El Paso: A Novel (75 page)
ALSO BY WINSTON GROOM
FICTION
Such a Pretty, Pretty Girl
Gump & Co.
Gone the Sun
Forrest Gump
Only
As Summers Die
Better Times Than These
NONFICTION
The Generals
The Aviators
Shiloh, 1862
Kearny’s March
Vicksburg, 1863
Patriotic Fire
1942
A Storm in Flanders
The Crimson Tide
Shrouds of Glory
Conversations with the Enemy
(with Duncan Spencer)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
WINSTON GROOM
is the celebrated author of twenty books, including the cultural phenomenon
Forrest Gump
. His other novels include
Gump & Co.
,
Better Times Than These
,
Only
,
Gone the Sun
,
Such a Pretty, Pretty Girl
, and the award-winning
As Summers Die
. In addition, Groom has established himself as an acclaimed historian with books such as
Conversations With the Enemy
(nominated for a Pulitzer Prize),
Kearny’s March
,
Shiloh, 1862
,
Vicksburg, 1863
, and more recently,
The Aviators
and
The Generals
.
Groom grew up in Mobile, Alabama, where he went to University Military School, and graduated with a degree in English literature from the University of Alabama. He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. army, completing a tour of duty in Vietnam with the First Brigade of the Fourth Infantry Division (1966–1967), which would inspire much of his work. Discharged with the rank of captain, he was a journalist for nine years for the
Washington Star
, after which he spent ten years in the Hamptons and in New York City writing novels.
Recipient of the prestigious Harper Lee Award and several honorary Ph.D. degrees, Groom regularly gives lectures on his novels and history books. He lives in Point Clear, Alabama, with his wife, Susan, and daughter, Carolina. Find him online at winstongroom.com.
Copyright © 2016 by Winston Groom
Selected lyrics from “More Than Yesterday” by Laura Moore Dickens © 1965 reprinted by
permission of Joan Hager Davis and DBA Maiden Fair Music
All rights reserved
First Edition
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Book design by Daniel Lagin
Production manager: Julia Druskin
Jacket design by Steve Attardo
Jacket art: (Bull Skull) © Mauro Grigollo / Stocksy; (Landscape) Detail of General Pershing's Camp on the border near El Paso, Texas. - Front. October 1916. Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries. University of Houston Digital Library. Web. July 25, 2016.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Names: Groom, Winston, 1944- author.
Title: El paso : a novel / Winston Groom.
Description: First edition. | New York : Liveright Publishing Corporation, a
division of W. W. Norton & Company, [2016]
Identifiers: LCCN 2016021007 | ISBN 9781631492242 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Villa, Pancho, 1878-1923—Fiction. | Kidnapping—Fiction. |
Outlaws—Fiction. | Frontier and pioneer life—Southwest, New—Fiction. |
GSAFD: Historical fiction. | Western stories. | Adventure fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3557.R56 P37 2016 | DDC 813/.54—dc23 LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2016021007
ISBN 978-1-63149-225-9 (e-book)
Liveright Publishing Corporation, 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110
W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., 15 Carlisle Street, London W1D 3BS
Table of Contents
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Fifty
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Fifty-nine
Sixty
Sixty-one
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Sixty-five
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Sixty-seven
Sixty-eight
Sixty-nine
Seventy
Seventy-one
Table of Contents
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-one
Twenty-two
Twenty-three
Twenty-four
Twenty-five
Twenty-six
Twenty-seven
Twenty-eight
Twenty-nine
Thirty
Thirty-one
Thirty-two
Thirty-three
Thirty-four
Thirty-five
Thirty-six
Thirty-seven
Thirty-eight
Thirty-nine
Forty
Forty-one
Forty-two
Forty-three
Forty-four
Forty-five
Forty-six
Forty-seven
Forty-eight
Forty-nine
Fifty
Fifty-one
Fifty-two
Fifty-three
Fifty-four
Fifty-five
Fifty-six
Fifty-seven
Fifty-eight
Fifty-nine
Sixty
Sixty-one
Sixty-two
Sixty-three
Sixty-four
Sixty-five
Sixty-six
Sixty-seven
Sixty-eight
Sixty-nine
Seventy
Seventy-one