Overview

J. David Bamberger has been profiled in the New York Times and the New Yorker, interviewed on NPR, and featured in a National Geographic video. He and his Texas Hill Country ranch have been the subject of many articles and two books published by Texas A&M University Press. In My Stories, All True, Bamberger, now in his nineties, tells the story of his life as an entrepreneur and conservationist in his own way. He recounts to journalist and friend Pamela LeBlanc how he made a living as a vacuum cleaner salesman, struck it rich as a partner in a wildly successful chain of fried chicken restaurants, and bought, then brought back to life, the 'sorriest piece of land' in Blanco County, Texas - the rural oasis he calls Selah, Bamberger Ranch Preserve. For more than a year, Bamberger and LeBlanc roamed the preserve - five thousand acres nursed back to environmental health with money earned from the sale of Church's Chicken - as Bamberger reminisced about losing his father in a steel factory accident; gathering mushrooms to sell to neighbors when he was a kid; making a living as a door-to-door salesman; running a multimillion-dollar restaurant business; rubbing shoulders with the likes of Sam Walton, Jane Goodall, and Lady Bird Johnson; and, finally, turning to his land for the work that has earned national acclaim. With a storyteller's flair and insightful commentary from LeBlanc, Bamberger shares the tales of a remarkable life - as a resourceful country boy, a savvy entrepreneur, and a consummate conservationist whose vision has set the standard for the restoration of nature on private lands worldwide.

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9781623498849

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Reviews

There are few storytellers as engaging as J. David Bamberger but on these pages, Pam LeBlanc has taken him to another level. --Andrew Sansom --Andrew Sansom Texas has produced a legion of larger-than-life characters. David Bamberger fits the bill, even as he breaks the mold. Too often we measure success in dollars and cents, bricks and mortar, acres of real estate and ranch land. This admirable story, drawn faithfully by Pam LeBlanc, traces a more noble and ultimately more durable path. Bamberger's lesson and legacy: Give Texas an informed chance to be its natural self, again. --John Taliaferro, author of Grinnell: America's Environmental Pioneer and His Restless Drive to Save the West, winner of the National Outdoor Book Award--John Taliaferro The importance of these stories and the legacy of Selah will only be fully recognized by future Texans. Texans who drink from the beautifully cold and sweet water springing from hillside aquifers, who watch in admiration as birds and butterflies migrate across restored landscapes, and who recognize that if visionaries like David Bamberger didn't devote their lives to restoring nature, Texas would be a much bleaker and less hopeful place. --Ben Masters, author and director of The River and the Wall--Ben Masters

Author Information

Pamela A. LeBlanc is an Austin-based freelance writer who specializes in outdoor adventure, fitness, and travel. A recipient of two Barbara Jordan Media Awards for articles about athletes with disabilities, her work has appeared in local, regional, and national publications including Texas Monthly, Houston Chronicle, Real Simple, and others. She also has a weekly fitness column, Fit City, in the Austin-American Statesman.

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