Tales of My Southwest
Storytelling may be an endangered art form in our information age, and that’s a shame. Attorney and former Douglas mayor Ben F. Williams, Jr. reminds us of the old-fashioned charm of a good story, well told . . . Williams captures the small moments – childhood pranks and human foibles – that bring smiles of recognition because they say something universal about the human condition.
Journal of Arizona History
Arizona Historical Society
Bruce J. Dinges, Editor
A charming collection of vignettes. The writing is clear and accessible, and Ben’s passion for his subjects comes through clearly. The photographs are well-chosen to underscore the subject of each story.
In Ben’s new book, Pancho Villa Came to Dinner, the infamous revolutionary Pancho Villa weaves his evil heart in and out of an American family tapestry, in which the author spins tales of his own boyhood years growing up in the southeastern corner of Arizona and Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico.
Through fact and memorable reality from his parents and lifelong friends, Williams’ stories follow the crazed Pancho Villa from his earliest days of life, war, and survival along the borderlands. Williams includes horrific tales of Villa’s famous battles, and his growing eccentric and violent behavior, as personal cruelty and murders increase. This well-researched book culminates with little-known truths about the disappearance of Pancho Villa’s skull . . . from his grave in Parral, Mexico.
In Pancho Villa Came to Dinner, his third book, Ben discloses a wealth of information about what it was like for a boy and his family to ranch, mine, and survive during Mexican revolutionary times.
Against this background, he not only tackles stories about Pancho Villa’s battles and the man accused of stealing Villa’s skull from his grave in Parral, Mexico, but he baits the reader with the most curious story of all:
Who was the accused thief of the skull, Emil Holmdahl? And what was his connection to Ben F. Williams, Sr.–Ben’s father?
Pancho Villa Came to Dinner will be available for purchase by November 1st. The book is being published in a hardbound limited edition.
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Ben–a fifth-generation Arizonan whose father and grandfather owned ranches in Arizona, Sonora and Chihuahua–retired from the practice of law after 50 years and took up writing about the Old West. He is a regular contributor to the Tombstone Epitaph newspaper, and has published articles in Range magazine and Precision Shooting magazine. Ben is a former City Attorney of Tombstone and four-term Mayor of Douglas (1980-1988).
Taking life on both sides of the border as his canvas, Ben has brought his stories to book form. His first two books–Tales of My Southwest and More Tales of My Southwest–convey the ups and downs of life along the ranching and mining frontiers of the Mexican border from the 1800s to the present day.
Ben’s new book, Pancho Villa Came to Dinner, began as a short story. Ben says once he started delving into the research and realized how many times Pancho Villa had crossed his family’s path during the Mexican revolutions, the simple short story grew into a book. The book will be available for purchase by November 1st.