Pride of place a contemporary anthology of Texas nature writing (University of North Texas Press, 2006)
Includes bibliographical references and index
"Still Water" from Adventures with a Texas Naturalist / Roy Bedichek -- "Kindred Spirits" from From a Limestone Ledge / John Graves -- "12 Variations on a Theme or Why I Live in West Texas" / Carol Cullar -- "A Sense of One Place as the Focus of Another: The Making of a Conservationist" / Pete Gunter -- "That One-Eyed Hereford Muley" from The Wild and the Domestic / Barbara "Barney" Nelson -- "Springs" / Joe Nick Patoski -- "Memories of a Prairie Chicken Dance" / Gary Clark -- "Wildflower. Stone." / Marian Haddad -- "Nature Writer" / Wyman Meinzer -- "Tortas Locas," from The Underground Heart / Ray Gonzales -- "Home Address" from Never in a Hurry / Naomi Shihab Nye -- "Faith's Place" from Crossroads: A Southern Culture Annual / Gerald Thurmond -- "Paddling the Urban Sprawl" / David Taylor -- "What Texas Means to Me" from A Natural State / Stephen Harrigan
Since Roy Bedichek's influential Adventures with a Texas Naturalist, no book has attempted to explore the uniqueness of Texas nature, or reflected the changes in the human landscape that have accelerated since Bedichek's time. Pride of Place updates Bedichek's discussion by acknowledging the increased urbanization and the loss of wildspace in today's state. It joins other recent collections of regional nature writing while demonstrating what makes Texas uniquely diverse. These fourteen essays are held together by the story of Texas pride-the sense that from West Texas to the Coastal Plains, the people and the landscape are bold and unique. This book addresses all the major regions of Texas. Beginning with Roy Bedichek's essay "Still Water," it includes Carol Cullar and Barbara "Barney" Nelson on the Rio Grande region of West Texas, John Graves's evocative "Kindred Spirits" on Central Texas, Joe Nick Patoski's celebration of Hill Country springs, Pete Gunter on the Piney Woods, David Taylor on North Texas, Gary Clark and Gerald Thurmond on the Coastal Plains, Ray Gonzales and Marian Haddad on El Paso, Stephen Harrigan and Wyman Meinzer on West Texas, and Naomi Shihab Nye on urban San Antonio. This anthology will appeal not only to those interested in regional history, natural history, and the environmental issues Texans face, but also to all who say gladly, "I'm from Texas."