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Description
Chronicles of the Big Bend: A Photographic Memoir of Life on the BorderAs a young teamster on a pack mule train, Wilfred Dudley Smithers saw the Rio Grande's Big Bend for the first time in 1916, and it captured his imagination forever. For decades thereafter he returned to Texas' last great frontier the great bend of the Rio Grande on the Texas Mexico border chronicling the region and its people in words and photographs. After half a century of photography, Smithers' superlative collection of nine thousand images ended
As a young teamster on a pack-mule train, Wilfred Dudley Smithers saw the Rio Grande's Big Bend for the first time in 1916, and it captured his imagination forever. For decades thereafter he returned to Texas' last great frontier-the great bend of the Rio Grande on the Texas-Mexico border-chronicling the region and its people in words and photographs. After half a century of photography, Smithers' superlative collection of nine thousand images ended up at the University of Texas at Austin, and in 1976 more than one hundred of these were reproduced in Chronicles of the Big Bend, a critically acclaimed work that until now has long been out of print. The years that Smithers chronicled in the Big Bend were sometimes violent ones. Pancho Villa and Chico Cano were among the many "bandits" playing hide-and-seek with the U.S. Cavalry-events Smithers recorded. He was also an eyewitness to liquor-running and smuggling during Prohibition. His principal subjects, however, were the people of the Big Bend: local ranchers, Mexican American and American families, miners, Texas Rangers, and others living simple lives in this harsh and beautiful land. With words and camera Smithers wanted to capture "vanishing lifestyles, primitive cultures, old faces, and odd, unconventional professions. Before my camera I wanted huts, vendors, natural majesties, clothing, tools, children, old people, the ways of the border." He also told his own life story along with that of the Big Bend. There are illustrated chapters on the military, law enforcement, curanderos (healers), liquor smugglers, avisadores (secret-message senders), and the national park. Smithers' word sketches and black-and- white photographs capture the harsh reality and stark beauty, the dust and the mystery of the frontier era of the Big Bend that ended in 1944 when it became a national park. Chronicles of the Big Bend is a rare documentary look at a frontier region as it was known by only a few and as it will never be seen again. It is a deeply personal human portrait of the majestic Big Bend. WILFRED DUDLEY SMITHERS (1895-1981) was born in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, in 1895. He began taking photographs at age fifteen while living in San Antonio, and later worked as a teamster, joined the U.S. Army, operated a photo studio, served as a news correspondent, and helped pioneer aerial photography.Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Texas State Historical Assn
Published: 03/15/2013
ISBN: 9780876112618
Pages: 160
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 9.80h x 7.00w x 0.40d
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4.3 ★★★★★
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Product Reviews
★★★★★ 4
Make Sure You Read the Vintage Edition with the Afterword
I initially purchased this book to read for two reasons: First, it was written by William Styron, who wrote the great "Sophie's Choice;" and second, it won a Pulitzer Prize. It was only after I was into the book that I learned that this vintage sixties' book was the subject of a major controversy over the depiction of the title character, Nat Turner.
I learned that Styron openly acknowledged fictionalizing large portions of Turner's life, including his motivations for leading the slave revolt. I also learned that Styron's largely fictionalized portrait of Turner outraged many black leaders of the time. Rather than painting Turner (entirely) as a hero, called to action by the injustices of slavery, Styron created a darker picture of a man fixated on religion, a vision of himself as a prophet, and frustrated by lust and desire (particularly, for a young, blond haired white girl).
As I read the book, I search my own feelings, and felt that if I were black, I would certainly have objected similarly. We all need our heroes, who become much larger as symbols than they could ever be as people. For the sake of those that come after, such icons are perhaps entitled to be treated with a greater level of sensitivity and care--even at the cost of literary restraint.
It is here that the story gets fascinating. After I finished the novel, I read Styron's Afterword. Styron was truly stung by the criticism and in the Afterword, provided an elegant and persuasive defense of his writings. While I will not say that Styron entirely changed my position, he definitely made me see the other side of the argument. The dialogue between Styron and his critics not only allows the reader to consider one of the great social and political issues of our time, but permits the reader a unique insight into the thinking of a great writer--and suffices, in and of itself, as a reason for reading this novel. MAKE SURE YOUR VERSION OF THE NOVEL HAS THIS AFTERWORD.
Putting the issue aside as to the real "Nat Turner," the novel itself is beautifully written. The characters are fully developed and believable. The description of the system of slavery and the relationship between whites and blacks feel very real, and very accurate. Styron shows us good and bad of each race, and how all of them are bound by the system of slavery and their actions directly the product of it.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2008
★★★★★ 5
I loved this book.
I read this book for my book club and I thought it was beautifully written. It has stayed with me for weeks now. I love when a book does that. I'm glad I wasn't swayed by controversy. I had no problem with the fact that the author was white and using a black voice(maybe because I'm white - but I do like when an author gets the voice right and I thought Styron did that). I didn't understand the charges of racism after reading the book. Sometimes I wonder if, what some people find uncomfortable, they label as racist or sexist or whatever. Anyway, I would encourage everyone to read this book because it gave me a fresh awareness of a huge part of U.S. history, it reminded me that there are always gray areas to consider and it was a great novel. You might think so too.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2007
★★★★★ 5
great read
I enjoyed this book. As a person who enjoys history this book was a great read for me and the author gives an in depth vision on the trial.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2023
★★★★★ 3
Nat Turner was NOT happy
I think Mr Styron may have took some liberties with Nat Turner's "orientation" without the research or data to support his opinion.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2016
★★★★★ 5
A book for the ages...historically concise and horrific at once
William Styron, a gifted writer outdid himself with this book. His concise detail gives us an inside view on the depth of feeling employed by the subject of this book. The book while concise and tender pulls us in as these events take place. As Mailer delves deeper into the mind of Nat Turner, we cannot help but feel a sense of the suffering this man endured and this is what gives us perspective into this tragedy as it unfolds. A compelling masterpiece of literature.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2012