A West Texas Soapbox (West Texas A&M University Series) [Hardcover]

Jim Sanderson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Sanderson is a provocative essayist . . . Sanderson’s anecdotes expose the foibles of college administrators and oil patch trash, students and free-enterprisers, hypocritic zealots and drunks, and they are as instructive as they are entertaining. . . . Though often light-hearted, A West Texas Soapbox is not superficial criticism. It is reasoned, judicious, and, above all downright interesting.”--Jerry Bradley

(Jerry Bradley )

About the Author

Jim Sanderson is professor of English at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. His short story collection Semi-Private Rooms won the 1992 Kenneth Patchen Prize, and his essays have appeared in numerous literary journals. His novel El Camino de Rio, which won the Frank Waters Prize, will be published in 1998.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: TAMU Press; 1st edition (April 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0890968195
• ISBN-13: 978-0890968192
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #738,584 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bio: Jim Sanderson

Jim Sanderson has published a collection of short stories, SEMI-PRIVATE ROOMS (1994, winner of the 1997 Pig Iron Press award); an essay collection, A WEST TEXAS SOAPBOX(1998); and four novels--EL CAMINO DEL RIO (1998, Winner of the 1997 Frank Waters Award), SAFE DELIVERY (2000, finalist for Writers' League of Texas Violet Crown Award), LA MORDIDA (2002), NEVIN'S HISTORY: A NOVEL OF TEXAS (2004), and WAYS OF WRITING; A WRITER'S WAY (2007), a supplementary composition textbook written for Lamar University's composition program. FADED LOVE, another collection of stories, was a finalist for the Texas Institute of Letter's 2010 Jesse Jones Award for best book of fiction by a Texas author or about Texas. In addition, Sanderson has published over sixty stories, essays, or academic articles.

Sanderson is the 2002 Distinguished Faculty Lecturer and 2006 University Scholar Award at Lamar University, and he is currently serving as Writing Director for Lamar University.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sanderson V/S Odessa For the Heavy Weight Belt, May 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A West Texas Soapbox (West Texas A&M University Series) (Hardcover)

I'm taking this book with a grain of salt. Then I'm following that with a glass of water.(Salt always makes me thirsty) Mr. Sandersons book starts with Emerson. Here he adeptly seperates himself from the Sand-dwelling God-fearing, mesquite-huddling creatures of the Odessan West. All sense of 'Self Reliance' present in American cuture has been effectively weeded out in Odessa, replaced with a consuming sense of Jesus and an ill conceived moral sense. Mr. Sanderson by invoking Emerson, distants himself from these maddened desert people, and looks at them with--I hate to say contemp, but these bastards are quiet contemptable. In the end he too has to leave the Odessan west because he has challenged Jesus and the moral baggage he carries. Ironically he heads East towards self introspection, and not westard, the traditional route of Americans seeking the reason and purpose of a questioned life. I think he also sees how easy it would be to fall into the Odessan life, to not think, to only act. In the end to just accept what is presented to you, like so many do.

4.0 out of 5 stars a cynical view of education and west texas, October 10, 1998

By 

[e-mail] "[e-mail]" (Beaumont, tx USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A West Texas Soapbox (West Texas A&M University Series) (Hardcover)

well, when i first started this book i was worried, it started out a bit slow, and the early essays were very academic, BUT the later essays were full of humor, sarcasm, cynicism, and wisdom. I know essay collections don't normally sell well, but this is one that you should definately pick up.