Roy Bedichek, J. Frank Dobie, and Walter Prescott Webb—a naturalist, a folklorist, and a historian—all taught at the University of Texas, lived only a few blocks apart, and saw each other almost every day. The true cement of their friendship, however, was the correspondence that makes up much of this book. They wrote not to exchange information, but to communicate ideas, to nail down the generalities of conversation, and, above all, to challenge, encourage, and stimulate one another.

William A. Owens, who knew all three personally, has tied their letters together with his own observations and with transcripts of tape interviews with the men. The result is a unique book, a combination of biography and personal history that portrays not only the three friends, but the land they loved as well.

• I. A Truckload of Living
• II. Pioneers of Brush and Plain
• III. School Bells and the Varmint’s Cry
• IV. Up to the University
• V. Mavericks Roam the Forty Acres
• VI. Friday Mountain Boys
• VII. Talk Swapping
• VIII. Texans Abroad
• IX. A Book Corralled
• X. Books, Books, Books
• XI. Westward Slopes
• XII. Acknowledgments; Bibliographies; Notes