[The following review of Built in Texas was written by Ouida Dean for publication in the East Texas Historical Journal.]

Vol. LVIII of the Texas Folklore Society indeed becomes an odyssey into the myriad facets of Texas folk life. With 2001: A Texas Folklore Odyssey, TFS editor "Ab" Abernethy and the 23 other contributors to the book convey the reader on a trip through time, space, and lively experiences.

Folklorist Sylvia Grider, for example, spans two eras in "Epics of Defeat . . ." compares and contrasts the events of the Battle of the Alamo with those of Scotland's Battle of Culloden, while Peggy Redshaw explains how during the American Civil War Texan Dr. Gideon Lincecum dyed cloth. Carolyn Porter Norgaard, in "Women A-Horseback -- Side or Astride," chronicles the evolution of saddles for women, along with that of the status of said women; while Fran Vick, scholar and publisher, discusses family letters of Roy Bedichek. Kevin Hill and Jim Stuart bring us "Greetings from Frank Dobie." Then, Mike Cox tells us of learning how important it is to have a "leeeeeeeeede!" in/for a news story.

George Ewing recounts the trials and triumphs of traveling about in the Model T Ford, which his non-gambling mother won in a commercial drawing. There's Thad Sitton's disquisition on "the cultural significance of the 'blowing horn' among the free-range stockmen of Southeast Texas"; and there's the recalling by Kenneth Davis of a time when the Watkins Man made house calls. Also included is J.G. Pinkerton's reminiscing about the time at the age of 12 he helped his grandmother birth her stillborn baby.

Hispanic folk customs are found in "La Quinceañera . . ." by Phyllis Bridges, and in ". . . Miraculous Images . . . in South Texas" by Rhett Rushing. And then there are the treatises on the likes of Jesse James (Tony Clark) and of "Uppity Women" (Archie McDonald); of the elusive Yellow Rose of Texas ("Ab"), and of yellow prose (James Lutzweiler); baby lore (Joyce Roach), and grand parenting (Hazel S. Abernethy); old-time fiddling (Charles Gardner), and cheating songs " . . . from Prototype to Post-Modern" (Richard Holland); baseball (John Lightfoot); and, with Becky Matthews, we are even transported over to Roswell, NM for its 50th Anniversary ". . . Sell-Abration" of the 1947 UFO phenomenon.

Also to be found in Vol. LVIII are "Recipes from Green Pastures [an Austin restaurant]" (Mary Faulk Koock), along with L. Patrick Hughes' praise of potted pork in ". . . Austin's One and Only Spamarama." Thus, we find the Texas folklore frontier remaining open, very much alive and well.