forum/index.php?topic=112.0&highlight=books



1.  A Homesteader's Story by J. O. Langford
2.  A Most Singular Country by Arthur R. Gomez
3.  Amphibians and Reptiles of Texas by James R. Dixon
4.  Beneath the Window by Patricia Wilson Clothier
5.  Big Bend Country by Ross A. Maxwell  
6.  Big Bend Country, Land of the Unexpected by Kenneth B. Ragsdale
7.  Big Bend of the Rio Grande: A Guide to the Rocks, Landscape, Geologic History, and Settlers of the Area of Big Bend National Park by Ross A. Maxwell
8.  Big Bend Panorama (not what you think it is)
9.  Chronicles of the Big Bend by WD Smithers
10.  Contrabando: Confessions of a Drug-Smuggling Texas Cowboy" by Don Henry Ford, Jr
11.  Drug Lord by Terrace Poppa
12.  Hiking Big Bend, by Laurence Parent
13.  How Come It's Called That by Hallie Stilwell
14.  I'll Gather My Geese by Hallie Stilwell
15.  Life Along the Border by C. A. Hawley
16.  Little known history of the Texas Big Bend by Glenn Justice
17.  Lizards on the Mantel, Burros at the Door by Etta Koch
18.  More Tales of the Big Bend by Elton Miles
19.  My Goose is Cooked by Hallie Stilwell
20.  My Name is Frederick Rice and I Was Born Here by Stanley Ewald
21.  Naturalist's Big Bend by Roland H. Wauer & Carl M. Fleming
22.  One Ranger by Jauquin Jackson
23.  Quicksilver: Terlingua and the Chisos Mining Company by Kenneth Ragsdale
24.  Rio Grande an excellent hardback full of short stories
25.  Stray Tales of the Big Bend by Elton Miles
26.  Tales from the Terlingua Porch by Blair Pittman.
27.  Tales of the Big Bend by Elton Miles
28.  Texas Camel Tales by Chris Emmett (1932)
29.  The Big Bend: A History of the Last Texas Frontier by Ronnie C. Tyler


BBH

great minds think alike ;)

What about a Big Bend Book of the month Club?  Ok, now we're getting too "Oprahesque"  :lol:

[BEN AND GENA]

Another terrific book is "Wings Over the Mexican Border" by Kenneth Ragsdale. It's the story of Elmo Johnson's ranch and the airfield on the River Road which he ran for the Army Air Corps during the 1920's - 1930's. We used some of the pictures in the book to locate the old runways at the site... found a lot of what looked like 30 cal. casings along the runways. Always wondered if the pilots practiced their gunnery along them.
Have a hanky ready when you read in the last chapter about Mr. Johnson's last visit to the site with his daughter in the 1970's.

Highly Recommended !

[bdann]

Here are some others:

1. Potraits From the Desert, Bill Wright's Big Bend

2. The Texas Outback by Caleb Pirtle

3. The Big Bend Country by Virginia Madison

4. Land of the Desert Sun by D. Gentry Steele (Tom Alex pictured on the back cover 8)  )

Also a few that aren't specific to Big Bend, but worth mentioning:

Mountain Islands and Desert Seas, A Natural History of the US-Mexican Borderlands by Frederick R. Gehlback

and

Rio Grande, The People and Politics of One of America's Greatest Rivers by Mike Leggett.

[Hayduke]

Here's a few more from my bookshelf. (I didn't list ones that were simply guidebooks or very specialized.) Some of these are out of print (OP)

Deckert, Big Bend: Three Steps to the Sky
Fulcher, The Way I Heard It   -great stories!
Jameson, Story of Big Bend National Park
Langford & Gipson, Big Bend: A Homesteader's Story - a classic!
MacLeod, Big Bend Vistas - great geology book
Madison, The Big Bend Country of Texas -OP, by a friend of Hallie Stiilwell
Maxwell, Lonsdale, Hazzard & Wilson, Geology of Big Bend National Park, Texas
McCarty, The Pelican Guide to the Big Bend Country - unintentionally humorous, OP
Nelson, God's Country or Devils Playground - excellent anthology, highly recommended
Smithers, Early Trail Drives of the Big Bend - ~30 page monograph, OP
Smithers, Circuit Riders of the Big Bend - ~40 page monograph, OP
Wuerthner, Texas Big Bend Country - good overall intro
Warnock & Koch, Wildflowers of the Big Bend

[Lemming_of_the_BDA]

They are up there:
18.  More Tales of the Big Bend by Elton Miles
25.  Stray Tales of the Big Bend by Elton Miles
27.  Tales of the Big Bend by Elton Miles

You are correct, sir. Don't know how I missed that.

Yes...hopefully, it has not been sold.  But, if it has, you can probably buy another copy of it.  That keeps the economy going. :?


Thanks,
BBH

I'm in luck. All 3 of my Miles books are intact. I probably "over stimulate" the economy. Don't wanna spend anymore than I have to.  

[Lemming_of_the_BDA]

What about a Big Bend Book of the month Club?  Ok, now we're getting too "Oprahesque"  :lol:

Not a bad idea. I'm sure there are plenty of benders like bdann and I. I buy one or two books on every trip as well, and I'm sure I've seen other members mention that too.

[bdann]

Also,

Big Bend - James Evans.  Don't have this one yet, it's expensive, but I've looked through it more than once at the PJ bookstore.  

There's also an older book called "The Way I Heard It - Tales of the Big Bend" by Walter Fulcher and edited by Elton Miles. ....don't have this one yet either.

[bdann]

also....
Big Bend National Park by Joe Nick Patoski and Laurence Parent.  It's just out and will be on my bookshelf soon.

I have their book "Texas Mountains", and it's really good.  Joe does the writing.  I think he's the one that let the cat out of the bag about Cattail Falls in Texas Monthly a few years ago (as if it wasn't already "out of the bag")