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224Southwestern Historical QuarterlyOctober Shackelford County Courdiouse (p. 87), the late night charm ofa Ballinger corner (p. 62), and die timidity ofagricultural ghosts in tiny Penelope (p. 96). Students ofarchitectural history will appreciate Payne's contextual analysis, but they should also understand his frame of reference. He pays respect to the work of accomplished architects, and Texas has had its share who left their marks even in small towns, but much of the fabric of diose towns was more often the work of local builders, who copied or vernacularized popular design idioms of their era, without much philosophical thought to design over function. One hesitates to point out limitations ofa personaljourney, but it is evident there are significant regional gaps in the range ofPayne's work. Only five towns represent far west Texas and the Panhandle, widi a void between Fort Stockton and Clarendon ; only two are included in die vast area south ofGoliad; and missing entirely are die unique setdements of the Rio Grande, all the way from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico. Also largely underrepresented, except for recendy restored courtiiouses, are die successes ofsmall-town preservation efforts, from Main Street programs and adaptive reuse to die new heritage tourism diat celebrates die historical character ofsmall towns. Those diat are adapting and thriving, building on past glories and envisioning new promise, are equally important to our understanding ofdie state's architectural evolution. Regardless, Richard Payne has compiled a significant portrait of Texas towns, and his keen perceptions will challenge diose who follow hisjourney. They will no doubt find the route comfortable and memorable, the guide capable and caring, and die destinations worthy of the visit. Texas Historical CommusionDan K. Utley Beyond the Missouri: The Story oftheAmerican West. By Richard W. Etulain. (Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press, 2006. Pp. 466. Illustrations, maps, suggested readings, index. ISBN 0826340326. $39.95, cloth. ISBN 0826340334. $24.95, paper.) Writing a history of die vast American West—the seventeen states beyond die Nordi Dakota-Texas tier to the Pacific—is daunting, especially when the objective is to appeal to both general and classroom readers. Richard W. Etulain, a prolific scholar recendy retired from die University of New Mexico, took up die task and crafted a narrative that follows the human trail from the Ice Age to the explosive growtii of Las Vegas in die late twentieth century. In surveying die region, he also attempts to define it and establish its uniqueness, an objective he found unattainable . The marquee themes of change and complexity wind through 450 pages and fifteen chapters: one on the pre-European West, one each on Spanish colonizing and imperial rivalry, eight on die nineteenth century, and five on the twentiedi and twenty-first. This structure offers greater breadth than found in earlier regional overviews, frequendy at the expense of traditional subject matter, as evident in die truncated discussion of the West as New Spain, which progresses from die Pueblo Revolt to the founding of California in two pages and neglects presidiai realign- 2oo7 Book Reviews225 ment and the interior provinces. Focus on western political progressivism barely extends beyond California and Oregon, and border specialists can wince at the absence of maquiladoras, NAFTA, and the intensifying immigration debate. One paragraph for the Republic ofTexas, about die same for petroleum, and nothing for Sam Rayburn, Ann Richards, and die Bushes will disappointTexans, who might find solace in a healthy segment on longhorns and trail drives. But dien something, and some might say too much, had to give. One of the book's strengths is its insightful analysis of the cultural West, its artists, authors, filmmakers, and historians (but not its music or musicians); and examination of the region's divergent religious makeup is a welcome feature. The chapters, both their content and chronological order, reveal certain creativity and the need to move die story along. Placing mountain men, Protestant missionaries, and the Oregon Trail after the Mexican-American War will furrow a brow or two, as will shoehorning ranching, farming, and transportation into a single chapter and creating another, a catchall, that includes the coming ofthe Civil War, postwar Indian-white conflict and reservations, oudawry, labor union activity, the territorial...

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