Reviewed by:

• A Texan's Story: The Autobiography of Walter Prescott Webb ed. by Michael L. Collins
• Richard B. McCaslin

Graphs increasingly define academics today. In one popular format, after a median line connecting a series of important points is established, all other performances are judged in relation to it. Like it or not, Walter Prescott Webb remains that line for those who write Texas history. That centrality makes this manuscript, flawed as it is, important for anyone interested in Texas or in writing and teaching history. It does not cover every aspect of Webb's life because he wrote it in 1943, twenty years before he died. Obviously, it was also never intended for publication. It is poorly written, with many repetitions and inconsistencies. The editor does little to correct its shortcomings—there is no index, the bibliography is scant, and the only footnotes come in his epilogue. But while Michael L. Collins errs in declaring this to be a "masterpiece of literature," he correctly asserts that it is a "surprising treasure trove of folk wisdom," with "many brilliant gems scattered throughout" (3).

Those seeking personal insights will find them. Webb makes it clear that what drives him, and any successful person, is "desire" (74). Reflecting on his success, he adds, "I never have been able to work to a pattern furnished by others, a trait which has brought rich prizes and deep humiliations" (113). This belief resurfaces in a declaration concerning his greatest literary prize: "Whatever success has attended the publication [of] The Great Plains may be attributed to the fact that it is based on an independent concept and executed without regard to anything that had been done before" (15). A careful reader will also realize that Webb was a prodigious researcher with an unflagging work ethic. Pondering why he wrote books instead of articles for academic journals, he quips, "I preferred to hit the public with a solid shell rather than bird shot" (134). Webb did write short pieces; however, the amount of work required for them meant he tried to publish more than one at time. Finally, country boy humility and humor explain why he never had this memoir published: "My life has been a succession of deep humiliations and pleasant surprises and just why I should feel an impulse to set some of them down on paper is something I cannot explain" (17). [End Page 113]

Webb's perspectives on the events of his life are priceless. Those interested in frontier Texas should read his reflections on being a farm boy in the Cross Timbers, which he believes has "produced more schoolteachers, country lawyers, preachers, and penitentiary inmates in proportion to size and population than any region of West Texas" (60). Beleaguered graduate students must study his advice to both them and faculty on academic relationships, especially during his "tragic year" at the University of Chicago (138). Frustrated writers will gain much from his passages on writing, although those who teach English might well be offended. As to why the movie version of his landmark book on the Texas Rangers bore little resemblance to what he wrote, Webb drily admits, "By the time the Hollywood lawyers get through with an author, he has renounced everything save the fact that he wrote a book, and he may be a little uncertain about that" (182).

Readers who want the facts of Webb's life should look elsewhere, perhaps to books with indexes and footnotes. But those who want to know more about Webb's perspective on his life will find it here, and for that Collins is to be commended for letting the man speak for himself.

审核人：

• 德克萨斯人的故事：沃尔特·普雷斯科特·韦伯编的自传。迈克尔·L·柯林斯
• 理查德·B·麦卡斯林

如今，图表越来越多地定义了学术界。在一种流行的格式中，在建立连接一系列重要点的中线之后，所有其他表演都将根据它来判断。不管喜欢与否，沃尔特·普雷斯科特·韦伯 (Walter Prescott Webb) 仍然是撰写德克萨斯历史的人的路线。这种中心性使得这份手稿虽然有缺陷，但对于任何对德克萨斯州或对历史写作和教学感兴趣的人都很重要。它没有涵盖韦伯生活的方方面面，因为他是在 1943 年，也就是他去世前 20 年写的。显然，它也从未打算出版。写得不好，有很多重复和不一致之处。编辑几乎没有纠正它的缺点——没有索引，参考书目稀少，唯一的脚注出现在他的结语中。但是，尽管迈克尔·L·柯林斯 (Michael L. Collins) 错误地将其宣布为“

那些寻求个人见解的人会找到它们。韦伯明确表示，推动他和任何成功人士的动力是“欲望”（74）。回顾他的成功，他补充说，“我从来没有能够按照别人提供的模式工作，这种特质带来了丰厚的奖品和深深的屈辱”（113）。这种信念在关于他最伟大文学奖的声明中再次浮现：“无论《大平原》的出版取得了怎样的成功，可能是因为它基于一个独立的概念，并且在执行时不考虑以前做过的任何事情”（15）。细心的读者也会意识到韦伯是一位具有不屈不挠的职业道德的惊人研究人员。思考为什么他为学术期刊写书而不是文章，他打趣道，“我更喜欢用坚固的外壳而不是鸟瞰图来打击公众”（134）。韦伯确实写过短篇；然而，他们需要的工作量意味着他试图一次出版不止一本。最后，乡下男孩谦逊和幽默解释了为什么他从未出版过这本回忆录：“我的生活是一连串深深的屈辱和惊喜，这就是为什么我应该有一种冲动去设定一些它们写在纸上是我无法解释的”（17）。[第113页结束]

韦伯对他生活中的事件的看法是无价的。那些对德克萨斯边境感兴趣的人应该读一读他对作为十字木材农场男孩的反思，他认为“按照规模和人口的比例，这里培养了比西德克萨斯任何地区都多的教师、乡村律师、传教士和监狱囚犯”（ 60）。陷入困境的研究生必须学习他对他们和教职员工关于学术关系的建议，尤其是在他在芝加哥大学的“悲惨一年”期间 (138)。沮丧的作家将从他关于写作的段落中受益匪浅，尽管那些教英语的人可能会被冒犯。至于为什么他关于德克萨斯游骑兵队的里程碑式著作的电影版本与他所写的几乎没有相似之处，韦伯冷冷地承认，“

想要了解韦伯生平事实的读者应该去别处看看，也许是带有索引和脚注的书籍。但是那些想要更多地了解韦伯对他的生活的看法的人会在这里找到它，为此柯林斯让这个人为自己说话是值得称赞的。