Bob Kleberg and the King Ranch: A Worldwide Sea of Grass

Book Description

"John Cypher spent 40 years (1948-88) on the King Ranch, most of the time as assistant to the president [Bob Kleberg]. Few people could be better qualified to lend an air of intimacy to a story about a 15-million-acre spread and the man who led it for more than 50 years. Bob Kleberg and the King Ranch combines a biography of Kleberg with the story of the postwar boom years that changed the King Ranch from a Mexican hacienda into a traditional South Texas cattle ranch and finally into an international corporate agribusiness."

—Houston Chronicle

"Cypher writes ranch history and personal memories of 'The Boss' with affection and self-effacing loyalty. His easy conversational style makes life on a working ranch, the care and feeding of visiting celebrities and the field of international agribusiness both understandable and entertaining. If [Edna] Ferber were writing Giant today, she wouldn't need to visit the King Ranch. She could read Cypher's book."

—San Antonio Express-News

"Nobody on this earth but you could have written this book with such intimate knowledge of the subject. You have given me insights and information I never had in forty years of devotion to the King Ranch. I salute you."

—Tom Lea

"Cypher not only writes well but he is a great story teller and gives the reader probably the best of what will ever be known of the inner Bob Kleberg."

—East Texas Historical Journal

". . . a valuable contribution to an understanding of the rich, on-going history of the King Ranch. . . the author is articulate, skillful, and best of all, an excellent storyteller."

—David Murrah, Director, Southwest Collection, Texas Tech University

Ranching on the vast scale that Texas is famous for actually happened at King Ranch, a sea of grass that ultimately spread its pastures to countries around the globe under the fifty-year leadership of Bob Kleberg. This absorbing biography, written by Kleberg's top assistant of many years, captures both the life of the man and the spirit of the kingdom he ruled, offering a rare, insider's view of life on a fabled Texas ranch.

John Cypher spent forty years (1948-1988) on King Ranch. In these pages, he melds highlights of Kleberg's life with memories of his own experiences as the "right hand" who implemented many of Kleberg's grand designs. In a lively story laced with fascinating anecdotes he both recounts his worldwide travels with Kleberg as the ranch expanded its holdings to Latin America, Cuba, Australia, the Philippines, Europe, and Africa, and describes timeless, traditional tasks such as roundup at the home ranch in Kingsville.

Kleberg's accomplishments as the founder of the Santa Gertrudis cattle breed and a breeder of Thoroughbred racing horses receive full attention, as does his fabled lifestyle, which included friendships not merely with the rich and famous but also with Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who shared his love of horse racing. For everyone interested in ranching and one of its most famous practitioners, this book will be essential reading.

Customer Reviews:

An entertaining and insightful look at true Texas history........1998-12-22

This is a great book for anyone interested in the cattle business, Texas history, or the politics of big business in the middle of this century. One need not be a rancher or cattleman to enjoy this book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone from any background.

unique insight to modern-day, multi-national ranch boss.......1998-03-03

If you have an interest in the King Ranch, you should read this book.

Average customer rating:

Spectacular Houses in a Spectacular Setting
Fine house-by-house considerations of design

The Sea Ranch
Donlyn Lyndon , and Jim Alinder
Manufacturer: Princeton Architectural Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1568983867

Book Description

A hundred miles north of San Francisco on California Coast Highway 1, the Sonoma County coast meets the Pacific Ocean in a magnificent display of nature. Waves crash upon the rocks or wash up on beautiful stretches of sandy beaches. This is the location of The Sea Ranch, an area covering several thousand acres of large, open meadows and forested natural settings interspersed with award-winning architecture. When the area, a sheep ranch well into the last century, was rediscovered for its beauty in the 1960s, it came to be envisioned as a home community that harmonized with the environment.
Renowned landscape designer Lawrence Halprin's master plan for The Sea Ranch community accordingly incorporated a set of building guidelines that minimized the visual as well as physical impact upon the landscape. Subsequent buildings by architects such as Joseph Esherick, Charles Moore, William Turnbull, Obie Bowman, Donlyn Lyndon, and others have been recognized worldwide for environmentally sensitive planning and architecture. They sparked a generation of imitators that became part of what is known as "The Sea Ranch style," epitomizing what many people imagine when they think of Northern Californian architecture.
This beautiful monograph, lavishly illustrated with over 300 newly commissioned photographs and including maps, plans, detailed descriptions of the houses, and essays by Donald Canty and Lawrence Halprin, presents the definitive record of The Sea Ranch community.

