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El Paso’s Muckraker: The Life of Owen Payne White . By Garna L. Christian.

2016; Oxford University Press; Volume: 47; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/whq/whv029

1939-8603

Janet Schmelzer,

Latin American and Latino Studies

Owen Payne White, an El Paso, Texas, native, gained notoriety in literary circles as a muckraker, journalist, poet, and western historian from the 1920s to the 1940s. He published his works in national publications such as Collier’s and the New York Times . Yet his reputation diminished over the years compared to other more commonly mentioned, nationally recognized muckrakers such as Lincoln Steffens, Ida Tarbell, Ray Stannard Baker, and Upton Sinclair. In El Paso’s Muckraker , Garna L. Christian, professor emeritus of history at the University of Houston–Downtown, has resurrected White as a significant versatile writer and journalist of the twentieth century. Absorbing the culture and history of El Paso and the Old West and drawing upon his own life experiences, White adopted an independence of thought, a libertarian point of view, and an infatuation with the purity of frontier life in the West. In his first book, Out of the Desert (1923), he painted the history of the city in colorful detail yet bemoaned the loss of the free-spirited society inherent to the frontier to modernity and the pitfalls of industrialization. Out of the Desert propelled White into the world of New York journalism and cemented his long association with Collier’s magazine. Leaving El Paso and moving to New York, White gained fame writing colorful histories of the Old West, with plenty of romantic tales of infamous gunfighters such as John Wesley Hardin. While continuing to write about the El Paso–focused western histories, he ventured into muckraking, using Texas events and issues as his vehicle. His acerbic wit and sharp commentary drew a wide audience and thus broadened his popular appeal. He eventually left New York City for a more scenic setting in Cutchogue, New York, where he continued to write and plan new books until his death in 1946.