The Whole Damn Cheese ~ Lone Star Book Blog Tours Promo & Review!

THE WHOLE

DAMN CHEESE

MAGGIE SMITH BORDER LEGEND

by

BILL WRIGHT

Genre: Biography / Texana 
Publisher: Texas Christian University Press 
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Publication Date: October 12, 2018

Number of Pages: 160 pages with B&W photos

Anecdotes about Maggie Smith abound, but Bill Wright’s The Whole Damn Cheese is the first book devoted entirely to the woman whose life in Big Bend country has become the stuff of legend. For more than twenty years, Maggie Smith served folks on both sides of the border as doctor, lawyer, midwife, herbalist, banker, self-appointed justice of the peace, and coroner. As she put it, she was “the whole damn cheese” in Hot Springs, Texas. A beloved figure serving the needs of scores of people in Big Bend country, she was also an accomplished smuggler with a touch of romance as well as larceny in her heart. Maggie’s family history is a history of the Texas frontier, and her story outlines the beginnings and early development of Big Bend National Park. Her travels between Boquillas, San Vincente, Alpine, and Hot Springs define Maggie’s career and illustrate her unique relationships with the people of the border. Vividly capturing the rough individualism and warm character of Maggie Smith, author Bill Wright demonstrates why this remarkable frontier woman has become an indelible figure in the history of Texas.

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HALL WAYS REVIEW: Admittedly, I have a bit of a love affair with Big Bend. It’s one of the most dramatic and beautiful landscapes I’ve seen, and hiking there feels otherworldly — a complete escape from this city girl’s realities.  It has been many years since I visited, but since reading Yonderings:Trails and Memories of the Big Bend by Ben English, I have longed to return there.

Sadly, I haven’t yet physically returned to Big Bend, but I did return via Bill Wright’s The Whole Damn Cheese: Maggie Smith, Border Legend. Much to my surprise and delight, Ben English made some appearances in the book, as he is the great nephew of the book’s namesake. I shouldn’t have been surprised, given the people of Big Bend country have long established, common roots. The story behind the title of the book is revealed quickly, and it sets the tone for this no-nonsense woman’s life. Maggie Smith was of a heartier stock than most and didn’t  just survive in Big Bend, but thrived — no matter what barriers or hardships were thrown her way.

“If you can’t share something you have, then it really isn’t worth having.” — Maggie Smith

Author Bill Wright has done his research and what shines through is a picture of a frontier woman who not only bucked the system, but who was allowed to buck the system - unheard of for a woman, primarily dealing with men in those times. Not only did she make and follow her own rules in dealing with the governments and people of both the United States and Mexico, she was respected as a leader and businesswoman and humanitarian. She had a tough exterior that warned you, “Don’t mess with Maggie,” but she had a heart of gold and her benevolence was known far and wide. Those stories of her selflessness and blindness to economic status, race, color, or creed are my favorite but also underscore how rare is that quality of blindness in our society.

“Maggie’s death marked the end of an era 

that will not be seen again.” - Bill Wright 

As is the case with most biographies, readers get a lot more from reading The Whole Damn Cheese than just one woman’s story. Through his interviews and research, Wright shares many stories of the times and the people in Texas from the late 1800s forward. These side stories serve to really enrich the story that was Maggie’s life and give a clearer picture of the events that shaped her life. There are generations of stories, and it helps that the author includes a timeline at the beginning of the book. A final glance back at that timeline upon concluding the story further cements the idea of a bygone era and way of life.

The book is a very quick read at just over a hundred pages and includes numerous, well-placed black and white photos. There are some flipped captions and one photo that really needed more explanation (a family picture with horns? Please tell me more!), but including the photos really adds a layer of interest to the book and helps immerse the reader into Maggie’s life.  Also, the author includes information in the Acknowledgment and Notes sections that explain, clarify, and give credit to the sources used in writing the book.

Wright uses a lot of direct quotations to lend authenticity to the story, and the quotations and spellings also show readers the accents  of the speakers. Maggie’s voice comes through clearly, and by the end, I could really hear her speaking. The book needs a little polishing to fix some awkward sentences, repetition, and a few typos/errors, but the overall feeling in reading The Whole Damn Cheese is informal and comfortable and like hearing stories of the olden-days at a family get-together.  I recommend it to history lovers, Texas lovers, and those who want to delve into the fascinating, unexpected life of an amazing human.

Thank you to TCU Press and Lone Star Book Blog Tours for providing a lovely print copy in exchange for my honest opinion — the only kind I give.

