West Texas: A Portrait of Its People and Their Raw and Wondrous Land

by Mike Cochran and John Lumpkin

Book Overview

The Big Bend, the Big Country, the Big Empty. The High Plains, the Permian and the Panhandle. Cowboys, Cowtown and the curl of a killer tornado. A place where "you can stretch your eyeballs." Where the Hale-Bopp comet, "hardly visible above some smoggy, light-polluted cities, looked like it could drop into the Pecos River at any moment." West Texas, home to the state's biggest legends, is chronicled by two authors who have spent most of their careers crisscrossing it. Mike Cochran and John Lumpkin, Associated Press journalists, bring their experiences to the pages of this handsome volume, accompanied by fifty photographs of the West Texas landscape, its people and its history. Converse with West Texas characters like Stanley Marsh 3, conman Billy Sol Estes, and Big Spring's merry messiah, Marj Carpenter. Meet Gordon Wood, Friday night football's winningest coach, and Groner Pitts, Brownwood's liveliest undertaker. Remember ranching icon Watt Matthews, the founders of Santa Rita No. 1, and Lubbock's C. W. Stubblefield, magnet to blues and country music stars. Honor Hallie Stillwell, Frenchy McCormick, and even modern art's Georgia O'Keeffe, who put their stamp on Texas's most fascinating region. A West Texan once said, "They show no pictures of my province or even neighboring provinces. They leave a big hole in Texas." No more is that the case, thanks to Mike Cochran and John Lumpkin.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0896724263
• ISBN13: 9780896724266
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Texas Tech University Press
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 2.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 8.9" x 11.2"

Customer Reviews

Excellent Read, Marvelous Pictures

Mike Cochran and John Lumpkin have teamed up again. This time the Associated Press' Texas dynamic duo have put out a wonderous book dealing with West Texas culture, history, and geography. At first glance this book appears to be a coffee table book one would flip through just to oggle the award winning pictures of John T. Montford. It is that, and a whole lot more. Montford's mavelous pictures are equally balanced by the excellently crafted words of award winning reporter and master story teller Mike Cochran, and his partner John Lumpkin, Head of Associated Press' Texas operations. This is a must read no matter where you hale from. But be warned, even a dyed in the wool Easterner, will find it impossible to put down. Five stars for Photography, Writing, Content, Humor, and (well read it and find out!)