Customer Reviews

Going Back to Bisbee

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4 star:		(3)
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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.

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.

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.

First I have to confess that I have only been to Bisbee twice. This book is one of my favorite books of all time. It manages to capture thje essence of the town covering its history and culture. A warning however: if you purchase this book you will find that you must also pay a visit to one of the most unique towns in the West....and in process leave a piece of your heart behind.

A wonderful book that transports the reader into a little known corner of the American West. Mr. Shelton is a poet and a keen observer of the physical world. During the course of a one day drive from Tuscon to Bisbee, he crafts an extremely well-written look at the contrasting interests, people and natural forces which created this corner of the West. His writing makes one long for sun drenched days and miles of open, "range and basin" land.

Two or three years ago, I borrowed the library's copy of this book, and I can't tell you how many times special parts of this book have come back to haunt me. There are events in it that I wish would have happened to me. But the next best thing is hearing Mr. Shelton describe them. He's funny and touching and entertaining and informative. It's a rich experience. Time to buy my own copy.

This book is a gem! Besides the fact that Bisbee is one of my favorite places to visit, the author makes the trip there so enjoyable, you have a hard time remembering you've been there already. I especially liked the story of the Christmas 'Tree' he brought in one year for Christmas. Get this book and take it to a quiet corner to read. You will be transported.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable read, replete with detailed images of the desert which made me appreciate my southern Arizona home even more. The details are brought to life as the author reminisces on his years in Arizona during his journey to Bisbee. I never knew that coyotes were excellent parents or that Sierra Vista used to be called Fry. An absolutely fascinating book for anyone, but especially valuable for those who live or have lived or would like to live or have been in the Arizona desert. Thank you, Mr. Shelton!

GOING BACK TO BISBEE is essentially a memoir augmented by plenty of history, both natural and human. It won an award in 1992 for "creative nonfiction" and I can understand why. The conceit of the book, which is taken up by the title, is a drive by the author Richard Shelton from his current hometown of Tucson to Bisbee, Arizona, where he had spent two years of his life, newly married and a fledgling teacher, fresh out of the military, about thirty years earlier. He intersperses his account of his half-day-long, 100-mile drive with recollections of his personal life in Southern Arizona, stories of the history of the area (for example, the Apaches, the U.S. Army, and a century of mining), and sidebars on the flora, fauna, and geography of the region. The book ends with Shelton back in Bisbee, having dinner with an old friend and grande dame of the former mining town re-invented as a center for the arts.

For my taste, the "going back to Bisbee" conceit is a little too artificial and forced, and the anthropomorphism to which Shelton is prone becomes mildly annoying, especially when repeatedly used with reference to the van, "Blue Boy," in which he makes his trip. But on the whole, the book is very engaging. It certainly is a much more entertaining way of learning about Colorado river toads, Perry's agave, coyotes, mesquite, and many similar subjects than the typical natural history guide. At the same time one learns much about the destruction of the landscape by the Anglo invasion and their cattle-ranching and mining without undue preaching, and one is treated to a number of interesting personal anecdotes, some of which are genuinely funny.

Hence, GOING BACK TO BISBEE can be recommended on a number of levels, but it would be especially appreciated, I think, by those interested in the Sonoran desert and the mountains of Southern Arizona.

This book is excellent! Richard Shelton wrote this book in a most unique style, you can see the thought process and the line of conceionce. i thouroughly enjoyed the book and i think everyone should go back to bisbee sometime in there lives and have a little fun. I enjoyed reading this book and there are so few of us that know how to slow down and smell the flowers. We all get cought up in lives little frenzies and rush to do everything. after reading this book i want to jump in an old van and drive around the great state of Arizona too.