This book is a family history, mixed with a century's worth of Texas history, and centered by religious faith and the oil industry. The Mealer family came to Texas in the 1890s, searching for better opportunities and found a hard life. Crop failure, bad bankers, and economic downturns did a number on this family over the decades, and several family members found solace in their Christian faith. At the same time, the oil uncovered in Texas created a vast amount of wealth, transforming towns into cities and fueling a transition to automobile transportation. In the 1980s, there finally seems to be a chance for one of the Mealers to cash in on the oil boom, but the rapid rise and fall of the oil economy extracts its own price.

Overall, I felt I learned a lot from this book - about Texas, about oil, about the connections between oil and the larger economy, about why people turn to religion as a stabilizing force in a harsh world. I was intrigued by some of the people described in this book - Grady Cunningham was a fascinating character, the kind who deserves a novel based on his life story. I also found this book hard to read at times and it felt as through the story meandered a lot in the middle before speeding up for the finale. An interesting read overall, but not one I can really rave about. ( )

This book is a multi generational story of the author's family going back to the mid 1800's. The book takes place in the American Southwest and primarily Texas. This is a working class family struggling to get by with deep roots in fundamentalist churches. However, they are not all saints - particularly the men. The families fate was linked to the boom and bust swings of the oil industry. They are always getting involved in schemes to get rich and really creative in finding ways to get by during the down times. I am sure there are numerous families that have similar histories but few with authors to verbalize their stories. ( )

The Kings of Big Spring details the expansive history of Bryan Mealer's ancestors and how they made (and lost) their fortunes in West Texas. It can be difficult to write about family in an impartial way, but I think Byan Mealer does a great job of documenting his family history in an honest voice. As other reviewers have noted, The Kings of Big Spring is not an easy read as there are some difficult truths and real tragedies in the book.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the publishers, and my review was based on an uncorrected proof. ( )

BIOGRAPHY/TEXAS HISTORY
Bryan Mealer
The Kings of Big Spring: God, Oil, and One Family’s Search for the American Dream
Flatiron Books
Hardcover, 978-1-2500-5891-1, (also available as an e-book), 384 pgs., $27.99
February 6, 2018

“Only in Texas was there enough space for so many second acts.”

The Kings of Big Spring: God, Oil, and One Family’s Search for the American Dream is the best kind of history. The microcosm of a family story (anecdote) illustrates the macrocosm of a place and time (demographic). In Bryan Mealer’s account, his family’s history begins in 1892, when “trouble between the moonshiners and revenuers” motivated his great-grandfather to leave a Georgia hollow behind to join his brother in Texas, where he landed in Hillsboro. By 1909, motivated by the boll weevil, the Mealers lit out for West Texas, along with many others who “pulled their teams across the 98th meridian and entered the American West,” eventually finding their way to Big Spring, where oil has been discovered, refineries has been built, and a fifteen-story hotel is rising.

The Kings of Big Spring is Mealer’s biography of his family, part reporting and part deep dive into the psychology of a people, a time, and a place. Mealer is a former award-winning reporter for the Associated Press and Harper’s, which experience serves him well in the research and interviews involved in The Kings of Big Spring, his fourth book.

Mealer narrates in a hybrid of first person and omniscient, sprinkled with asides addressed directly to the reader. He has a flair for storytelling, a certain folksiness that is comfortable and humorous, rather than cartoonish. He writes movingly of the individual effects of drought, boll weevils, land swindles, OPEC, illnesses, death and dismemberment, and cyclical oil booms and busts (“a sour smell on the wind promised meat on the table”). He writes informatively on the settlement of Texas, the history of an industry, and the salutary effects of old-time religion in this setting. Mealer is equally adept at descriptions of horrific living conditions during the first oil booms, fascinating geology, and scary meteorology (dust storms mix with blizzards in a “freak circus of nature”).

Mealer pulls no punches, but his affection and admiration for his restless, driven family are clear. Mealer is sometimes exasperated by self-defeating behaviors and the fickleness of luck, and incredulous about family members allowed to simply disappear, incidents that wouldn’t be tolerated today. Mental illness, alcoholism, and jaw-dropping penury are handled sympathetically, sometimes sorrowfully.

The Kings of Big Spring is swiftly and evenly paced, mostly chronological, with a large cast of characters who are difficult to keep track of—for the family itself and the reader. The family tree and list of supporting characters included immediately before the prologue is necessary; you will find yourself referring to it.

Two steps forward and one step back, rich in detail and imagery, The Kings of Big Spring is an entertaining, educational, and engaging addition to the sparse library set at the juncture of the Chihuahuan desert and the Southern Plains. I grew up in the Permian Basin, born about a decade before the author. I recognize this country and these people. As Mealer writes, “This country can promise less and deliver more than anywhere on earth.”

Originally published by Lone Star Literary Life. ( )

HEAD WEST YOUNG MAN!
Many heeded that call, either out of necessity, curiosity or greed. Bryan Mealer tracked down his family history for generations, and did so in an amazingly readable way. It wasn't the least bit depressing, instead it was REAL life, and told how his predecessors coped. The guts, determination, the flaws and the familial love is what this book is about.
I was addicted to the tv shows Hell On Wheels and Longmire........will patiently wait for the Kings to become a series! ( )