The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 103, July 1999 - April, 2000 Page: 396
554 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
of other races. He did not want Texas to become a part of the Confederacy, but
to withdraw from the Union and return to being a republic. He lost his second
term as governor over this issue.
There is a balance of history and fiction; problems with the governments and
historical figures of both Texas and Mexico are not glossed over. They are met
in a straightforward, honest manner that shatters many myths of Texas history in
the process. However, the reader feels as though he is present and can examine
the horrors of slavery through the eyes of the heroine and empathize with those
bound and owned by another person. TinaJusirez makes history come alive with
her characterization of these past events that still affect the lives of many today.
Skilled teachers at the secondary and higher educational level can use this
novel as a springboard for discussions in U.S. relationships with Mexico, slavery,
and inter-ethnic relations.
Blanco, Texas JUNE WALTERS
My Three Lives in Headlines. By Mary Carey (Austin: Eakin Press, 1997. Pp.
xiii+443. Preface. ISBN 1-57168-125-6. $27.95, cloth.)
My Three Lives in Headlines is a memoir of a remarkable life. Mary Carey (born
Mary Latch) grew up in Cisco, Texas, and suffered through the Great
Depression as a young woman. Her first husband, Roy King, was arrested for rob-
bing a bank so he could buy groceries to feed her and their unborn child. His
later escape from Huntsville made headlines, and the first part of the book is
devoted to telling about Mary's life on the run with him. After she left him, he
was caught, and she returned to a more normal life. Keeping her criminal past a
secret, she took journalism and education classes at McMurray and Texas Tech
Universities. She remarried during World War II, then moved to Alaska after her
second husband died in 1962. The remainder of the book tells about her adven-
tures in Alaska, flying over Mount McKinley, going on polar bear hunts, and
writing about everything in the local papers.
This book is Carey's twelfth. She won an award for her fictionalized account of
her life as a fugitive. Her writing covers a wide spectrum, from fiction to poetry,
from children's stories to this autobiography. Her journalistic training shows clear-
ly throughout the book. Her writing style is that of a grandmother telling stories
on the front porch. There are no footnotes, though many of her newspaper
columns are quoted extensively. The grammar is colloquial rather than correct.
It is difficult to imagine what use a historian might have for this book. Though
the author tells of interesting personal events covering the 192os through the
199os, she gives few dates or details, and offers no profound insights. The most
revealing comment on society included is that, after her time on the run, she
could not get a job in her home town. The deepest psychological insight is that
she used to hate her mother, but she does not anymore. The most personal
secret revealed is what happens when women have to relieve themselves out-
doors in an Alaskan blizzard. My Three Lives might find a place in the niche in
women's studies reserved for exceptional women, but many other books would
be a better choice.396
January
University of North Texas
JEAN A. STUNTZ
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 103, July 1999 - April, 2000, periodical, 2000; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101220/m1/442/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.