Going Back to Bisbee [Hardcover]

Richard Shelton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1992

One of America's most distinguished poets now shares his fascination with a distinctive corner of our country. Richard Shelton first came to southeastern Arizona in the 1950s as a soldier stationed at Fort Huachuca. He soon fell in love with the region and upon his discharge found a job as a schoolteacher in nearby Bisbee. Now a university professor and respected poet living in Tucson, still in love with the Southwestern deserts, Shelton sets off for Bisbee on a not-uncommon day trip. Along the way, he reflects on the history of the area, on the beauty of the landscape, and on his own life. Couched within the narrative of his journey are passages revealing Shelton's deep familiarity with the region's natural and human history. Whether conveying the mystique of tarantulas or describing the mountain-studded topography, he brings a poet's eye to this seemingly desolate country. His observations on human habitation touch on Tombstone, "the town too tough to die," on ghost towns that perhaps weren't as tough, and on Bisbee itself, a once prosperous mining town now an outpost for the arts and a destination for tourists. What he finds there is both a broad view of his past and a glimpse of that city's possible future. Going Back to Bisbee explores a part of America with which many readers may not be familiar. A rich store of information embedded in splendid prose, it shows that there are more than miles on the road to Bisbee.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Poet Shelton has created a powerful annal of place--a paean to the Sonoran desert south of Tucson, a landscape as prickly as the cacti that grow in it and yet as refreshing as a rainy-season rainstorm. Shelton imbues landscapes, flora and fauna with resonance, imprinting themes of memory, history and human nature in the reader's mind. The opening description of a Sonoran monsoon is a masterful evocation of weather, vibrant and violent. Shelton's ( The Tattooed Desert ) tour of the desert includes descriptions of a six-foot snake that rescued him from the local squirrels who were infiltrating his house; his disastrous attempt to harvest a yucca as a native Christmas tree; an attack by raging bulls on the Mormon battalion in the U.S.-Mexican war; his abrupt discovery of an adobe ghost town; and the sociology of an old mining village. Shelton knows the lore and the life of Southern Arizona, and his diction, both precise and evocative, reflects his poetic skills. Indeed, the only fault here could easily have been repaired: the end of the book tends to repeat observations made earlier.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Library Journal

This book, winner of the 1992 Western States Book Award for Creative Nonfiction, offers the reader a glimpse into life and landscape in a mountainous mining region in extreme southeastern Arizona. Shelton, the author of several works of poetry ( The Bus to Veracruz , LJ 12/15/78. o.p.; The Tattooed Desert , LJ 2/15/71) became enraptured with the area as an army draftee and stayed to teach junior high English in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Now living in Tucson, he recounts a recent nostalgic journey back to the area that incorporates natural history with a marvelous sense of place. This book should appeal to fans of Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness ( LJ 1/1/68) and Charles Bowden's Desierto: Memories of the Future ( LJ 6/15/91). Recommended, especially for southwestern and natural history collections.
- Tim Markus, Evergreen State Coll. Lib., Olympia, Wash.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 329 pages
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press (May 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816513023
• ISBN-13: 978-0816513024
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,332,736 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Down Memory Lane to a town that would not die . . ., January 14, 2005

By 

Ronald Scheer "rockysquirrel" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Going Back to Bisbee (Paperback)

This book is part travelogue, part natural history, part regional history, and part personal memoir. After many years as a writer, poet, and university professor, the author takes an 80-mile journey from his home in Tucson to the old mining town of Bisbee in the southeast corner of Arizona. Just a stone's throw from the Mexican border, Bisbee has been the site of copper mines, starting in the 1880s and lasting until the 1970s, when conglomerate Phelps Dodge finally ceased operation, having created a huge open pit and left mountains of tailings.

A mountain town built in the twists and turns of a narrow valley, Bisbee was once the largest city between St. Louis and San Francisco. More amazing today is that unlike most mining towns that sprang up in the West, Bisbee is not a ghost town but still thrives, chiefly as an artists' center and a tourist destination. A high school teacher, fresh out of the Army in the 1950s, Shelton tells of life in a modern-day mining community, and great storyteller that he is, there are entertaining accounts of fitting in to the community, establishing himself as a young teacher, and taking on leadership of a Boy Scout troop given to embarrassing public pranks.

But by the time Shelton brings us to Bisbee in the closing chapters of the book, he has lingered lovingly over the flora and fauna of the desert and mountains, provided readers with several hundred years of history in this area once ruled by the fierce Apaches, visited Tombstone (represented as a tourist trap), recalled his tour of duty with the Signal Corps at Ft. Huachuca, got caught in a downpour and had lunch in a roadside diner, and driven his van way off the main road where he finds a young man panning for gold. There is a long, humorous account of a squirrel infestation at his Tucson home and the intervention of a bull snake named Henry. And on and on.

I highly recommend this enjoyable book for readers interested in the desert, Arizona, the culture of mining towns, and the social history of the American West. Shelton brings to life whatever subject he touches.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite traveler's memoir of Bisbee, Tucson and Arizona, June 18, 2000

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Los Angeles Reader "LA, CA Reader" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Going Back to Bisbee (Paperback)

A DELIGHTFUL DIVERSION. WELL-WRITTEN AND WORTH IT TO BUY IT. A KIND OF VERBAL NATURALIST'S JOURNALING. This is an exceptionally well-written and engaging travel memoir describing in fluid, conversational, yet poetic language, the writer's travels in Arizona's Sonoran Desert and mountainous area. It uses the English language of the American style magnificantly. It conveys the moment to moment experiencing of Mr. Sheldon's drives and travels. YOu feel as if you are in Blue Boy (his van) with him. YOu can almost smell the greasewood right after a monsoon rain as if you were there. I'm reading this book to my 91-year old Mother who lived in Bisbee and Tucson as a child. It is a special treasure for her as it allows her to enjoy and reminisce about the special memories of her childhood. Thank you Mr. Sheldon for this delightful book. I am eternally grateful to you.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new Arizonian, June 24, 2000

By 

Tommy Gopher (Gopherland, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Going Back to Bisbee (Paperback)

Being a new to Arizona and visiting once, I loved this book. It made my recent trip to Bisbee wonderfully interesting. I searched for many of the points of interst mentioned in this book. Looked at the terrain and the people. All were true to the authors decribtion. I even experienced a few "that's Bisbee" moments. Thanks for a great book, I thoroughly enjoyed the read.