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Reviews 135 Frontier Trails: The Autobiography of Frank M. Canton. Edited by E dw ard E v e r e t t D a l e . (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966. Volume 30, Western Frontier Library, xix plus 237 pages, $2.00.) One of the best sources of information about the Old West is the large group of reminiscences by men who were present and active when the range cattle industry (and more or less orderly government) moved into the Great Plains. A surprising number of men who worked as cowboys between 1865 and 1885 felt compelled to write autobiographies. Many of these autobiographies have long been out of print. The University of Oklahoma Press has put many of them into print again, this despite Frantz and Choate’s insistence in a University of Oklahoma Press book (The American Cowboy, The Myth and Reality, page 194) that the cowboy reminiscences have no inherent value. Frank M. Canton’s Frontier Trails, one of the very fine Western Frontier Library series, is a worthwhile book, as are other such reminiscences reprinted by the Oklahoma press and by other university presses. Canton’s autobiography repeats the pattern common to other autobiographies by ex-cowboys. Born in Virginia (his real name was Joe Horner) and reared in Denton County, Texas, Canton be­ gan his career as a cowboy in 1869 by helping drive a trail herd from Denton County to Abilene, Kansas. He became a law officer in 1878 (this was a pattern followed by Charlie Siringo and others) and worked at law enforcement much of the rest of his life, from Wyoming to Oklahoma, from Texas to Alaska. Toward the end of his life he was commander of the Oklahoma National Guard. Frontier' Trails was not published during Canton’s lifetime but was edited and published by E. E. Dale from Canton’s papers in the Frank Phillips Collection of the University of Oklahoma library. Professor Dale divided the manuscript into chapters, added some illustrations, and wrote an introduction to the book, which was first printed by Houghton Mifflin Company in 1930. Professor Dale also wrote the introduction to the new edition. Frontier Trails is a well-written book. Canton has related the events of his career in a simple, straightforward manner, without 136 Western American Literature exaggeration or bombast. His selection of materials is good. He manages to be objective most of the time; a notable exception is his account of the Johnson County War. Canton, who fought on the side of the big cattlemen, quite naturally defends all of the cattle­ men’s actions in that disturbance. One question the book raises is left unanswered. Professor Dale tells us that Canton’s real name was Joe Horner and states that he had lived for some years in Texas as a fugitive. He also says that Canton later worked in Texas for the Texas and South­ western Cattle Association and as a deputy United States marshal. Of course, the accuracy of both these statements is possible, but it would be interesting to examine further the reasons for the name change. This account of an active life during a significant era in Amer­ ican history is good reading. It would be a pleasant and valuable addition to anyone’s library. Orla n Sa w ey, Pan American College Katherine Anne Porter. By George Hendrick. (New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1965. 176 pages. $3.50.) Katherine Anne Porter once referred in a letter to me to what it was like to be a “serious worker in the art of literature.” The key word here is art. As George Hendrick observes in his Katherine Anne Porter, the ninetieth volume in the TUSAS, “Miss Porter considers herself an artist.” Hendrick concurs in Miss Porter’s self-estimation. “For over forty years now,” insists Hendrick, Miss Porter “has gone her own artistic way, and in her writing she has continually told a ‘straight story.’ ” The result has been “a mastery of technique,” including an “often and justly praised style,” and an exploration of “the human heart and mind and society itself, without lapsing into popular clichés.” Miss Porter’s rank as a major short story...

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