Backlands
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A charming self-published memoir by Gretchen Heitzler, Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch, provided me with a wealth of information about the Tularosa Basin, the surrounding area, and ranch life during World War II.
Information about the World War II Army Specialized Training Program came from a 1948 publication by Robert R. Palmer et al., The Army Ground Forces: The Procurement and Training of Ground Combat Troops, and Louis E. Keefer’s book, Scholars in Foxholes: The Story of the Army Specialized Training Program in World War II. My understanding of Operation Husky, the World War II Allied invasion of Sicily, was greatly enhanced by Brave Men, written by the famous American war correspondent Ernie Pyle, who was killed in action in the South Pacific near the end of the war.
Bill Mauldin, a New Mexico native son, two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning cartoonist, and creator of the famous World War II cartoons featuring Willie and Joe, two combat foot soldiers, wound up in Backlands because of a dinner I had with Bill’s son Andy. For me, it was a lot of fun to put Mauldin on the page and learn about his life. Revered by his comrades in arms, he died in early 2003, and millions of veterans mourned.
Todd DePastino’s biography, Bill Mauldin: A Life Up Front, gave me a handle on the Forty-Fifth Infantry’s landing on Sicily and Mauldin’s experiences there. Two of Mauldin’s memoirs, The Brass Ring: A Sort of Memoir and A Sort of a Saga, helped me understand his boyhood years on the Tularosa and his later life.
Finally, over the course of fifteen years and ten books, Brian Tart, the publisher and president of Dutton, has done much to make me a better writer. For that I say with heartfelt gratitude and deep appreciation, muchas gracias, jefe.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MICHAEL MCGARRITY is the New York Times bestselling author of Hard Country, the Anthony Award–nominated Tularosa, and eleven other bestselling Kevin Kerney crime novels. A former deputy sheriff for Santa Fe County, he also served as an instructor at the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy and as an investigator for the New Mexico public defender’s office. He lives in Santa Fe with his wife, Emily Beth.
In 1864, E. P. Dutton & Co. bought the famous Old Corner Bookstore and its publishing division from Ticknor and Fields and began their storied publishing career. Mr. Edward Payson Dutton and his partner, Mr. Lemuel Ide, had started the company in Boston, Massachusetts, as a bookseller in 1852. Dutton expanded to New York City, and in 1869 opened both a bookstore and publishing house at 713 Broadway. In 2014, Dutton celebrates 150 years of publishing excellence. We have redesigned our longtime logotype to reflect the simple design of those earliest published books. For more information on the history of Dutton and its books and authors, please visit www.penguin.com/dutton.