Texas has a large population who has lived on both sides of the 
border and created a folkloric mix that makes Texas unique. Both 
Sides of the Border gets its name from its emphasis on recently 
researched Tex-Mex folklore. But we recognize that Texas has other 
borders besides the Rio Grande. We use that title with the 
folklorist's knowledge that all of this state's songs, tales, and 
traditions have lived and prospered on the other sides of Texas 
borders at one time or another before they crossed the rivers and 
became "ours."

    Chapters are organized thematically and include favorite 
storytellers like James Ward Lee, Thad Sitton, and Jerry Lincecum. 
Lee's beloved "Hell is for He-Men" appears here, along with Sitton's 
informative essay on Texas freedmen's settlements. Both Sides of 
the Border contains something to delight everyone interested in 
Texas folklore. 

_________________________________________________________

FRANCIS EDWARD ABERNETHY is Regents Professor Emeritus of 
English at Stephen F. Austin State University, the executive secretary 
and editor of the Texas Folklore Society since 1971, and a member of 
the Texas Institute of Letters. He has written Singin' Texas, Legends
of Texas' Heroic Age, and all three volumes of the Texas Folklore 
Society history, published by the University of North Texas Press.


Number Sixty-one: Publications of the Texas Folklore Society