The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 35, July 1931 - April, 1932 Page: 333

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enthusiastic of them all. It was based upon observations made
by the author in the three years prior to 1848. Bracht wrote
with the single purpose of giving accurate and complete informa-
tion about Texas to those desiring to emigrate from Germany.
Although he never neglected to point out the undesirable along with
the desirable features of life in Texas, his unbounded confidence in
its future and his praise for its "upright and courageous, noble-
minded and hospitable" people must have caused many Germans
to go to Texas, especially to New Braunfels, Fredericksburg, and
San Antonio.
The original arrangement of the book in three parts is main-
tained in the translation. Part I supplies the reader with infor-
mation about the topography and natural history of Texas; Part
II gives suggestions and practical and useful information about
emigration; Part III contains excerpts from letters written by
Bracht to relatives and friends in Germany during the three
years in which he made his observations. In various respects,
Part III is the most interesting because of the greater human
touch. All in all, however, the reader's interest is sustained
throughout the entire book.
R. L. BIESELE.
Riata and Spurs. By Charles A. Siringo. (New York: River-
side Library, Houghton-Mifflin Company, 1931. Pp. xiv,
261. Illustrations. $1.00.)
Many chroniclers of the pioneer West have written with greater
fluency and more finished style than Charles A. Siringo, but
none can claim quite the unique position that his name holds.
In 1886, when cowboy literature was thought of largely in terms
of lurid "dime novels", Siringo wrote his first book and called it
A Texas Cowboy or Fifteen Years on the Hurricane Deck of a
Spanish Pony. Twenty-two years later he wrote another book,
A Cowboy Detective, which, like the first, was bound in paper
and sold by butcher boys upon the trains. A sequel was called
Further Experiences of A Cowboy Detective.
Siringo followed these three simple narratives with three pri-
vately printed volumes. But in the course of forty years follow-
ing his first publication, cowboy literature was achieving a plane

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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 35, July 1931 - April, 1932, periodical, 1932; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101092/m1/337/ocr/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.

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