Maverick Town - by John Lawton McCarty (Paperback)

About the Book

Maverick Town tells the story of the rise and decline of Old Tascosa, which epitomized the romance and danger of the early West. Tascosa's heyday was brief, yet it compressed into a few years the history of an era-- that of the open range--which will never return.

Book Synopsis

"John McCarty, newsman and publisher of Amarillo, has sought sources far and wide, and he has used them with great skill. . . . It is good that the story of Old Tascosa has been saved."-Walter Prescott Webb, Dallas Morning News "Tascosa may not have been the toughest of the old-time cow towns, but it was tough enough. . . . A solid contribution to Southwestern history."-New York Herald Tribune "Every lover of the Old West, every reader of Western history has at times wished in vain for a full and readable account of Tascosa, one time cow town capital of the Texas Panhandle. . . . Perhaps our best account of a typical tragedy of the plains."-Stanley Vestal, Chicago Sunday Tribune Once the rival of Dodge City and Cheyenne, for years Tascosa, Texas, lay a ghost town of crumbling adobes. Today almost all traces of frontier Tascosa are gone, replaced by the ultramodern stone buildings which make up a self-contained city of boys and administrative staff-Cal Farley's famed Boys Ranch. Maverick Town tells the story of the rise and decline of Old Tascosa, which epitomized the romance and danger of the early West. Tascosa's heyday was brief, yet it compressed into a few years the history of an era- that of the open range-which will never return. John L. McCarty was a Texas newspaperman and publisher who wrote many articles and two books about the Old West. Harold D. Bugbee, who drew chapter-head decorations for this book, was an illustrator of many articles and books about the West. C. L. Sonnichsen was Benedict Professor of English Emeritus, at the University of Texas, El Paso. Among his many books are The Mescalero Apaches and Tucson: The Life and Times an American City.

Review Quotes

"A lively book, which gives you what seems an authentic picture of a life which, curiously, appears to have been just about the way it is in the horse operas."--The New Yorker

"Every lover of the Old West, every reader of Western history has at times wished in vain for a full and readable account of Tascosa, one time cow town capital of the Texas Panhandle. . . . The author's account of the death throes of Tascosa, 'How a Town Dies, ' is perhaps our best account of a typical tragedy of the plains."--Stanley Vestal, Chicago Sunday Tribune

"Tascosa may not have been the toughest of the old-time cow towns, but it was tough enough. . . . McCarty . . . has done a conscientious job in reconstructing the gaudy days of Tascosa. . . . A solid contribution to Southwestern history. A workmanlike performance."--New York Herald Tribune

"The author, John McCarty, newsman and publisher of Amarillo, has sought sources far and wide, and he has used them with great skill. . . . It is good that the story of Old Tascosa has been saved while the sources are fresh, good that the whole job has been done by the Southwest."--Walter Prescott Webb, Dallas Morning News