A Rock between Two Rivers is the story of a man coming to terms
with the environmental legacy of his family's ranch in Dimmitt County,
Texas, and reckoning with the birthright he'll leave for the generations
who follow. What began for Hugh Fitzsimons as a mission to expose local
ecological hazards from hydraulic fracking has turned into a lifelong
ache to understand the more complicated story of how his family changed
the land inherited from his grandfather, and deeper still, how the land
irrevocably changed the family.
Water is the lens through which this fifth-generation rancher tells his
story. While the discovery of oil in this part of Texas fueled the
region's growth, water has the upper hand, determining where people live
and how they make their living. Agriculture, ranching, drilling for oil,
and now fracking all require water, with each pursuit requiring more and
more but giving back less and less to the communities they've helped
enrich. In A Rock between Two Rivers, Fitzsimons struggles with
the inheritance he wants for his own children, one that considers the
future consequences of our actions toward the land we are born to and
owns the broader threats to our natural resources that loom in the near
distance.
Interweaving a family narrative of a life built on the U.S.-Mexico
border and the history of European colonization with its brutal
consequences on the land and indigenous peoples, Fitzsimons explores how
our attitudes toward this precious resource have changed alongside our
relationship to the places we call home.
