The Whole Damn Cheese

Maggie Smith Border Legend

by

Bill Wright

Genre: Biography / Texana

Publisher: Texas Christian University Press

Facebook   Instagram   Twitter

Publication Date: October 12, 2018

Number of Pages: 160 pages with B&W photos

Anecdotes about Maggie Smith abound, but Bill Wright’s The Whole Damn Cheese is the first book devoted entirely to the woman whose life in Big Bend country has become the stuff of legend. For more than twenty years, Maggie Smith served folks on both sides of the border as doctor, lawyer, midwife, herbalist, banker, self-appointed justice of the peace, and coroner. As she put it, she was “the whole damn cheese” in Hot Springs, Texas. A beloved figure serving the needs of scores of people in Big Bend country, she was also an accomplished smuggler with a touch of romance as well as larceny in her heart. Maggie’s family history is a history of the Texas frontier, and her story outlines the beginnings and early development of Big Bend National Park. Her travels between Boquillas, San Vincente, Alpine, and Hot Springs define Maggie’s career and illustrate her unique relationships with the people of the border. Vividly capturing the rough individualism and warm character of Maggie Smith, author Bill Wright demonstrates why this remarkable frontier woman has become an indelible figure in the history of Texas.

TAMU Press   ║   Amazon   ║   Barnes & Noble

ATTRIBUTIONS: Photo 1: courtesy Smith family archive; Photo 2: courtesy of Byron Smith; Photo 3: courtesy of Byron Smith; Photo 4: Photo by Charles Kelley, courtesy of the Archive of the Big Bend; Photo 5: courtesy of Byron Smith; Photo 6: Photo by Glenn Burgess, courtesy of the Archive of the Big Bend.

For thirty-five years Bill Wright owned and managed a wholesale and retail petroleum marketing company. In 1987 he sold his company to his employees and since then has carved out a remarkable career as an author, fine art photographer, and ethnologist. He has written or contributed to seven books, and his photographs appear in Fort Worth’s Amon Carter Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center of the University of Texas at Austin, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

Check out the other blogs on this tour

blog tour services provided by