Authentic Texas: People of the Big Bend by Marcia Hatfield Daudistel and Bill Wright (review)

If you have ever had any interest in the Big Bend region of Texas, this is the book for you. And if you do not think you want to know more about the Big Bend, this is also the book for you. The authors present a compelling collection of more than forty short essays that focus on the people of the Big Bend, not the moon-like landscape, the challenging environment, or the odd and sometimes dangerous creatures that live in it. The result is a homey, well-written perspective on some of the year-round inhabitants of Jeff Davis, Presidio, Brewster, and Reeves Counties.

The Big Bend region of more than six million desert acres contains less than 12,000 people. The dozen or so communities where they reside are not only distinctly different from towns in other parts of Texas and the country, but also from one another. All kinds of people, from those who traveled around the world before they settled in the Big Bend to those who have lived in the region all of their lives, were interviewed by the authors. They make their living as administrators, park rangers, ranchers, dairymen, cheesemakers, bakers, teachers, lawyers, ministers, writers, merchants, restaurateurs, hoteliers, and many other occupations, but that only partly defines them. These are not always their best stories. Instead, it is their tales of how they came to live in the Big Bend, and how they have lived there.

The essays, most of which are based on an interview with the subject, are arranged generally by community, with each section prefaced with a short essay on the history and culture of the area. The interviewees are men and women, young and old, Anglo and non-Anglo. They are natives or come from as far away as the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Germany. Some of them have incredible stories, embracing topics as diverse as life in Nazi Germany, fleeing from the Mexican Revolution, and service with the United States Marines in Vietnam. There are a few well-known individuals such as Boyd Elder, an artist who designed the covers for three albums by the Eagles and other musical groups, and historian Lonn Taylor, who obviously had a great influence on the authors’ perspectives on the region. Wonderful photographs, in both color and black and white, of the landscape and the people who are interviewed will make you stop and linger over these tales of life in the Big Bend.

This collection is intended to affirm those who assert Texas exceptionalism, which is defined in the foreword by J. P. Bryan as “independence, self-sufficiency, an appreciation of the land, and the careful stewardship of both land and community” (xi). The authors repeat this same focus in their own introduction. The subjects are interesting people, some of them exceptional, living in an exceptional place, but are they proof of Texas exceptionalism? In truth, this collection has little to say about Texas exceptionalism and more to say about the intrigue of the Big Bend region. The authors provide their own best thesis about midway through the work: “The circumstances responsible for where a particular person lives are a combination of genetics, social and political forces, and random luck, either good or bad” (113). These are the ingredients of great stories, and these great stories focus on the Big Bend. If this book does not make you want to go there, then perhaps nothing will.