For thirty-five years Bill Wright owned and managed a wholesale and retail petroleum marketing company. In 1987 he sold his company to his employees and since then has carved out a remarkable career as an author, fine art photographer, and ethnologist. He has written or contributed to seven books, and his photographs appear in Fort Worth’s Amon Carter Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center of the University of Texas at Austin, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

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10/22/18	Scrapbook Page	StoreyBook Reviews
10/23/18	Review	The Book Review
10/24/18	Excerpt	Reading by Moonlight
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Crossing Swords: Mary Baker Eddy vs Victoria Claflin Woodhull

Safronoff, C.P. (2015). Crossing Swords: Mary Baker Eddy vs Victoria Claflin Woodhull and the Battle for the Soul of Marriage. Seattle: This One Thing.

Adult / Historical / Biography

I gave this book 4 out of 5 Stars


In Crossing Swords: Mary Baker Eddy vs. Victoria Claflin Woodhull and the Battle for the Soul of Marriage, Cindy Peyser Safronoff presents readers with a comparative biography that looks into the lives of two women who were highly influential in the feminist movement during the latter half of the 1800s.  One, Mary Baker Eddy was a defender of Christian/Puritan values and the sanctity of marriage, yet she saw need and opportunity for improvement in women’s rights. The other, Victoria Claflin Woodhull, was more radical in her approach to seeking equality for women and was a strong proponent of ‘free-love’ and the ability for women to remove themselves without consequence from the bonds of marriage.  Though the two never met, together – with other feminist leaders like Susan B. Anthony, Mary Livermore, and Lucy Stone - they voiced the concerns of all women in finding equal footing in all areas of civilization including laws dictating politics, marriage, and even religion.  Author Safronoff digs deep into the past to reveal amazing parallels to modern day discussions about many of the same issues that existed over a hundred years ago.

Despite the title implying otherwise, there is never a real clash between Mary Baker Eddy and Victoria Claflin Woodhull – but that is perfectly fine.  What Safronoff does is present the two women in stark contrast to each other and show that despite their differences and different approaches, they are striving for and achieving the same thing: women’s equality.  Eddy is ever-faithful, philosophical and patient, whereas Woodhull is an opportunist and takes the quickest path for her purposes. Readers will be amazed and amused by the lives of these two women and the paths they each took to achieve their goals. (Even more amazing for this reader was that despite Victoria Claflin Woodhull’s constant reinventions and schemes, people still listened to her.)

To say that Safronoff has done her homework is an understatement; the book is extremely well researched and documented with extensive notes and an index included.  The author relies on an excess of quotes to move the stories forward, which got a little tedious, as did the extensive background on the Puritans.  An understanding of the Puritans was necessary to put Eddy’s and much of society’s belief system in perspective, but it went into such depth that it seemed to take the story off course. The book provides plenty of information that may be new to readers including the basis of American Spiritualism, the formation of Christian Science, the circumstances around first female presidential candidacy, and the promotion of “free love” as an alternative to marriage.

Crossing Swords has broad spectrum appeal because Cindy Peyser Safronoff writes intelligently without being overly academic; however scholars will find much to ponder and appreciate.  Anyone interested in the suffragist and women’s rights movements will enjoy the historical element, but the personal lives of Eddy and Woodhull are what make this book most enjoyable, thought provoking, and illuminating. 

This book was reviewed for Reader Views and is re-posted here by their permission. A print copy was provided to me in exchange for my honest review -- the only kind I give. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Cindy Peyser Safronoff has always loved spending time in the mountains, and her short e-book "Climbing Mt Rainier with the Chicks" tells the story of her reluctant transition from backpacking into the challenge of mountaineering. Her latest work has proved to be far more challenging than climbing Rainier: exploring female leadership at the highest level of empowerment. Her biography "Crossing Swords: Mary Baker Eddy vs. Victoria Claflin Woodhull and the Battle for the Soul of Marriage" compares and contrasts two of the most powerful women leaders of the 19th century -- both often overlooked in American history, but nonetheless influential. With this latest work in women's rights she hopes to climb to new heights.  

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Mysteries of Love and Grief ~ ~ ~ Book Blog Tour, Review & Promo*

Reflections on a Plainswoman's Life

 

by 

Sandra Scofield

 

Frieda Harms was born into a farming family in Indian Territory in 1906. Widowed at thirty and left with three children in the midst of the Great Depression, she worked as a farmer, a railroad cook, a mill worker, and a nurse in four states. She died in 1983. 

Sandra Scofield spent most of her childhood with her grandmother Frieda and remained close to her in adulthood. When Frieda died, Sandra received her Bible and boxes of her photographs, letters, and notes. For thirty years, Sandra dipped into that cache.

