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Patricia Etter Picks

Billy the Kid: the Endless Ride
By Michael Wallis. W.W.Norton & Co.
Do we really need another book about Billy the Kid? An Internet search shows some 3,007 titles, which include books, movies, comic books, music scores, articles, and more. The author has consulted a goodly number of those items including works by Robert Utley and Jerry Weddle, who are thought to have covered the territory. Wallis has more to add to the story, including personal interviews as he attempts to present "a clear, concise, and truthful story of a young man who became a legend in his own time."
Crossing the Yard: Thirty Years as a Prison Volunteer
By Richard Shelton. University of Arizona Press
Thousands of prisoners learned the craft of writing poetry through Shelton’s workshops. Jimmy Santiago Baca, Stephen Dugan, & Ken Lamberton were a few of his students. Mr. Shelton, an advocate of Prison Reform also discusses the injustices of the Correctional Institutions and the Justice system citing that the majority of prisoners are poor Blacks and Latinos unable to afford competent legal representation. By being in the inside, Mr. Shelton was able to observe drug smuggling by guards, and harassment and inhuman treatment of inmates including medical neglect. Crossing the Yard gives us insight into a system that doesn’t work and the lives it harms. The book is both inspiring and disturbing. I highly recommend it.
From Texas to San Diego in 1851: the Overland Journal of Dr. S.W. Woodhouse, Surgeon-Naturalist of the Sitgreaves Expedition
By S. W. Woodhouse. Texas Tech University Press
S. W. Woodhouse served as physician and naturalist to the 1851 Lorenzo Sitgreaves Expedition that journeyed through Texas to El Paso, then to Santa Fe before continuing west past Zuni and toward modern-day Flagstaff and Bullhead City. Moving on, they followed the Colorado River to Yuma, then on to San Diego by way of what is now Anza Borrego Desert State Park. The work has been transcribed from four diaries. The authors researched the sites by foot, plane, and boat to accurately locate camping spots. They have also further identified flora and fauna with scientific nomenclature. Best of all they have embellished the work by identifying individuals, and resulting from prodigious research, flushed out historical facts to create a readable history of a cross-country adventure. Included are R. H. Kern sketches, many in color.
I Swallow Turquoise for Courage: Poems
By Hershman R. John. University of Arizona Press
One is first drawn to this book by its title, wondering what treasures lie between the covers. Here, one will enter a land of enchantment featuring the creative works of Navajo poet, Hershman John. He has successfully blended Navajo legend and cultural traditions with modern-day life. A dominant voice belongs to his grandmother; a second belongs to mischievous coyote who teaches what one is not supposed to do. Among my favorites showing the blending of cultures is "My Feminist Grandmother" and "Post Modernity in Kayenta." John has also included a poem in the form of a Navajo rug, the first poet to create this form. By the way, the title comes from a past belief of the Navajo warriors who swallow turquoise for courage.
It Happened at Grand Canyon
By Todd R. Berger. TwoDot
This is the stuff that makes legends, but the short stories are true and date back to Coronado. We may have forgotten the collision of two airliners over the canyon, the Colorado adventure of the Kolb brothers, the lost honeymooners, three men who parachuted into the abyss in total darkness, introduction of the condors, tracking escaped convicts, and even the unbelievable but true story of the airlift of 580 feral burros out of the canyon. A well-written, delightful read for everyone
On the Dirty Plate Trail: Remembering the Dust Bowl Refugee Camps
By Sanora Babb. University of Texas Press
We are reminded here that the United States Government is slow to react to mass displacements of people; the most recent in our memory was due to the hurricane Katrina. Here, lest we forget, we have another example in a thought-provoking book recalling the migration of thousands of dispossessed families from Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Arkansas, Texas, and other midwest states, scornfully referred to as "Okies." These families found seasonal work, if they could, on California farms and orchards. They subsisted on meagre wages, more often than not, going to bed hungry, which could be in the family car or leaky tent. Medical care was practically unavailable,and the big growers grumbled, "It's good enough for them, they're used to it." The text is from writer Sanora Babb's field notes; photographs are by her sister, Dorothy Babb. Here is new food for thought as the United States government tries to find ways of dispossing today's migrant workers back to their native countries.
Playing Cards of the Apaches: A Study in Cultural Adaptation
By Alan Ferg, Virginia Wayland, Harold Wayland. Screenfold Press
American Indians have long played both games of skill and games of chance, but less known are playing cards of he Chiricahua and Western Apache, painted on rawhide. Virginia and Harold Wayland have here presented an amazing book illustrating 100 complete packs of cards by the Apache with a section on cards by other tribes of North American Indians. The Apache made their own cards in the 1830s and 18450s, but by the 1900s were playing games such as Monte, that they learned from the Spaniards and Mexicans, continuing to produce their own rawhide cards. The authors discuss in detail the imagry on the cards, that showed the influence of Spanish, Mexican, American, and the Apache people. Also included are detailed descriptions of cards in private and museum collections.
Sandhills Boy: The Winding Trail of a Texas Writer
By Elmer Kelton. Forge
Voted "The Best Western Writer of All Time," Elmer Kelton showcases his talents with his autobiography, which is a delight to read. Born on a ranch in the Sandhills area of West Texas, expectations were, of course, that he would follow in the footsteps of his father and siblings. Not to be. Somehow, this bespeckled innocent missed out on the cowboy genes and turned to writing about the West instead; some 50 titles to his credit. Though he failed at 'cowboying,' his ability to write gives us a very human and often humorous look at what it was to live on a large working ranch. We also learn something about his World War II service and how his life changed when he met the love of his life in Ebensee, Austria.

About Patricia Etter

Patricia Etter is the recently-retired Curator of the Labriola National American Indian Data Center, a research library at Arizona State University. She is author of several books and prize-wining articles on American history.