Customer Reviews:

Spectacular Houses in a Spectacular Setting.......2005-05-25

Go north of San Francisco along the coast for a hundred miles or so. Buy 4,000 acres of timber and grazing land. You'll find that you have quite a setting for a housing development. Add rules that say how the house must fit into the land and the scenery and you have quite a housing development in quite a setting. Beginning in 1963 this is just what happened. And over the resulting 40 years quite a stunning set of houses has been built there.

This book is a photographic and descriptive journey though several of these houses, each of which were designed to fit into that exact landscape. It's also the story of the building of this "super development." The story is told with 200 color illustrations, 170 black and white spread over some 304 pages.

Each of the houses described suit their place. This is not to say that they are alike, but that they all just seem to fit. It would be a spectacular place to live.

Fine house-by-house considerations of design.......2004-07-16

Essays by Donald Canty and Lawrence Halprin accompany beautiful black and white and color shots of California's architectural wonders of the coast which comprise the exclusive Sea Ranch community of homes. Ecologically inspired planning and innovative architectural dreams and designs went into the formation of the California's Sea Ranch community, which sprawls across several thousand acres of land. This could easily have been a picture presentation alone, but the fine house-by-house considerations of design, plan, and history makes it much more, and The Sea Ranch will be revered by architectural reference collections in art libraries.

Average customer rating:

My son's favorite

Little Farm by the Sea
Kay Chorao
Manufacturer: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Picture Books | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0805050531

Book Description

The little farm by the sea is a bustling place, filled with animals to keep track of and visitors to attend to. All year-round Farmer Brown and his family are busy, cultivating plants in the greenhouse in wintertime, and planting and sowing the harvest in. the warmer months. And finally, when the customers come, the hard work has paid off. There are beautiful flowers to buy, delicious vegetables to eat, and strawberries ripe for the picking.Kay Chorao lovingly portrays the changing of the seasons on a real family farm where she herself has spent many an afternoon. With a fluid text and warmly detailed art, this simple story celebrates a vanishing way of life that embodies our most long-standing values and traditions.

Customer Reviews:

My son's favorite.......2003-03-01

My son and I love this book! We especially like to look at the pictures they are so full of detail. The story is wonderful also and reminds me of the farms in my hometown. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has a child that is interested in country life. I have convinced my sister-in-law to buy this book for her son and they enjoy it also.

Average customer rating:

So, so

Sea Ranch...Diary of an Idea
Lawrence Halprin
Manufacturer: Spacemaker Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 188893123X

Book Description

In this diary, Halprin puts forth his ideas on creating a landscape that preserves the magnificent, rugged Pacific Coast by living lightly on the land

Customer Reviews:

So, so.......2007-07-13

Nice insight into Halprin's thought process. I always find sketches invaluable. Unfortunately these are reproduced at a very poor resolution. It took me too long to read this short essay, due to the silly quasi-handwriting font.

Average customer rating:

needs a good mowing
Recapturing the Past, The Sea of Grass by Conrad Richter
Deceptively simple chronicle of a forgotten time
Lyrical prose. Masterfully told.
United States Reader-Short, but Hard Read

Sea of Grass
Conrad Richter
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

ASIN: 0394443977
Release Date: 1937-06-12

Customer Reviews:

needs a good mowing.......2006-09-30

The Sea of Grass is a tour-de-force of artistic prose. Conrad Richter's word painting of New Mexico at the end of the cowboy era is chock full of delightful metaphors and imagery.

