El Paso’s Muckraker: The Life of Owen Payne White by Garna L. Christian (review)

El Paso’s Muckraker presents an original, penetrating biography of the enigmatic poet, journalist, and historian Owen Payne White. In a biography of only six chapters, Garna L. Christian not only narrates the life of White, but also deftly places his personality, character, and psyche within the context of the worlds in which he lived. This groundbreaking biography presents a fascinating character and setting in White and El Paso.

Often incorrectly described as “the first white child born in El Paso” (77), White was born to Dr. Alward and Kathryn White in 1879. He was a product of the protest tradition, libertarianism, and “the West” (21) that lingered in El Paso during his youth. The author’s first chapter describes in depth the protest tradition—really, the muckraking tradition before President Theodore Roosevelt renamed it. White, who was an “avowed antireformer” (7), despised the onrush of modernity and especially Prohibition. He preferred the El Paso of his youth, which seems contradictory to his membership in the reform-minded, muckraking crowd. The author, however, attributes this to his libertarianism and strong convictions forged during his early years.

White experienced the disappearance of “the West” first hand, as El Paso transformed from an adobe town to a bustling metropolis between 1887 and 1900. His youth consisted also of a collection of “notches of skepticism” (24) in the young man’s mind. From the vantage point of Big Bend and El Paso, White witnessed some of the Mexican Revolution, which proved an economic, social, and journalistic boon for El Paso. World War I allowed the further reformation of the newly modernized city. The author claims that White enlisted in the American Expeditionary Force with “no illusions about paths of glory” (44), but for mere curiosity. By 1925, White had moved to New York, never to live in El Paso again. His writing career launched in New York, and White became the journalist who “torpedoed the political career of Huey Long” (150). He became more than a muckraker, writing columns on the El Paso life he remembered, short stories, a local history entitled Out of the Desert (El Paso: McMath, Co., 1923), and Texas: An Informal Biography (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1945), among other publications. Readers hailed his books as especially pleasant to read, though colored by a certain amount of nostalgia and tongue-in-cheek style. On December 7, 1946, White died due to “chronic illness” (144), and he was buried at the Cutchogue Cemetery on Long Island.

Christian succeeds with this short biography in acquainting the reader with the personality and world of Owen Payne White. The author’s extensive research includes several relevant newspapers and renders the book undoubtedly credible. Christian occasionally fails to substantiate explicitly his interpretation of White’s underlying thoughts, most notably that he had “no illusions” about enlisting in the AEF. The book would also further benefit from more exposure to White’s actual writing. These minor objections aside, El Paso’s Muckraker is a well-researched, groundbreaking, and pleasurable read.