Winner of the 2006 National Council on Public History Book Award 
for the best work published about or growing out of public history, 
Road, River, and Ol' Boy Politics has quickly established its 
reputation as the definitive source on the subject of the growth of 
supersuburbs.

    In 1946 Williamson County was profoundly rural, centered on an 
agricultural economy, ethnically diverse, and Democratic. Half a 
century later, it was one of the five fastest-growing counties in the 
United States, staunchly Republican, and culturally homogeneous.

    Linda Scarbrough presents the story of how this came about 
through the machinations of a handful of local political and 
economic "bosses" who brought Williamson County two federal 
public works projects: Interstate Highway 35 and a dam on the San 
Gabriel River.

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LINDA SCARBROUGH is publisher of the Williamson County Sun 
in Georgetown, Texas. She holds an M.A. and Ph.D in American 
Civilization from the University of Texas. She has followed 
environmental and developmental trends since pioneering the 
environmental "beat" for the New York Daily News in the mid-60s.