Popular travel writer Tom Miller brings his keen, original, and humorous eye to bear on the area he's lived in for 30 years - the American Southwest and adjoining northern Mexico. Jack Ruby's Kitchen Sink: Travels Through America's Southwest is a first person guided tour of the American Southwest and adjoining northern Mexico. It reflects on the remarkable Southwestern and Mexican land and the extraordinary and unusual people who criss-cross its bleached deserts, cracked pavements, and 18-hole golf courses. The book's posture is optimistic and enthusiastic, contemplative and vigilant. Miller's tone stays amiable, immediate, and descriptive throughout, growing angry now and then and getting involved when necessary. The reader will hear unfamiliar accents and inviting music (including the history of "La Bamba" and see landscapes both real and metaphoric with mesquite trees to pause beneath and back alleys to wander down. The book's ultimate message is that the tension between the land and the people who walk upon it benefits the latter to the detriment of the former.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Since moving to the Southwest in the 1960s, Miller (On the Border, Arizona: The Land and the People) has been inspired to write about the Sunbelt. This new release gains momentum as it progresses through personal anecdotes, research, and newsworthy events both past and present. The balanced coverage touches on both the beauty of the desert and the plight of illegal immigrants. We learn about Eco-raiders who combat urban sprawl, Walter Swan's one-title bookstore, and the art of cockfighting. Residents, potential visitors, and armchair travelers alike will be captivated by Miller's informative and often humorous book, in which the romance and reality of the Southwest are intermingled within a fine narrative.DJo-Anne Mary Benson, Osgoode, Ont.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"...a tribute to Miller's talent with the pen. He has the innate ability to draw the reader into his tales..." -- Albuquerque Journal, March 29, 2001
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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More About the Author
Tom Miller has been writing about Latin America and the American Southwest for more than thirty years, bringing us extraordinary stories of ordinary people. His highly acclaimed adventure books include "The Panama Hat Trail" about South America, "On the Border," an account of his travels along the U.S.-Mexico frontier, "Trading With the Enemy," which takes readers on his journeys through Cuba, and, about the American Southwest, "Revenge of the Saguaro" (formerly "Jack Ruby's Kitchen Sink" -- which won the coveted Lowell Thomas Award for Best Travel Book of the Year in 2001). He has edited three compilations, "Travelers' Tales Cuba," "Writing on the Edge: A Borderlands Reader," and "How I Learned English." Additionally, he was a major contributor to the four-volume "Encyclopedia Latina."
Miller, a veteran of the underground press of the late 1960s, has appeared in Smithsonian, The New Yorker, LIFE, The New York Times, Natural History, and many other publications. He wrote the introduction to "Best Travel Writing - 2005," and has led educational tours through Cuba for the National Geographic Society and other organizations. The Arizona Humanities Council sponsors his talks about borderland literature and also Thoronton Wilder's Unknown Life in Arizona. His collection of some eighty versions of "La Bamba" led to his Rhino Records release, "The Best of La Bamba," and his book "On the Border" has been optioned by Productvision for a theatrical film.
Miller was born and raised in Washington, D.C., attended college in Ohio, and since 1969 has lived in Arizona 65 miles north of the Mexican border.
In 2008 Miller was honored in a ceremony in the Centro Histórico of Quito, with a proclamation designating him a "Huésped Ilustre de Quito" (Illustrious Guest of Quito) for his literary contribution to Ecuador, especially "The Panama Hat Trail." In 2010 Miller won first prize in the Solas Awards in the "Destinations" category for "A Border Rat in the Twilight Zone," originally published in The Washington Post.. He also won a Bronze award for "Notes on an Andean Pilgrim" in the "Travel Memoir" field.
Well-traveled through the Americas, Miller has taught writing workshops in four countries and his books have been published in Europe and Latin America as well as the United States. In recognition of his work the University of Arizona Library has acquired Miller's archives and mounted a major exhibit of the author's papers. He has been affiliated with that school's Latin American Area Center since 1990, and makes his home in Tucson with his wife Regla Albarrán.
Miller, a veteran of the underground press of the late 1960s, has appeared in Smithsonian, The New Yorker, LIFE, The New York Times, Natural History, and many other publications. He wrote the introduction to "Best Travel Writing - 2005," and has led educational tours through Cuba for the National Geographic Society and other organizations. The Arizona Humanities Council sponsors his talks about borderland literature and also Thoronton Wilder's Unknown Life in Arizona. His collection of some eighty versions of "La Bamba" led to his Rhino Records release, "The Best of La Bamba," and his book "On the Border" has been optioned by Productvision for a theatrical film.
Miller was born and raised in Washington, D.C., attended college in Ohio, and since 1969 has lived in Arizona 65 miles north of the Mexican border.
In 2008 Miller was honored in a ceremony in the Centro Histórico of Quito, with a proclamation designating him a "Huésped Ilustre de Quito" (Illustrious Guest of Quito) for his literary contribution to Ecuador, especially "The Panama Hat Trail." In 2010 Miller won first prize in the Solas Awards in the "Destinations" category for "A Border Rat in the Twilight Zone," originally published in The Washington Post.. He also won a Bronze award for "Notes on an Andean Pilgrim" in the "Travel Memoir" field.
Well-traveled through the Americas, Miller has taught writing workshops in four countries and his books have been published in Europe and Latin America as well as the United States. In recognition of his work the University of Arizona Library has acquired Miller's archives and mounted a major exhibit of the author's papers. He has been affiliated with that school's Latin American Area Center since 1990, and makes his home in Tucson with his wife Regla Albarrán.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jack Ruby's Kitchen Sink,
By Zach F. Jones (longmont, CO United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Jack Ruby's Kitchen Sink : Offbeat Travels Through America's Southwest (Hardcover)
Miller weaves a wonderful tale from several personal (and at first glance unrelated) experiences. Enchanting ramblings about the American Southwest will influence anyone's opinion about this spectacular region of North America. This book provides a great read and much anecdotal knowledge that encourages readers to share these stories with others...sometimes as if they had lived these experiences themselves!
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Cradle of Undiscovered Civilization (and Black Velvet Painting),
By
This review is from: Jack Ruby's Kitchen Sink: Offbeat Travels Through America's Southwest (Adventure Press) (Paperback)
I've been really getting into travelogues lately, mostly because I cannot afford to travel nearly as much as I'd like.The American southwest embodies a mythical place in my head. I suppose it's because whenever I fly to Nevada or California (via a short layover in Phoenix, which I never get to explore), I'm awed at how much of this country is truly and utterly empty. Which of course makes me want to 1) learn all about it; and 2) move there pronto. Barring the latter, as Ohio is not yet done sucking the life out of me, I've had to settle for the former. This is some serious southwest - not the midwestern housewife's dream once she's realized she'd rather be doing something else, something involving crystals and flowy clothes (a la Taos, NM). This is the southwest where the border with Mexico is just a vague idea, and people eek out a meager living in the middle of the freakin' desert. Miller writes with Edward Abbey's fondness for this last American frontier, and even includes his own meetings with Abbey in the narrative. Where Miller differs though is that he writes about the people of the southwest, and their intimate relationship with the land, and each other (the section on Bisbee is particularly engaging). I couldn't put this book down, and after completing it, the American southwest is still a mystery in some ways - something that can only be experienced first hand. Though I did learn the likely origin of the dreaded black velvet painting.
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