Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas, Volume 3, Number 1, Spring, 1991 Page: 38
40 p. ; 26 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Roach continues her evaluation of the
varied roles of cowgirls with a look at novels,
movies, and book cover art. She believes it is in the
portrayal of western heroines in the popular mediums
that the picture of the cowgirls suffers the most
distortion. The image that emerges is of a sexy
western woman-not necessarily the cowgirl of
Roach's definition.
But it is in her last chapters that Roach
gives us a look at the cowgirl of our consciousness:
the cowgirls in the songs, the tall tales, and funny
stories usually seen from the masculine point of
view. Roach points out that this is not always
flattering, particularly those females who are the
butt of jokes around the campfire. She contends
that the West "has been guilty ... of clinging to a
kind of frontier mentality, a naivete, a lack of sophistication
in its manners, its writing, its philosophy
and its education . . . reflecting an oldfashioned,
even backward attitude."
Roach has enlarged and revised this new
edition to include some additional stories,
footnotes, a comprehensive bibliography, and an
afterword by Elmer Kelton. Fortunately, she has
retained the marvelous photographs that were included
in the original 1977 Cordovan edition and
complement the anecdotes. Joyce Gibson Roach is
a master storyteller and her book is true to her
calling. She has managed to keep the reader spellbound
while wandering all over the western landscape.
Her vignettes, told with humor and wit, make
us want to agree that the cowgirl is something
special. However, despite her objections that cowgirls
cannot be generalized as pioneers, Roach has
presented a multi-dimensional characterization that
appears about as western as it can get. True, her
cowgirl is not a Great Plains farmer or farmer's wife
or daughter that would also fall into many descriptions
of western or pioneer women, but Roach's
cowgirl is part and parcel of the history, legend,
and folklore of the west. She has traced the
past of the cowgirl from ranch life to rodeo, through
books, movies, songs, jokes, and stories and reminded
us that current cowgirls "still run ranches,
ride in rodeos, take care of families, and at the same
time snap out broncs, ship cattle and breed horses."
Just like I thought!
- Katherine R.Goodwin
University of Texas at ArlingtonMike Patterson, Fort Worth: New Frontiers in
Excellence (Chatsworth, California: Windsor Publications
Inc., 1990, 192 pp., $32.95)
The subtitle of this profusely illustrated,
oversized book clearly suggests its intent to be a
promotional portrait of Fort Worth. There is unadulterated
puffery in chapters bearing such titles
as "Business: Apply Here," "A Diverse Economy,"
"A Good Place to Call Home," "Educating the
Future," and "Quality of Life." One can see the
ready adoption of this volume by the Chamber of
Commerce as a tool for luring new industry to the
city.
For that purpose it will serve well. The
reader in search of facts about contemporary Fort
Worth-its museums, schools, stockyards, municipal
government, etc.-will find an abundance of
them here. Historical material is limited. An opening
chapter, eleven pages long, summarizes succinctly
Fort Worth's history and does include a
number of photographs. The second half of the book
contains profiles of the city's major businesses. All
of the abundant illustrations, save for the early
historical ones, are in color.
-Darwin Payne
Southern Methodist University
Lawrence Clayton, Benjamin Capps and the
South Plains: A Literary Relationship
(Denton, Texas: University of North Texas Press,
1990, 208 pp., $19.95)
This book is volume two of the University
of North Texas Press's Texas Writer's Series. As
such, it centers on the author and his work. This
time-honored formula is well executed here. An
opening chapter traces Capps' life from his 192238
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Dallas County Heritage Society. Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas, Volume 3, Number 1, Spring, 1991, periodical, 1991; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth35118/m1/40/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Historical Society.