"With His Pistol in His Hand": A Border Ballad and Its Hero

by Américo Paredes

Gregorio Cortez Lira, a ranchhand of Mexican parentage, was virtually unknown until one summer day in 1901 when he and a Texas sheriff, pistols in hand, blazed away at each other after a misunderstanding. The sheriff was killed and Gregorio fled immediately, realizing that in practice there was one law for Anglo-Texans, another for Texas-Mexicans. The chase, capture, and imprisonment of Cortez are high drama that cannot easily be forgotten. Even today, in the cantinas along both sides of the Rio Grande, Mexicans sing the praises of the great "sheriff-killer" in the ballad which they call "El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez." Américo Paredes tells the story of Cortez, the man and the legend, in vivid, fascinating detail in "With His Pistol in His Hand," which also presents a unique study of a ballad in the making. Deftly woven into the story are interpretations of the Border country, its history, its people, and their folkways.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Poetry, Folklore, Music, Book Club, Classics

319 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1958

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

If the only work Paredes gave us was Chapter 7: Gregorio Cortez, A Study, we could still never repay him.

[Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the late 19th century, Mexicans lived in fear of the Texas Rangers: men who had killed before and to whom the governor gave this title and authority. They were called rinches in Spanish, and this term was also applied more broadly to any military or carceral authority.

Now there are three saints that the Americans are especially fond of — Santa Anna, San Jacinto, and Sanavabiche — and of the three it is Sanavabiche that they pray to most. ... 'Sanavabiche! Sanavabiche! Sanavabiche!' Every hour of the day. But they'll get very angry if you say it too, perhaps because it is a saint that belongs to them alone. And so it was with the Major Sheriff of the county of El Carmen. Just as the words 'Gringo Sanavabiche' came out of Román's mouth, the sheriff whipped out his pistol and shot Román. ... And then Gregorio Cortez stood at the door, where his brother had stood, with his pistol in his hand.

When Cortez was captured in 1901, the conflict at the Rio Grande had been going on for 65 years (I suppose that is considering the Mexican Federalist War and the Texas Revolution that preceded the Mexican-American War by a decade). A ballad sprang up to celebrate him. The type of ballad called a "corrido" is based on the "romance" from Spain; other forms and variations didn't survive as vigorously. The corrido "entered its decadent period in the 1930s...One can see the balladry of the Lower Border working toward a single type: toward one form, the corrido; toward one theme, border conflict; toward one concept of the hero, the man fighting for his right with his pistol in his hand."

[M. A. Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by University of Texas professor, Americo Paredes, as his dissertation and later published, this book is a mainstay of Mexican-American literature. It centers on legendary Mexican gunfighter Gregorio Cortez, who kills a local sheriff in self-defense, and through his eyes, we learn about the injustice, hardship, and persecution of the people in and along the Texas border. Although it is a fictional account, and relies upon corridos, the story is based upon true events.

And, no, the Texas Rangers were not good guys in white hats (sorry). Among the people that lived in the "in-between" spaces, they were feared and hated, and known as cowards. They killed men, women, and children, and when they were bested by local militias, they relied upon the U. S. Army for protection and support. I have recommended this book to many people, especially to those who admire the mostly untrue tales and legends of the Texas Rangers. It's an eye-opener and an alternate narrative that will inform your view of politics and justice on the early Texas frontier

[Sachal Shaikh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gregorio Cortez's life feels like it was directed by Quentin Tarantino

[Kyle Magin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This manages to be fun and breezy and also impactful at the same time. The legend built up around Gregorio reminds me of a John Henry or Paul Bunyan--an American hero with a nearly infinite capacity for work on top of intelligence and charm. The real-life story is even more fascinating and a good look at Texas' landscape, history, race relations, and politics.

[Cuchillo Lope · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love me a good western and this one sounded awesome as I read the back. I jumped in and it hit me pretty quick that his wasn’t just a story of the folk hero Gregorio Cortez, but a thesis analysis of that story and the academic look at the music it spawned in turn of the century Rio Grande area.
It definitely reads like an academic book as it is pretty dry, but the subject matter is fascinating. This was a story I have never heard and reading this much on the corridos it inspired was fascinating.
Gregorio Cortez is a hero and a hero for those who are facing racist oppression. It really illustrates how much the Texas Rangers were cowards and bastards who were emboldened for their racist violence because they had the backing of the US government. Very much like ICE does now.
“No corran rinches cobardes con un puro Mexicano”

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Groundbreaking (not a term I use lightly) 1950s folklore study by an author who was part of / writing from within the culture he was examining. Engrossing, extremely readable, and funny. The bits where Parades dunked on establishment (white) historians and, even more so, the Texas Rangers, were pretty great. The lines drawn from the legend of Gregorio Cortez to the actual man are fascinating. A work of both scholarship and love. Highly recommended.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really engagingly written and very few observations feel dated--impressive for a work of anthropology published in the 1950s. That said, I'm not a trained anthropologist, so I assume some of the theory behind the writing might be outdated? I don't know, but as a snapshot into Texas social and cultural history and about the relations of white Texans to its border residents of Mexican descent, this is excellent.

