The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 94, July 1990 - April, 1991 Page: 485

Book Revzews

In the thirty years from 1917 to 1947 Haddock worked as the night
ticket and baggage clerk at the Santa Fe Depot in Stockton. Mayans
maintains that it was "a job he despised." It is unclear, however, from
Mayans's description, why the introverted artist hated a job that pro-
vided steady income during the Depression, allowed him to travel on a
railway pass to paint landscapes on location in New Mexico, Utah, and
Nevada, and provided for his retirement as he continued to paint.
Haddock was a compulsive painter who embarked on intense studies
of a single subject. In 1953 and 1954 he completed two hundred small
oils on board known now as "The Shoe Box Paintings" because he clos-
eted and refused to show the works. In the series Haddock recorded
the changes in season from the window of his studio and frameshop.
These vibrant paintings, which are some of his most original works, are
described by Mayans as "the journal of a confined, desperate man who
is struggling for survival." At age seventy-nine Haddock began a series
of three hundred watercolors-more solitary views from a window-
that measure the endurance and creativity of a mature artist.
In Mayans's biography of Haddock the reproductions of Haddock's
paintings are better than the prose. Haddock's luscious landscapes de-
serve more discussion of stylistic development and more critical analy-
sis. The biographer traces the artist's various cross-country moves and
acquisition of houses and studios, but fails to address the larger ques-
tions of how Haddock's work fits into the context of the history of
American art. Mayans identifies Haddock as an independent, but fails
to consider whether Haddock's art is typical or atypical of his era. In
the end Mayans elevates Haddock to hero status because he avoided
showing and selling his work-a rather romantic view and odd position
for an art dealer to take.
Despite the fact that Haddock did not seek the limelight, the story of
his career is significant and the pictorial records of his experience de-
serve further study.
Southwest Texas State Unzverszty FRANCINE CARRARO
Irreconcilable Differences: Ross Perot versus General Motors. By Doron P.
Levin. (Boston: Little, Brown, 1989. Pp. 357. Illustrations, bibli-
ography, index. $18.95.)
H. Ross Perot grew up in Texarkana, made Eagle Scout at an early
age, and graduated in 1953 from the United States Naval Academy.
After four years' military service, he began his business career as a
trainee with IBM. He quickly became one of the company's best sales-
men in the Southwest, yet he chafed under its emphasis on teamwork,
which stifled his leadership instincts and limited the bonus payments he

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