Sandra always sensed an undercurrent of hard feelings within her grandmother, but it was not until she sifted through Frieda’s belongings that she began to understand how much her life had demanded, and how much she had given. At the same time, questions in Sandra’s own history began to be answered, especially about the tug-of-war between her mother and grandmother. At last, in Mysteries of Love and Grief, Scofield wrestles with the meaning of her grandmother’s saga of labor and loss, trying to balance her need to understand with respect for Frieda’s mystery.

BUY LINKS: AMAZON ~ Texas Tech Press ~ B&N

Praise for MYSTERIES OF LOVE AND GRIEF

Throughout her depiction of her own family, Scofield kept me surprised—a moment of generosity when I didn't expect it or of anger when I didn't expect that. Mysteries remain as they must, but I trusted the insights as well as the mysteries. I thought it was a very beautiful book, smart and sharp.

—Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves and The Jane Austen Book Club

Largely ungoverned by chronology, Scofield’s journey of discovery unfolds organically, true to the way memory works. Seeking to know her grandmother, she honors the lives and artistic bent of many women marginalized by gender and poverty in the early to mid-twentieth century. This is a unique and necessary work.

—Lorraine M. López, author of Homicide Survivors Picnic and Other Stories and The Darling

 

HALL WAYS REVIEW:  As the title indicates, Mysteries of Love and Grief: Reflections on a Plainswoman's Life truly is author Sandra Scofield's reflections about the life of her grandmother, Frieda Harms, born into a farming family living in Indian Territory, 1906.  Scofield clearly did her research to create snapshots of not just Frieda's life, but the whole world and mindset of the women and men of that same era. As Scofield writes in an attempt to better understand her grandmother, the author's frustration and pain are tangible because she realizes the unnecessary hardships the people in her family endured and how much was left unsaid. Scofield finds that in her family, grief motivated many things, and says "Grief sometimes becomes anger, but how does it turn into a person's engine?" She desperately seeks to answer her question hoping that an answer will help her forgive and mend and comprehend.

Scofield's writing style is unique --  sometimes blunt and to the point, other times nearly stream-of-consciousness -- as she tries to make sense of the memories and the mementos of the grandmother she loved but never really knew.  Her musings are a good reminder to readers to ask questions before the only people who can answer them are gone forever, even when the attitude (like Frieda's) is that "there isn't any way to fix the past, and no good reason to suffer it." Scofield peppers her writing with figurative language, providing rich descriptions that stick with readers.

The book presents itself as a series of brief essays, and they are often repetitive and confusing because there are a lot of names to remember and no set chronology (though thankfully, a partial family tree is provided). Often, as the author reflects, she sometimes strays off into the territory of her other publications, which doesn't always feel necessarily appropriate.  The copy I was provided was an uncorrected proof, so I hope that these and other issues I found (peculiar semi-colon usage, lack of punctuation, pronoun confusion), which interrupted the flow of the writing, will be cleaned-up for the final version. 

Thank you to the publisher and Lone Star Lit Life for providing me an eBook copy in exchange for my honest opinion -- the only kind I give.

A native Texan, Sandra Scofield divides her time between Missoula, Montana and Portland, Oregon.

She has written seven novels, a memoir, and a craft book for writers. An excerpt from Mysteries of Love and Grief won first place in Narrative magazine’s 2014 Spring Story Contest. She is an avid landscape painter.

CHECK OUT SOME OF THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THIS TOUR:

Sept 14 - Feather Pens, Tartan Dreams - promo

Sept 15 - Books and Broomsticks promo

Sept 16 - The Crazy Booksellers promo

Sept 17 - Because This is My Life, Y’all promo

Sept 18 - The Page Unbound promo

Sept 19 - Book Crazy Gals promo

Sept 20 - Bookishjessp promo

Sept 21 - TexasBookLover Author Q&A 

Sept 22 - Blogging for the Love of Authors and Their Books Review

Sept 23 - My Book Fix Review

Sept 24 - All For the Love of the Word Author Q/A 

Sept 25 - Texas Book-aholic Review

Sept 26 - Secret Asian Girl Review

Sept 27 - Hall Ways Review

Sept 28 - Missus Gonzo Review

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*NOTE FROM KRISTINE at HALL WAYS: With the exception of the Hall Ways Review, the content of this promo post was provided by Lone Star Literary Life Blog Tours.  If you're a Texas blogger interested in joining the ranks of Texas Book Blog Tours, contact Tabatha Pope. Hall Ways Review will post separately