Comanche Midnight

by Stephen Harrigan

Overview

Writing timeless essays that capture vanished worlds and elusive perceptions, Stephen Harrigan is emerging as a national voice with an ever-expanding circle of enthusiastic readers. For those who have already experienced the pleasures of his writing—and especially for those who haven't—Comanche Midnight collects fifteen pieces that originally appeared in the pages of Texas Monthly, Travel Holiday, and Audubon magazines.

The worlds Harrigan describes in these essays may be vanishing, but his writing invests them with an enduring reality. He ranges over topics from the past glories and modern-day travails of America's most legendary Indian tribe to the poisoning of Austin's beloved Treaty Oak, from the return-to-the-past realism of the movie set of Lonesome Dove to the intimate, off-season languor of Monte Carlo.

If the personal essay can be described as journalism about that which is timeless, then Stephen Harrigan is a reporter of people, events, and places that will be as newsworthy years from now as they are today. Read Comanche Midnight and see if you don't agree.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780292749320
Publisher:	University of Texas Press
Publication date:	11/12/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	243
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

A former senior editor of Texas Monthly magazine, Stephen Harrigan writes full-time from his home in Austin. His recent books include Big Wonderful Thing: A History of Texas.

Table of Contents

• Author's Note
• Acknowledgments
• Comanche Midnight
• The Temple of Destiny
• The Soul of Treaty Oak
• Highway One
• The Bay
• Taking Care of Lonesome Dove
• Feeling Flush
• The Anger of Achilles
• Eighteen Minutes
• Rock and Sky
• "The Tiger Is God"
• Selling the Ranch
• Swamp Thing
• The Roof of Eden
• The Man Nobody Knows

What People are Saying About This

James Magnuson

...a fine book of essays in the tradition of Barry Lopez, Rick Bass, Annie Dillard.... This is a book for the general reader, written by a truly literary stylist with remarkable renderings of place and character.

Editorial Reviews

The title and opening essay of Texan Harrigan's (A Natural State) latest collection concerns the United States' continued affronts of the Comanche tribe. These affronts, Harrigan writes, have left a proud people torn between fading traditions and increasing social responsibilities. Although Harrigan does recall some of the Comanche history, he is careful not to let the past overwhelm the immediacy of the problems faced by contemporary Comanches. Like such writers as Barry Lopez and Peter Matthiessen, Harrigan sticks to the facts, whatever poetry comes from his thorough reporting rather than from sparkling prose. ``The Bay'' details the prolonged ecological collapse of Galveston Bay, while ``The Soul of Treaty Oak'' recreates the chaos and comedy following the poisoning of Austin's celebrated centuries-old tree. In ``The Temple of Destiny,'' Harrigan examines the defeat of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitln, and Corts's murderous response to Aztec ritualized human sacrifice. Harrigan's compassion for these defeated subjects is offset throughout by an overwhelming sense of wanting to piece together another portion of the historical puzzle. Writing in a state known for its enormity, Harrigan is on the side of the small men who often die victims of a history that too quickly forgets. (June)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly