El Paso by Winston Groom

Epic that follows such a diverse group of characters into the hot dry Southwest where the great General Pancho Villa is dragging his ragtag army waging war against everyone- the Mexican Army and the Americans who get in his way. He was personified by journalists and early movie reels as being a brave General passionately leading his army against huge odds but what we learn here is his other darker side - the rage and uncontrollable violence sometimes without reason. During the late 1800's many East coast American barons held considerable land and mining rights in Mexico and throughout Texas and it is one family whose ill timed trip will result in having children kidnapped ,others killed and a manhunt chasing Pancho Villa through desert and mountains in heat and hailstorms. The violence of the landscape many times matched the people who lived there and fought to survive. Famous characters are sprinkled in to help illustrate the diversity - the Hollywood cowboy Tom Mix, Generals Pershing and Patton and there is name dropping of all the founding fathers of the Industrial Revolution who started our thirst for oil and coal. The easy going style found in Winston Groom's other book "Forrest Gump" is used here to help soften the violence and add little touches of innocence. It is an epic worthy of James Michener or Larry McMurtry.