The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 63, July 1959 - April, 1960 Page: 350

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

Kendall; his description of the life-saving rains that broke the
drought in August, 1860, will be particularly appreciated by
present-day West Texans. Kendall's widespread knowledge and
journalistic training allow him to draw rich descriptions and to
provide a storehouse of information for those interested in the
story of frontier life in 186o-Texas.
The editor of the current work has done a masterful job in
providing necessary explanations throughout the text. Both the
introduction and footnotes illustrate considerable literary and
research skill. In fact Brown's work could well serve as a model
in thoroughness, completeness, and accuracy for any would-be
editor of letters or memoirs, no matter what the field or period.
His task called for both specific and general knowledge; the fin-
ished product illustrates he has met this standard.
There are some minor criticisms of the volume which can be
noted. It is regrettable for example that Kendall did confine his
remarks so exclusively to the sheep industry; only half a dozen
times in some i 3o pages of letters written in 1860 does he mention
the sectional controversy and his feelings toward it. Too, it is
unfortunate that the editor did not include letters written during
the war itself; these would have provided some information on
life in Confederate Texas.
In the main, however, this is a worthwhile book and will prove
indispensable for the historian of sheep husbandry in the Amer-
ican West. The University of Illinois Press is to be congratulated
on this real contribution to frontier literature.
RALPH A. WOOSTER
Lamar State College of Technology
The West Is for Us: The Reminiscences of Mary A. Blankenship.
Edited by Seymour V. Connor. Introduction and illustrations
by Mrs. Doyle Thornhill. Lubbock (West Texas Museum
Association), 1958. Pp. 125. Illustrations, index.
The West Is for Us is the story of a Texas couple "whose life
literally began when they stepped onto the Caprock and into a
new world, leaving the East behind them, grateful for the promise
of the Plains." The story begins in 1901o, when a young Erath

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