The problem is that all that poetic language crowds out the dialog and characterization. So the story of macho Colonel Brewton and his mail-order bride falls as flat as a limp tortilla. The affection and forgiveness that Brewton lavishes on his whorish and supercilious wife is understandable only as a stereotypically proud male devotion. Her idolization by the rest of the town (including the young narrator) is not justified at all.

Read this novella strictly as an interesting period piece, ignoring the plot, and your time will not be wasted.

Recapturing the Past, The Sea of Grass by Conrad Richter.......2002-04-24

Conrad Richter is a detailed narrator of the Early American Scene.The clear sense of a spacious natural setting that he has depcited in other novels like the vast New Mexican territory in The Lady, the elemental force of the natural forest in The Trees, and The Light in the Forest is present in The Sea of Grass. The cattle barons with their ranches "as big a Massachusetts with Connecticut thrown in" and the rolling spanse of emerald green prairie in the spring will render a visual sense of splendor.Historically, Richter encompasses the tense struggle between the rich cattle barons and the squatters in the mid 1800's. My favorite part of the book is the unexpected direction of the character Lutie. The delicate balance of prose and the strong conflicts that develop between the characters, the Colonel, Lutie, Brock, and Judge Chamberlain grab the readers' full attention. Mr. Richter with an uncanny skill for recapturing the past dramatizes the brutality and bravado of the Southwest in the mid 1800's in The Sea of Grass.

Deceptively simple chronicle of a forgotten time.......2000-04-22

"The Sea of Grass" is a simple story masterfully told by Conrad Richter. No other writer can match Richter's ability to capture the spoken word of a region or particular time period, or equal his aptitude in turning a simple chain of events into powerful story telling. This novel chronicles the end of the New Mexico frontier as seen through the eyes of Hal, the nephew of one of the last great cattle ranchers. As civilization encroaches even onto that remote region, Colonel Jim Brewton symbolizes the last struggle and eventual submission of the land to the inevitable development of the forces of society. Richter also weaves Brewton's marriage to an unfaithful wife and his relationship to their children into this conflict. Although this plot appears derivative and indentical to that of a soap opera, Richter's prose style elevates it to the status of a great tragedy. Richter clearly mourns the passing of the great independents whose struggle to develop the land clearly and ironically led to their own obsolescence.

Lyrical prose. Masterfully told........1999-08-08

The reason why it is so important to pay attention to description is because Richter uses nearly every detail to help tell the story. The prose is evocative in the tradition of some of the best modernist writing at the time like Willa Cather. Despite the occasional misplaced modifier, Sea of Grass is definitely a book that deserves a close reading--if only for Richter's poetic prose that makes you want to read out loud.

United States Reader-Short, but Hard Read.......1999-04-15

This book gets to descriptive and gets hard to understand at some times, you must keep in tuned otherwise you will be lost forever!!!

Average customer rating:

The Barn Book
Jo Ann Ridley
Manufacturer: The Sea Ranch Foundation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0967336015

Product Description

About a communitys triumph in saving the historical barn at Sea Rach ini California

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The ranch by the sea
Helen McKelvey Oakley
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Average customer rating:

The ranch by the sea,
Richard Edward Wormser
Manufacturer: DoubleDay
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006C2Q1S

Average customer rating:

Sea Ranch
Laurence DeLaney
Manufacturer: Dell Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0440176743

Average customer rating:

One of Henry's best ever!
Sea Star: Orphan of Chincoteague
The Myrtle Cure
A great book!
From one horse-lover to any others out there.

Sea Star: Orphan of Chincoteague
Marguerite Henry
Manufacturer: Aladdin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1416927840

Book Description

Movie men have come to Chincoteague to film the annual Pony Penning, and Paul and Maureen are thrilled -- until they learn that the producers want to buy their beloved Misty. Reluctantly, they agree to sell in order to send their uncle to college. But how will they ever fill the lonely place that Misty leaves behind?

Finding an orphaned colt helps Paul and Maureen deal with their loss, and they soon discover that little Sea Star needs them just as much as they need him.

