The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 105, July 2001 - April, 2002 Page: 715
741 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Book Reviews
the omission of notes. But Galveston and the z9oo Storm is, nevertheless, solid schol-
arship from which all readers will learn a great deal about the hurricane and its
long-term effect on the city.
Calzfornza State University, Bakersfield Alicia E. Rodriquez
Final Destznatzons: A Travel Guide for Remarkable Cemeteries in Texas, New Mexwo, Ok-
lahoma, Arkansas, and Louszana. By Bryan Woolley, Larry Bleiberg, Leon Un-
ruh, Jean Simmons, Tom Simmons, Kathryn Straach, and Bob Bersano.
(Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2000. Pp. viii+210o. Illustrations,
acknowledgments, introduction, index. ISBN 1-57441-085-7. $18.05, paper.)
I am a confirmed cemetery tramper. On cross-country road trips, without warn-
ing I stop the car and turn around when I pass a country graveyard that I haven't
noticed before. Then it's out with the walking stick (more for snakes and pulling
back briars than for mobility) and into the weeds so that I can see what surprises
may await.
Whenever a new guide to Texas cemeteries comes out, it goes onto my shelf. Fi-
nal Destinations has joined other volumes on that shelf, and photocopies of select-
ed pages now reside in the glove compartment of my car. I have added "new"
graveyards to my list for future visits.
This group of authors, who write for the Dallas MorningNews, have collaborated
to put together this latest cemetery guide. The unidentified editor has organized
the book into sections for cemeteries in the states of Texas, New Mexico, Okla-
homa, Arkansas, and Louisiana. An index helps lead users to sketches of grave-
yards in individual communities.
It would be easy for an old graveyard tramper like me to complain about this,
that, or the other cemetery having been left out, but no one book can identify all
of the interesting burial places in a region. The authors of Final Destinations have
created a most credible guide for both the seasoned tramper and the neophyte.
I do have a few bones to pick (figuratively, that is). Most of the authors have
provided genuine directions for finding cemeteries they have described, but some
texts identify only the name of the town or nearest town. The book also includes
at least two historic cemeteries located on private property which do not have gen-
eral public access; I would have chosen not to include such sites. Writing is some-
what uneven, with most of the chapters discussing cemeteries in general. A
handful of the chapters, in contrast, discuss only individual burials.
It was interesting for me to read about several cemeteries for Native Americans,
but I did not find any comparable full chapters on cemeteries devoted primarily
to any other ethnic groups. Brief mentions, however, were made of all-Black, all-
Chinese, and all-Jewish graveyards. It would have been interesting to read more
on these burial places.
The multiple authors of Final Destinations have done a good job in helping fos-
ter an appreciation for the aesthetic and cultural enrichment that anyone can
gain through following their footsteps to these and other historic cemeteries.Texas Heritage Museum, Hill College
2002
715
T. Lindsay Baker
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 105, July 2001 - April, 2002, periodical, 2002; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101222/m1/771/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.