Read more
"Steven L. Davis has combed through the works of this renowned Texas author, gathering together in one volume Dobie's most vital writings. He then meticulously edited Dobie's stories and essays to "prune away some of the brushy undergrowth" and bring Dobie's folksy, erudite voice bounding back to life. The result is The Essential J. Frank Dobie, a treasury that introduces new readers to Dobie--and reminds older ones that Dobie produced some of the most fascinating, best-informed writing about Texas. Dobie bore eloquent witness to the passing of ancient pastoral lifeways and he captured priceless social history, collecting vanishing folklore and vibrant human stories overlooked by historians of the era. Davis, a Dobie biographer, searched for the stories only Dobie could tell--those enriched by his matchless personal adventures. Dobie rode twisting mountain trails throughout remote Mexico in search of lost mines. He helped inspire Big Bend National Park and led efforts to save the Texas Longhorn from extinction. During World War II, he dodged German V-1 bombs in England and later saw the Nazi death camps and toured Hitler's chancellery. Believing that "Texas Needs Brains," Dobie was decades ahead of his time in championing civil rights and protecting the environment"--
About the author
STEVEN L. DAVIS is the literary curator of the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University in San Marcos. His books include
J. Frank Dobie: A Liberated Mind, Texas Literary Outlaws: Six Writers in the Sixties and Beyond, and (as coauthor)
Dallas 1963, which won the 2014 PEN USA Award for Research Nonfiction. He is a past president of the Texas Institute of Letters
Summary
Setting out to create a collection of J. Frank Dobie's writing that "brings him alive and makes him relevant to current generations of readers", Steven Davis has combed through the works of this renowned Texas author, gathering together in one volume Dobie's most vital writings.
