Forward
by Hugh Downs
Xlibris, 2002
ISBN: 1-4010-0377-X |
Reviewed
by Elizabeth Routen

here's
something about
From Thunder to Breakfast that is undeserving of
a book review. Perhaps it's that to call this a "book" would
be misleading, or that "review" is such a narrow term,
suggesting summaries and strong opinions narrowly held. How can
you review a life? In an honest moment, biographer, eulogist, and
friend each would confess inadequacy. Mere words won't do.
But when those words come from such a savvy storyteller as Hube Yates, and when
they are recorded by so expert a writer as Gene K. Garrison, sensing the spirit
behind the stories no longer seems impossible.
From Thunder to Breakfast is a collection of anecdotes from the life of "Arizona
pioneer, firefighter, hunting guide, dude wrangler and storyteller" Hube
Yates. Add father, husband, preacher, and fearless adventurer to that list and
you begin to understand the scope of this little book. Far from an autobiography,
with all the self-aggrandizing nonsense that typically entails,
Thunder is the
most delightful book I have read in the past year. Its charm lies not in its
thoroughness or even in its honesty--the reader will suspect Mr. Yates of traditional
hyperbole upon occasion--but in the humility and personability of its narrator.
It is easy to see past the pages, to imagine Hube Yates to be your friend, and
to imagine yourself as the first person to whom he has told his tales.
From Thunder to Breakfast narrates
Hube Yates' arrival in Arizona with his family in 1914, his boisterous youth
and unorthodox courtship. The reader follows him
into old age and is unsurprised to find him enduring injury and the gradual decline
of his physical ability with wry humor and good spirits. Through his eyes we
participate in practical jokes and embrace his children's births; we watch as
he rescues an old man caught in a flash flood and as he fends off 'highway' robbers
who threaten all who dare to brave New Mexico's inhospitable desert.
Because of the book's natural language and fluid structure, it's easy to forget
that the stories it tells are authentic pieces of history, and that the smiling
face on the cover is not that of an actor or model, but of a man who lived a
life whose merit cannot adequately be measured by words. There is no accounting
the number of lives his simple acts touched and improved. He embodied the American
spirit. Progressive and traditional, temperate and outrageous, flexible and morally
astute, Hube Yates was a role model for the pioneers of his age as well as for
the young men and women of today.
From Thunder to Breakfast is
an emblematic journey into the life of a man who lived in an America that still
lingers beneath the haste and wastefulness of everyday
life. It is highly recommended to students of folklore, history, and human nature.