Maverick Town

John L. McCarty was a Texas newspaperman and publisher whose twin interests in the history of the Panhandle country and writing about it led to many articles and two books about the Old West.C.  L. Sonnichsen (1901-1991) was Benedict Professor of English at the University of Texas, El Paso. His many books include The Mescalero Apaches, Tucson: The Life and Times of an American City, and Cowboys and Cattle Kings: Life on the Range Today

The author, John  McCarty, newsman  and  publisher of Amarillo,  has sought  sources far and  wide,  and he has used them  with  great  skill. . . . It is good that the story of Old Tascosa has been saved while the sources are fresh, good that the whole job has been done by the Southwest."" - Walter Prescott  Webb, Dallas Morning News""Tascosa may not have been the toughest of the old-time cow towns, but it was tough enough. . . . McCarty . . . has done a conscientious job in reconstructing the gaudy days of Tascosa. . . . A solid contribution to Southwestern history. A workmanlike performance."" - New York Herald Tribune""Every lover of the Old West, every reader of Western history has at times wished in vain for a full and readable account of Tascosa, one time cow town capital of the Texas Panhandle. . . . The author's account of the death throes of Tascosa, 'How a Town Dies,' is perhaps our best account of a typical tragedy of the plains."" - Stanley Vestal, Chicago Sunday Tribune""A lively book, which gives you what seems an authentic picture of a life which, curiously, appears to have been just about the way it is in the horse operas."" - The New Yorker