Customer Reviews:

One of Henry's best ever!.......2006-11-17

Marguerite Henry is one of the best animal story authors I have ever read. She has a smooth, flowing style of writing. Her books are generally true to history and often based on real stories. They are easy to read but still suitable for both adults and children. In this book she really appeals to all animal lovers, male, female, young and old. It's refreshing to read a horse book that is not just another 'girlie' horse novel. This story is SO much more then that! Henry's stories will be classics for a long time. In this story (it's the sequel to her book 'Misty') brother and sister Paul and Maureen sell their favorite pony Misty and though they are sad, they know it's for a good cause. Soon after, they happen to find an orphaned colt on the beach with a crooked star on his forehead and they eventually find him a foster mother-pony who lost her own baby. This is a heart warming story and I love the ending. It has some sad parts and some adventure but nothing too intense or scary. A good choice to read to younder kids and sensitive readers. I would reccommend this to boys, girls and anyone who loves horses.

Sea Star: Orphan of Chincoteague.......2005-12-20

Sea Star
Orphan of Chincoteague
By Marguerite Henry
Illustrated by Wesley Dennis
Reviewed by Madeline

Sea Star is the magnificent sequel to Misty, which was thought of as Miss Henry's only Chincoteague story. This novel depicts the beloved characters Paul and Maureen, along with the wonderful Misty, as they encounter an orphaned foal when at Tom's Cove. With its mamma dead, the foal can't feed and will die, unless Paul and Maureen have something to say about it. The two children take in the little foal in and give him milk from a mare at a nurse-farm and from a bottle, naming the foal Sea Star, for the star-shaped blaze on his forehead. Over all, anyone who fell in love with Misty, will fall in love with Sea Star just the same.

The Myrtle Cure.......2004-06-11

Although author Marguerite Henry had not envisioned a sequel to MISTY, she found herself touched by the real plight of a tiny orphan colt whose mother had died at Tom's Cove. Those plucky youngsters, Paul and Maureen Beebe, make the ultimate sacrifice: they decide to sell their beloved Misty in order to finance their uncle's education at Seminary. But when the Lord cloes one door, he often opens a window somewhere else. In this case the starving little type whickers his way into the children's grieving hearts, giving them something positive to work for: finding him proper nourishment.

If you enjoyed MISTY OF CHINCOTEAGUE, you will love this tale as well. There is more of Grandpa's blustery horse sense--for children, as well as for the animals on Pony Ranch. It is also a treat to experience
Grandma's warm support for empty stomachs and aching hearts. Readers will relive the excitement of the roundup on Pony Penning Day, as the firemen of Chincoteague hold their annual fund raiser (capturing and selling the wild ponies of Assateague Island to Mainlanders). This year a movie crew is on hand to film the tumultuous events. The conflict of human versus equine will is played out on a salty stage of splashing waves off the Virginia coast. Sea Star will quickly capture your interest, along with world-famous Misty. A light, heart-warming read for kids of all ages.

A great book!.......2004-04-30

This book kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I felt like i was right there with Paul and Maureen. They are the two main charecters that found Sea Star on the beach. This book explains the little ponys struggle for life and how Paul and Maureen helped save the ponys life. The author explains everything so well that you dont want to put the book down, ever. If you like animals then you should read this book. The author did a great job explaining and keeping you on the edge of your seat the whole time.

From one horse-lover to any others out there........2003-10-21

I liked reading Sea Star by Marguerite Henry. It had wild horses with wild manes and flaring nostrils. Mares and foals of all types, pintos, bays, snow whites, and pitch black stallions galloped across the marshy plains. The book kept me on the edge of my seat and I was right there with Paul and Maureen, the two main characters when they found Sea Star. I was transported in my mind to the island of Chincoteague where I was flying across the sandy beach on my mounted steed next to them looking for the starving, tiny foal. Sea Star was my favorite book in the series of three books that I have read by this author.

Average customer rating:

great !!

Creative ideas for a creative mind

All is not as seems . . .

Great Reference Source for Lesson Planning

Excellent idea book for upper grades or college drawing!

