A Beautiful, Cruel Country

Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press, 1987. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Near Fine. 8vo 8" - 9" tall. Michael McCurdy. Author is the granddaughter of a Harvard-trained physician who came to the Arizona Territory in 1860. She inherited her family's ranch in 1933 and lived there ever since. Sturdy, attractive, tightly bound hardcover, clean, if toned, minimal rubbing to extremities. Black heavy cloth, red lettering to spine. Bright and shiny dust jacket, illustrated, little worn, protected by a plastic coat. Three fine black-and-white woodcut engravings by Michael McCurdy. From the publisher's blurb, "Arizona's Arivaca Valley lies only a short distance from the Mexican border and is a rugged land in which to put down stakes. When Arizona Territory was America's last frontier, this area was homesteaded by Anglo and Mexican settlers alike, who often displaced the Indian population that had lived there for centuries. This frontier way of life, which prevailed as recently as the beginning of the twentieth century, is now recollected in vivid detail by an octogenarian who spent her girlhood in this beautiful, cruel country. Eva Antonia Wilbur inherited a unique affinity for the land." Volume contains scholarly apparatus in the form of, e.g., notes, index, and bibliography. xiv [2], 2-318 pp.Member, I.O.B.A., C.B.A., and adherent to the highest ethical standards. Additional postage may be required for oversize or especially heavy volumes, and for sets.