Jan 29, 201301:44 PMThe Telegraph
The Premier Blog of the West
Western Words: New Book Releases For January 29, 2013
The Last Outlaws: The Lives and Legends of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid by Thom Hatch
You know them best from the landmark 1969 film, but Thom Hatch strips the Hollywood trappings away from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in his new biography. And surprisingly, the real story is nearly as much fun as the movie. These guys were the real thing — Old West bank and train robbers who were smarter than the law and the bounty hunters who came after them. When the American frontier closed they took their act on the road to South America, which in retrospect was not the best idea. Still, The Last Outlaws offers a compelling look at two of history’s most famous outlaws.
Native Americans on Film: Conversations, Teaching, and Theory by M. Elise Marubbio and Eric L. Buffalohead
A book more for the film scholar and historian than the casual movie buff, Native Americans on Film provides insightful articles from a wide range of academics on indigenous films and filmmakers. While most agree that the traditional portrayal of Indians on film is rife with stereotypes and historic inaccuracies, there is no clear consensus even among Native American filmmakers on what constitutes authenticity.
House of Earth: A Novel by Woody Guthrie
A new book from Woody Guthrie certainly ranks among 2013’s most unexpected arrivals, especially seeing how Guthrie was best known as a folk singer, and he died in 1967.
The book was finished in 1947, but this is the first time it has been available. As might be expected, the topic of Guthrie’s only novel is Dust Bowl America, particularly an arid stretch of Texas Panhandle where Tike and Ella May Hamlin struggle to plant roots. With a five-cent government pamphlet, Tike learns how to build an adobe dwelling, a “house of earth.” It’s a structure that withstands the elements, but not the challenges from banks and ranching conglomerates who tell the Hamlins that, to paraphrase Guthrie’s most famous anthem, this land is not their land.
Chaparral Range War by Dusty Richards
The first in a proposed new series of western adventures, Chaparral Range War introduces Texas Ranger Phil Guthrey, who relocates to Crook County, Arizona, and quickly discovers that the name is more than appropriate. He sets out to clean up the streets, but meets resistance not just from the local criminal element but a corrupt sheriff as well. Dusty Richards is a Spur Award winner and the president of the Western Writers of America. He has written more than 100 books.
Cooking Texas Style: Traditional Recipes from the Lone Star State by Candy Wagner and Sandra Marquez
A new paperback edition of this popular cookbook will be good news to those who missed it the first time around, and those whose ten year-old copies are dog-eared and covered in guacamole stains from being propped up too close to the kitchen counter.
You could gain weight just reading some of the recipes, but who cares when the results are as memorable as the delicious dishes that result? Authors Candy Wagner and Sandra Marquez have gathered more than 300 recipes for such tempting delights as crispy fried chicken and peach cobbler, as well as classic Texas dishes like chicken-fried steak, barbecue, chili, and cornbread hot with jalapeños.
Find last week’s Western Words post here.
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