The Guadalupe Mountains of Texas

by Alan Tennant

Book Overview

Since its publication in 1980, The Guadalupe Mountains of Texas has received many honors, including the Friends of the Dallas Public Library Award from the Texas Institute of Letters and recognition... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0292727208
• ISBN13: 9780292727205
• Release Date: January 1980
• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Length: 166 Pages
• Weight: 2.45 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Excellent introduction to a lesser known national park

Writer Alan Tennant succintly describes the striking geology of the nearly all-limestone Guadalupe Reef and the post Ice-Age remant forest that perches on its summit and in some canyon recesses. However, even more interesting, to this reader, is his account of the human history of the Guadalupe Mountains, from the collision between the Apaches and the Latin or Anglo invaders to the rather improbable concatenation of events that led to the protection of the place as a national park, in a region that tends to be hostile to public ownership of land and environmental protection. The book only follows the story up to the first couple of years after the opening of the Park, but, other than some water-mining in the vicinity that poses an indirect threat, not much has changed since then. Michael Allender's photographs are still the best visible representation of the Park available, even in this day of internet picture-posting. In fact, Tennant weaves the figure of the non-conformist Allender into the account in a way that adds a strong dramatic and personal value to the book, without making it over-literary in a way that might weigh on some readers.