{"id":1370,"date":"2018-12-31T16:55:03","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T16:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1370"},"modified":"2018-12-31T16:55:03","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T16:55:03","slug":"glenn-dromgooles-texas-reads-column-appears-weekly-at-lonestarliterary-com-98","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1370","title":{"rendered":"Glenn Dromgoole’s Texas Reads column appears weekly at LoneStarLiterary.com"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/span><\/span>Texas Reads<\/span>>> archive<\/span><\/a><\/span>Glenn Dromgoole<\/span><\/h1>\n

7.8.2018\u00a0 Two more remarkable Texas photography books<\/h1>\n

I spoke too soon. <\/span>A few weeks ago I wrote columns about two Texas books that would no doubt be among the most elegant books published in Texas this year.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/span>Well, I wasn\u2019t wrong. They are quite elegant books \u2014 Horses of the American West: Portrayals by Twenty-Four Artists<\/span> and As Far As You Can See: Picturing Texas.<\/span> But I\u2019ve come across two more books, equally as enticing, that will command coffee-table attention. And, since we\u2019re still barely halfway through the year, I\u2019m sure there will be others.<\/p>\n

The two new volumes are:<\/p>\n

Seasons at Selah: The Legacy of Bamberger Ranch Preserve,<\/span><\/a><\/span> text by Andrew Sansom,<\/span> photography by Rusty Yates<\/span> and David K. Langford<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Lost, Texas: Photographs of Forgotten Buildings<\/span> by Bronson Dorsey.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both were published by Texas A&M University Press and are reasonably priced at $40.<\/p>\n

When a reader first looks at Seasons at Selah<\/span> (SEE-lah), he or she is naturally drawn to the stunning photographs by Langford and Yates that dominate the volume (divided into spring, summer, fall and winter scenes). The reader might be inclined to just thumb through the book and admire the pictures, but that would be a mistake.<\/p>\n

Andy Sansom\u2019s conversational-style narrative relates the extraordinary story that the photographs exemplify \u2014 the story of J. David Bamberger and his passion for conservation and environmental education.<\/p>\n

In 1969 Bamberger, who had made millions building the Church\u2019s Chicken fast-food chain, bought what he called \u201cthe sorriest piece of land\u201d in the Texas Hill Country -\u2014 in Blanco County near Johnson City. He set about restoring it and turning the 5,500 acres of Selah Ranch into an award-winning model of land stewardship and preservation.<\/p>\n

As Bamberger nears 90, Selah continues to thrive but faces the challenge of eventually outliving its founder while maintaining his vision for, and devotion to, the land. Seasons at Selah is an important story told lovingly and impressively in words and pictures.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/span><\/span>Lost, Texas<\/span> is the result of eight years of retired architect Bronson Dorsey traveling thousands of miles on rural roads to photograph buildings that, for the most part, are abandoned and forgotten. Dorsey includes old schools, hotels, cafes, office buildings, mills, gins, and even an air base -\u2014 with examples from all sections of Texas, organized by region.<\/p>\n

Each photograph is accompanied by a brief essay discussing the context of the building and the community or small town where it is located, many of which have declined as well. Unlike most of us who don\u2019t bother to slow down when passing by these decaying facilities, Dorsey not only took the time to stop and photograph them but also to put them in historical context.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope (the photographs) recall a sense of how those who preceded us lived,\u201d Dorsey writes, \u201cand how the Texas of earlier days became the Texas of today.\u201d<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n

Glenn Dromgoole<\/span> writes about Texas books and authors. Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

>> Read his past Texas Reads columns in Lone Star Literary Life here.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Texas Reads>> archiveGlenn Dromgoole 7.8.2018\u00a0 Two more remarkable Texas photography books I spoke too soon. A few weeks ago I wrote columns about two Texas books that would no doubt be among the most elegant books published in Texas this year. Well, I wasn\u2019t wrong. They are quite elegant books \u2014 Horses of the American […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1370\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}