Dusk on the Campo: A Journey in Patagonia

Taber and her husband lived on two occasions in Patagonia, Argentina's vast, desolate plateau, the first time to study whales (1978-1979) and, on a second trip (1984-1985), to collect life stories of the hardy settlers. Her two years spent living among sheepherders made the author realize that interdependence and cooperation are keys to survival in a harsh land. In unself-conscious oral histories, descendants of Spanish and Basque pioneers air their unromantic dreams and divulge the secrets of enduring loneliness and backbreaking labor. With a keen eye for detail, Taber capture the rites and rhythms of the sheepherder's year, the exotic flora and fauna. Although her travelogue fails to ignite the imagination as do the works of Bruce Chatwin or Paul Theroux, it nevertheless offers a revealing, candid look at a remote corner of the world. (July)