| News of Recent
Books (Permian Historical Society, Midland Tx)
Patrick Dearen, author of more than a dozen books, has
two new books that appeal to all who appreciate the hard edge of
life in earlier times. One is an oral history of cowboy
life and the other is a novel set in the desperate days of the Great
Depression. Each proves Dearen’s skill in storytelling. Both
are entered in competition for the Wrangler award at the National
Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
- The oral history is Saddling Up
Anyway: The Dangerous Lives of Old-Time Cowboys
(New York: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2006. Pp. 177. Contents,
glossary of cowboy terms, photographs, bibliography, index.
$22.95, cloth with dust jacket). It is based on interviews
with pre-1932 cowboys of Texas and New Mexico, interviews from
both the Federal Writers’ Project and U. S. Works
Administration, and interviews from Nita Stewart Haley Memorial
Library in Midland, Texas.The writer considers every possible
hazard the cowboy of early times encountered — runaway horses,
the cattle herd, wild animals, the elements, swollen rivers,
and mean men. Our reviewer, James Collett, writes, “As
Dearen demonstrates in detail, most of the dangers materialized so
unexpectedly that there was time for little but trying to
survive.” Many did not.
- Dearen’s second work is Perseverance, a
Novel (Austin: Sunbelt Eakin Press, 2006. Pp. 132.
$17.95, paper) and it is a fictionalized version of his father’s
experiences during hard times. Our reviewer, Mary Lou Midkiff,
writes, “The story of Perseverance brings the reader
right into the story on the first page and keeps one embedded
until the very end. It contains all the crucial elements of a good
yarn — a hero who is truly heroic, a villain, a damsel in
distress, and all interspersed with a good moral message.” She
describes Dearen as “an exceptionally good writer of western
history “who “spins a pretty good story.”
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