The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 107, July 2003 - April, 2004 Page: 637

Book Reviews

region. The book focuses on many of the area's tourism opportunities, and the
text has a distinctive environmental thread, which runs throughout the book.
This is not surprising, since many of the pages spotlight the natural features of
these mountains.
Patoski's narrative is an engaging read that accurately captures the atmo-
sphere and feel of the Trans-Pecos. Parent's photographs are first-rate. Texas
Mountains is not intended to be a scholarly work. It is an anthology, a collection
of visual and verbal snapshots of the region. Much of the information presented
about the area is framed within a present-day context. The major issues of the
Trans-Pecos today concern the scarcity of water, air quality, waste disposal, immi-
gration, property rights, and a love-hate relationship with tourists. The residents
of Texas's mountains welcome the badly needed tourist dollars, but they are
leery of the problems that accompany increased visitation to the area. Some lo-
cals would like to close the door behind them, but they know that the region
desperately needs the outside revenue.
Patoski, known for his biographies of several Texas musicians, has extensive
experience covering Texas tourism as a writer for Texas Monthly magazine. His
interviews with local residents, politicians, and park service employees are a
wide-ranging collection of vignettes about the region that create a splendid
Trans-Pecos tapestry. Parent's photographs have appeared in numerous state
and national magazines over the years, and he is the author and/or photogra-
pher of twenty books. His stunning landscapes of Texas's mountains, many of
them shot in the early morning or late evening light, reinforce his ranking as
one of the state's most gifted photographers.
The one deficiency in what is an otherwise gorgeous book is the scant amount
of attention given to the area's rich and diverse history. While brief thumbnail
historical sketches are provided throughout Texas Mountains, one wishes that
Patoski maintained more of the subject balance found in The Guadalupe Moun-
tains of Texas, focusing less on the present-day environmental and tourist aspects
and providing more detail on the region's vibrant past.
Texas Christzan Unzverszty Glen Sample Ely
Come to Texas: Attractng Immzgrants, x865-1915. By Barbara J. Rozek. (College
Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2003. Pp. xii+250o. Preface, illustra-
tions, photographs, maps, tables, bibliography, index. ISBN: 1-58544-267-4.
$39.95, cloth.)
Examinations of Texas's rich immigration history deal mostly with the motiva-
tions of the migrants. Barbara Rozek's Come to Texas: Attracting Immigrants,
1865-195 instead concentrates on the efforts of Texans to lure new settlers,
specifically through the influence of written promotional material.
Rozek's most compelling point is that immigration has always been at the
heart of the Texas experience. The author starts her assessment of this ongoing
process in the years immediately following the Civil War and shows how Texans
faced a new era with a combination of hope and fear. Ignoring both the past
contributions and future potential of the resident African American population,
promoters looked to white immigrants to make up a perceived labor shortage.

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