Additional information
by Walt Davis (Author), Isabel Davis (Author)
The border of Texas is longer than the Amazon River, running through ten distinct ecological zones as it outlines one of the most familiar shapes in geography. According to the Davises, "Driving its every twist and turn would be like driving from Miami to Los Angeles by way of New York."
Each of this book's sixteen chapters opens with an original drawing by Walt, representing a segment of the Texas border where the authors selected a special place--a national park, a stretch of river, a mountain range, or an archeological site. Using a firsthand account of that place written by a previous visitor (artist, explorer, naturalist, or archeologist), they then identified a contemporary voice (whether biologist, rancher, river-runner, or paleontologist) to serve as a modern-day guide for their journey of rediscovery. This dual perspective allows the authors to attach personal stories to the places they visited, to connect the past with the present, and to compare Texas then with Texas now.
Whether retracing botanist Charles Wright's 600-mile walk to El Paso in 1849 or paddling Houston's Buffalo Bayou, where John James Audubon saw ivory-billed woodpeckers in 1837, the Davises seek to remind readers that passionate and determined people wrote the state's natural history. Anyone interested in Texas or its rich natural heritage will find deep enjoyment in Exploring the Edges of Texas.
Author Biography
WALT DAVIS is former director of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, Texas; former curator of vertebrate collections at the Dallas Museum of Natural History; and author of the book Building an Ark for Texas: The Evolution of a Natural History Museum. ISABEL DAVIS retired as reference librarian at West Texas A&M University.
