The Eye of the Mammoth: Selected Essays (Jack and Doris Smothers Series in Texas History, Life, and Culture)
In his title essay, Harrigan examines the remains of mammoths that roamed 70,000 years ago outside what is now Waco, Texas. Recalling a cave painting, he writes, “There is nothing prehistoric about it. It feels timeless and immediate, as if this long-extinct mammoth is looking at you . . . holding you in an unbreakable gaze as deep and ageless as a trance.” Many other essays in this remarkable career-spanning collection also feature encroachments of the past into the present. Under Harrigan’s eye and pen, such obscure and enigmatic objects as a nineteenth-century painting, photos of a destroyed tree house, and surprise checks for decades-old screenwriting projects pulse with energy and significance. Each affords an opportunity to investigate the often neglected history that continues to shape our identities and our sense of place. These essays speak with the same acuity and matchless prose that won Harrigan national acclaim in his best-selling novels The Gates of the Alamo (2000) and Remember Ben Clayton (2011); readers of Harrigan’s fiction are sure to find this definitive collection of his nonfiction no less arresting. --Brett Beasley