The Son

Meyer’s style is off-hand, sarcastic, even dismissive. The scene is set in Texas where early settlers risked Indian Raids and Mexican Armies because the land was free and the soil rich. That the aborigines resisted the immigrant incursion into their lands should be no mystery, the way in which White Settlers treated their Mexican Neighbours sadly reflects the fact that little has changed over the centuries. As always there seems to be one law for the rich and powerful, but little justice for ordinary men. In a land where it takes many acres to support a single critter ranches are the size of small European Countries and cattle graze range that took centuries to grow. Oil is king and cattle are a losing proposition. The cowboy is a dying breed as horses on the range are replaced by gasoline engines on city streets. The open range is patrolled by aircraft. Horses become showpieces and entertainment rather than working animals. When Middle East Wells start producing up to 100,000 barrels of oil/day to 500 from a Texas well even oil falls into eclipse.

The passing of the Indian led inevitably to the passing of the cowboy way and the open range as the land became safe for a veritable flood of settlers who populated the land and civilized it forever. A land where a buckaroo slept under the stars by his fire with the howls of wolves in his ears was replaced by citified dandies who slept in subdivisions. Reading this book takes some attention to detail as it jumps from generation to generation in at least 5 time periods and family story arcs but it provides an excellent background history to modern day Texas.