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 strength of these books is their emphasis on how much of the Old West, insofar as southeastern Arizona was concerned, was carried forward into the early decades of the 20^th century. Regardless of Frederick Jackson Turner’s argument that the Old West pretty much drew to a close by 1890, Williams’ stories explore significant continuities between the 19^th and 20^th centuries. A lot of the Old West was still around.

The stories convey the ups and downs of life along the ranching and mining frontiers, of the flexible movement by Americans and Mexicans across the international border, of the place of time-honored traditions – from special foods to gifts – in the warp and woof of daily life. If there is a nostalgic cast to the book, it is because much of Williams’ presentation evokes a different time when most westerners were closer to the land, and, perhaps, to each other.

Frederick Schoemehl

Editor, Tombstone Epitaph