Three Men In Texas

This book is a tribute to "an incomparable triumvirate." "One was a naturalist, one a historian, and one a chronicler, but each of them was each of these. The manly love between them, a handsome thing in times and places blighted by great ugliness and banality, shone from them into their friends and contemporaries, and they shared themselves freely with those younger than they who went to them wishing to learn from them." Most of this collection of writing by friends of Roy Bedichek, Walter Prescott Webb, and J. Frank Dobie originally appeared in special editions of the Texas Observer devoted to each of the three men. Some pieces were, however, written expressly for this volume. They have been edited by the editor and general manager of the Observer, who is also the author of Dark Star: Hiroshima Reconsidered in the Life of Claude Eatherly.

This book is a tribute to three men, "an incomparable triumvirate." This is not a collection of learned papers or theses such as are found in Festschrift, but simply a collection of heartfelt writings by some of the many friends of Roy Bedichek, Walter Prescott Webb, and J. Frank Dobie.

Texas Ranger Brody Calhoun is with his parents in west Texas when an unexpected attack injures the brother of Rebecca Morgan, Brody's high school sweetheart. The local sheriff, a good friend, asks for Brody's help. At first, it seems like an open-and-shut case. As Brody digs deeper, he realizes the attack may be related to an organized crime trial Rebecca will be overseeing. With Rebecca's help, he compiles evidence involving cattle rustling, bribery, and dirty payoffs that shatter the entire community and put Rebecca directly in the line of fire. Brody expects to protect her. What he never expects is to fall for Rebecca all over again, or for a murder to throw the case wide open. Is Brody's faith strong enough to withstand not only deep-rooted corruption and cattle rustling, but also love?

Over the past century, the western has fluctuated in popularity. By 2010 it has come to stand, to the dismay of many, at one of its lowest points. Beginning with 1929 and the advent of talkies (In Old Arizona), the author discusses the cultural and industry trends, the directors, producers, studios and especially the stars, and looks at the ways in which their personalities (and financial ups and downs) affected the way westerns were shot. The improvements in technology through the years, the trick horses, the fistfight choreography, the evolution of plotlines--these are fascinating indicators of the way Americans themselves were changing.

"The entire field of film historians awaits the AFI volumes with eagerness."--Eileen Bowser, Museum of Modern Art Film Department Comments on previous volumes: "The source of last resort for finding socially valuable . . . films that received such scant attention that they seem 'lost' until discovered in the AFI Catalog."--Thomas Cripps "Endlessly absorbing as an excursion into cultural history and national memory."--Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

Includes maps of the U.S. Congressional districts.