100 Creative Drawing Ideas
Anna Held Audette
Manufacturer: Shambhala
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Study & Teaching | Reference | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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The Art of Teaching Art: A Guide for Teaching and Learning the Foundations of Drawing-Based Art

Experimental Drawing

The Blank Canvas

From Ordinary To Extraordinary: Art & Design Problem Solving

Survival Kit for the Secondary School Art Teacher

ASIN: 1590301056
Release Date: 2004-03-02

Book Description

What art student doesn't groan at the hackneyed problems too often assigned in art classes, such as a still life and chianti bottles, old chairs, and large cloths draped over the whole scene? Here, in the first book ever of its kind, is a collection of interesting and original ideas for drawing projects, contributed by art instructors from all over the United States (and a few from Canada, Great Britain, and Australia) who have invented successful alternatives to humdrum exercises. The accompanying illustrations demonstrate ways in which their students have addressed the assignments and are included to help the reader visualize what might result from the written description. This book will be a welcome resource for art teachers and students in high school, college, graduate programs, and art schools, as well as artists undertaking independent study. Among the 100 drawing ideas are: Drawing with a piece of charcoal held between the toes—to explore how limitations often bring out great creativity. Adopting a mouse's-eye view of a still life—an unusual twist on perspective drawing. Making a self-portrait that does not show the head but tells something significant about the artist through the depiction of other parts of the body—an original way of investigating "Who am I?" Constructing a figure from assembled objects and then drawing it—for those times when a live human model is unavailable. Creating a personal visual representation of the blues musical genre—to discover how one art form engenders another.

Customer Reviews:

great !!.......2007-02-10

could easily provide inspirations for artists and is very very useful for art instructors in particular.

Creative ideas for a creative mind.......2006-03-10

This book is ideal for someone who likes to "think out of the box" in their art work and it provides great support for the beginner as well as more accomplished artist.

All is not as seems . . ........2004-09-14

The title is misleading. It should be something like 100 Drawing Assignments, or perhaps Prison Sentences. This book doesn't emphasize creativity--especially if you think of it as a way to freely express the art that's locked inside you (which seemed likely since it is published by Shambhala Books). It's a bunch of drawing lessons by college professors. Very few of the exercises are intended to help one overcome artist's block or to loosen up and draw what you really feel. It doesn't teach you to draw. It is simply 100 briefly described (and, unfortunately, rather boring) lessons. One example is the 24-hour drawing. You spend 24 cumulative hours on one drawing. I could never force myself to do that. I think it sounds cruel for any teacher to ask such a thing of anyone. Not all of the ideas were that bad, but they were mostly very dry (bringing to mind the old saying, "In case of flood, throw this in; it's dry enough"). If you are a college professor and want to stick to the usual fare offered in college art courses, this book might be right up your alley. If you are a different kind of teacher, there are plenty of books that don't require heavy adaptation to make them usable.

Great Reference Source for Lesson Planning.......2004-07-06

The majority of the lessons compiled in 100 Creative Drawing Ideas originate from college-level instructors. Therefore, as an art educator experienced in teaching K-12 and higher education students, I must warn you: these are serious lessons aimed at specific problem solving; not meant as a beginning artist's handbook. For educators, this book is filled with ideas that can be adapted up or down, depending upon the desired target age or level. The text is well organized in terms of complexity. Consequently, it is possible to utilize these drawing exercises as preliminaries for other media. Some might find the informal paragraph style of "talking through" the activity a bit confusing. Teachers K-12 will need to adapt the lessons into a format consistent with state standards. Artists looking to expand or brush up on skills will really benefit from this text. As an artist and teacher, I think it's a great reference tool reminding us of what we've learned and what we need to teach.

Excellent idea book for upper grades or college drawing!.......2004-06-01

The book covers various drawing ideas that other teachers have used in their classes. Although it is a compilation book, it does give added ideas to the starving art educator who needs ideas for classes. The only gripe I would have is that I was hoping that I could use it for some of my middle school students. It is really geared towards the upper grades levels and college drawing classes. I am hoping that I will be able to adapt some of the ideas for my gifted and talented art students.

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