From Can See to Can't: Texas Cotton Farmers on the Southern Prairies

by Thad Sitton and Dan K. Utley

Book Overview

Cotton farming was the only way of life that many Texans knew from the days of Austin's Colony up until World War II. For those who worked the land, it was a dawn-till-dark, "can see to can't," process that required not only a wide range of specialized skills but also a willingness to gamble on forces often beyond a farmer's control--weather, insects, plant diseases, and the cotton market.

This unique book offers an insider's view of Texas...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0292777213
• ISBN13: 9780292777217
• Release Date: September 1997
• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Length: 328 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

great Texas info

enjoying the book - great local history - Gives you an appreciation for the generations before us that established the town(s) where we live.

The Demise

This is a great book on, not only the demise of the small Texas cotton farmer, but, the death of a way of life lived by hundreds of thousands of people all across the South. The arrival of the Great Depression followed by the implementation of the socialist policies of the New Deal spelled the end of an agrarian lifestyle that had been a part of the backbone of the American way of life for over two centuries. I reccomend this book to anyone who loves American history. Particularly American agricultural history.

Life on a Texas Cotton Farm

A message to those interested in farm life, especially in cotton, cotton pickers and cotton farms: You need this book - From Can See to Can't (subtitled Texas Cotton Farmers on the Southern Prairies). Written by historians Thad Sitton and Dan K. Utley and published by the University of Texas Press in 1997, this book offers an insiders view of Texas farm life from the time of Austin's colony to present day. It draws on,in particular, Texas cotton farming in the late 1920s for a great deal of its material and portrays a way of life that has almost vanished. From See To Can't is a rich tapestry of photographs, memoirs, and oral interviews from and about the people who were cotton farmers. I was raised on a cotton farm during that period and reading this book always brings tears to my eyes. A really wonderful bit of Texana, and our rural heritage, not to be found every day. A Five Star Rating hardly describes it at all.

Life on a 1920's Texas farm

I really liked this book. For me it started slow, but by a few pages in I couldn't get enough. If you are interested in what farm life was like in Texas in the 1920's, this is for you. It goes into great detail about (obviously) planting and harvesting cotton, small town entertainment, churches, schools, food... the list is endless. Best of all, I talked to my grandparents, who grew up then verified it all. Want a good book about day to day farm life? Want to know what farmers used a hog's scrotum for? Buy it.