Impressions of the Big Thicket

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Nature, History, Americas, United States
Cover of the book Impressions of the Big Thicket by Michael Frary, William A. Owens, University of Texas Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Michael Frary, William A. Owens ISBN: 9781477306260
Publisher: University of Texas Press Publication: November 11, 2014
Imprint: University of Texas Press Language: English
Author: Michael Frary, William A. Owens
ISBN: 9781477306260
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Publication: November 11, 2014
Imprint: University of Texas Press
Language: English
Before the establishment of the Big Thicket Nature Preserve, the Big Thicket of Texas became a symbol of nature's last stand against encroaching civilization. Here, in a mingling of ecological zones, come together plants, animals, and birds—many of them rare—the flora and fauna of north and south, east and west. Northern maples and beeches stand not too great a distance from cypresses and Southern magnolias. American hollies grow large and orchids bloom among Northern ferns. Mesquite and tumbleweed, plants of the Western desert, survive where the annual rainfall averages sixty inches. On a major flyway, the Big Thicket is a stopping place for many birds in passage as well as home to a wide variety. Beavers build their dams there, and an occasional coyote yips in the night.Because of its great beauty and rich natural resources, use of the Big Thicket was the object of a forty-year struggle involving financiers, politicians, conservationists, and countless Thicket lovers. Each group viewed the Thicket from a different perspective and foresaw its future in different terms.This book records the impressions of two Thicket lovers. Michael Frary's paintings and drawings of woods and water, of birds in flight and strange plants growing close to the moist earth are pictures of a place, a time, a mood caught today—and not the same if left until tomorrow. The qualities of gentleness and violence are constant, but often hidden—there to be brought out by human need or human greed.William Owens writes of the people who have lived their lives in the Big Thicket, who have stirred its stillness with whoop and holler across the waters, who have taken in its stillness and explosive beauty until they themselves are made up of gentleness and violence.Together the impressions show what the Big Thicket was and is. What it will be—that is the chief concern of the book.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Before the establishment of the Big Thicket Nature Preserve, the Big Thicket of Texas became a symbol of nature's last stand against encroaching civilization. Here, in a mingling of ecological zones, come together plants, animals, and birds—many of them rare—the flora and fauna of north and south, east and west. Northern maples and beeches stand not too great a distance from cypresses and Southern magnolias. American hollies grow large and orchids bloom among Northern ferns. Mesquite and tumbleweed, plants of the Western desert, survive where the annual rainfall averages sixty inches. On a major flyway, the Big Thicket is a stopping place for many birds in passage as well as home to a wide variety. Beavers build their dams there, and an occasional coyote yips in the night.Because of its great beauty and rich natural resources, use of the Big Thicket was the object of a forty-year struggle involving financiers, politicians, conservationists, and countless Thicket lovers. Each group viewed the Thicket from a different perspective and foresaw its future in different terms.This book records the impressions of two Thicket lovers. Michael Frary's paintings and drawings of woods and water, of birds in flight and strange plants growing close to the moist earth are pictures of a place, a time, a mood caught today—and not the same if left until tomorrow. The qualities of gentleness and violence are constant, but often hidden—there to be brought out by human need or human greed.William Owens writes of the people who have lived their lives in the Big Thicket, who have stirred its stillness with whoop and holler across the waters, who have taken in its stillness and explosive beauty until they themselves are made up of gentleness and violence.Together the impressions show what the Big Thicket was and is. What it will be—that is the chief concern of the book.

More books from University of Texas Press

Cover of the book Alexander’s Veterans and the Early Wars of the Successors by Michael Frary, William A. Owens
Cover of the book Theater & Propaganda by Michael Frary, William A. Owens
Cover of the book Wild Tongues by Michael Frary, William A. Owens
Cover of the book Theorizing Art Cinemas by Michael Frary, William A. Owens
Cover of the book Together, Alone by Michael Frary, William A. Owens
Cover of the book Making Plans by Michael Frary, William A. Owens
Cover of the book Handbook of Middle American Indians, Volumes 14 and 15 by Michael Frary, William A. Owens
Cover of the book Birds of Houston by Michael Frary, William A. Owens
Cover of the book Discovering the Olmecs by Michael Frary, William A. Owens
Cover of the book The Golden Frontier by Michael Frary, William A. Owens
Cover of the book No Hope for Heaven, No Fear of Hell by Michael Frary, William A. Owens
Cover of the book The Scarecrow by Michael Frary, William A. Owens
Cover of the book The Best American Newspaper Narratives, Volume 3 by Michael Frary, William A. Owens
Cover of the book The Development of the Inca State by Michael Frary, William A. Owens
Cover of the book The Red-cockaded Woodpecker by Michael Frary, William A. Owens
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy