The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 107, July 2003 - April, 2004 Page: 496

496 Southwestern Historical Quarterly January
is this theme more evident than in the early chapters on the author's family, his
school acquaintances, and his first attraction to the business of transportation.
His days with both Trans-Texas and American Airlines are recounted with appro-
priate attention and serve to prepare the reader for the investment, both person-
al and financial, Muse was to make on behalf of the fledgling Southwest.
As he approaches the "pre-operating period" of the Southwest story, Muse
provides some insightful details about the last-minute problems with the attor-
neys and the regulatory authorities and makes a suspenseful tale of the effort to
lift the temporary restraining order that nearly hobbled the inauguration of ser-
vice. Readers of the book will enjoy his colorful views on the possible motives
and rationales of competitors, regulators, and lawyers who sought to block the
start-up of the airline in the late sixties and early seventies.
No less colorful, and certainly no less personal, is the author's account of his
"forced early retirement" from the leadership of Southwest in 1978. In the chap-
ter titled "The Demise of Muse" he speaks openly of the rival personalities and
corporate events that resulted in his resignation from his position. He is frank
throughout the book in advising the reader that the text represents his own per-
sonal view of events as they transpired, and in discussing the endgame of events
in 1978 he does not hesitate to use language somewhat less than scholarly in
rebuking his business adversaries.
On balance, the book will not stand detailed scrutiny as a scholarly contribu-
tion to historical writing. It is for the most part not annotated or corroborated
by other accounts; and readers must rely on the opinion and memory of this sin-
gle author for an account of events going back over thirty years. Having said
that, however, Muse's account never fails to entertain, keeps the reader interest-
ed, and provides anecdotal information about Southwest Airlines, its genesis,
and its early leaders that may arguably be said to exist in no other readable for-
mat. Readers should "take the book for what it is" and enjoy the ride.
Miami University Hamilton JACK RHODES
Texas Cemeteries. By Bill Harvey. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2003. Pp.
xi+284. Acknowledgment, photographs, bibliography, index. ISBN 0-292-
73456-4. $6o.oo, cloth. ISBN 0-292-73466-2. $22.95, paper.)
Of all the states in the union, none has a more puzzling relationship with its
past than Texas. There is perhaps no other state as deeply committed to preserv-
ing its history by embedding it deeply in its grade school curriculum. But there
is also arguably no other place in this nation that has seen evidence of its past
erased from the landscape so rapidly as in the sprawling suburbs of Texas's grow-
ing cities. Driving through megalopolitan Texas today can be a disorienting trip
through an ahistorical dystopia; through landscapes that appear to have
emerged overnight, unfettered from the past. In these new Texas landscapes,
cemeteries stand out as the last historic places. As such, their significance in con-
necting us to our hidden heritage becomes more crucial; they help us regain
our bearings.