[Jess Youngberg]

Paredes truly turned hegemony on its head! Using humor and his own experience to take the racism towards the Mexican people and turn it back onto the Angelo Americans was eye opening. Shedding light on the people of the Lower Rio Grande through the corridos form and the legend of Gregorio Cortez. Paredes shows that by applying a more vernacular approach to scholarship Anthropologists are able to conduct ethnographic research that is more complete and true to the communities they study.

[Nic · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just sorta skimmed the last few chapters. I was more interested in the history it covers than the specificities of the border ballad tradition, of which Paredes offers in painstaking detail. A classic text and a good resource for those interested in folklore and the ins and outs of this particular genre.

[M Weir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had to read this for a folklore class. It was written in the 1950’s but it is well written and even interesting and conversational. I learned a lot about corridos and the Texas/Mexico border- as well as Tahano culture.

[BiblioBtown · Rating 2 out of 5]

NOPE

[Patrick Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent work of historical ethnography. I'm from South Texas but I knew nothing of the events, or the oral tradition, described.

[T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating methodologically and a pioneering work. Definitely has been surpassed in the field though.

[Kaylene Simmering · Rating 4 out of 5]

A murder Ballad.

[Brandon Milton · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable presentation of the legend and facts regarding Gregorio Cortez and his valiant life on the run. This work not only explains how the legend and corrido differ from the facts, but also attempts to explain why they differ.

Further, Paredes puts the corrido into a wider scope and analyzes its effects on the greater ballad scene as a whole. He also analyzes how it was affected by earlier ballads and styles.

Overall, Paredes presents the legend and correlated facts in an entertaining fashion, where the book reads like a fictional tale rather than a recounting of events. He does so in a way, however, that makes the reader continuously question the relation between fact and legend. How did this fact lend itself into the legend? Was it altered? What affected the alterations?

The latter half of the volume, containing Paredes' analysis of the larger corrido and ballad scene and its relation with El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez (and its many variants) is solid. Although its language is mostly academic, it is an interesting and seemingly objective analysis that makes the reader ponder the workings of the oral story, one that is no longer in wide popularity today.

While reading, the importance of this work should also be kept in mind. The volume was written in the 1950s, when Academia was usually exclusive to white males. Paredes, by presenting a detailed academic analysis of factual events that were usually portrayed through a racist lens, broke ground with this volume.

Although it is dry at times, this is an exceptional read.

[Esther Cervantes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why I decided to read this in August 2014, a week and change into the police brutality crisis in Ferguson, Missouri: "respectable citizens transformed into outlaws by the application of 'Ranger law,' according to which a man was killed if he did not defend himself, or was tried for murder and hanged if he did."

Beyond its topical relevance, at least the first part of Américo Paredes' classic of Border exceptionalism is a joy to read. I'm just old enough to have been raised by mid-century Texas Mexicans, and the cultural assumptions and quirks that Paredes both relates and implies, through his own biases, feel strangely cozy to me. Reads like a good warm bath.

[Vtlozano · Rating 3 out of 5]

In methodical, restrained prose, Paredes marshals forensic evidence for how Gregorio Cortez out-rode the Texas Rangers and passed into legend. Fifty years after publication, “Pistol” is still like watching a masterful expert witness change the mood in the courtroom where southwestern history is being tried.

[Sonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

An informative, historical read...one of the missing pieces of American history or generally American Studies. I cherish the new information and the addition of a new 'hero' to American, if Mexican/Texan-American literature. I was not particularly attracted to the formatting and structure of the book.

[Nicolas Shump · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the classic precursors of Chicana/o studies, but it stands on its own as an early work of interdisciplinary scholarship on the border, on vernacular culture, as a work of anthropology, and as an revisionist attempt to counter very negative representations of Mexicans and Mexican Americans especially in Texas by academics like Walter Prescott Webb.

[Aubrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Study on Gregorio Cortez and the surrounding legend, turned into a well-known corrido, or border ballad. Includes examinations and interpretations of border culture, history, and folklore. Well put together and engaging read.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothin' like a good ballitt is what us hillbillies say.

[Christine Granados · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally, someone is writing the truth. Loved this book for its honesty and Paredes for putting history down on paper.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

For my World Music class. The story of how a ballad was written and sung about the events surrounding this man.