Tue, 18 Jul 2006
The battle cry "Remember the Alamo!" and images larger-than-life characters are what come to mind when most Americans and Texans think of the Texas Revolution. In Lone Star Rising, author William C. Davis puts the Texas Revolution in a new perspective. Rather than viewing the revolution as a unique historical event, he puts it in the context of other revolutions sweeping the globe during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. First published in hardback in 2004, this book brings the latest scholarship to bear on some of the oldest questions.
Davis etches well-known characters such as Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, and General Santa Anna-and the cultures they represented-in sharp and human relief. He also considers relations and racial tensions between the Anglo Texians, the Mexican authorities, and the Tejanos who had made Texas home for generations. He describes the causes and effects of their actions, providing more than just military details of the battles.
The Austin American-Statesman said, "In a world with more than its share of up-close shots of the battle of the Alamo, Davis gives us a canvas painted in broad strokes, a book that paints the bigger picture of the birth of the Republic of Texas."
Fri, 30 Jun 2006
The transatlantic world-Europe, Africa, and the Americas-has had immense influence on the direction of world history. Six studies in Transatlantic History address cultural exchanges and intercontinental developments that contribute to our modern understanding of global communities.
Transatlantic history encompasses a variety of scholarly problems and approaches from multiple disciplines, and volume editors Steven G. Reinhardt and Dennis P. Reinhartz have assembled a collection of essays that reflect the diversity within the field.
The essays investigate the processes of interaction and adaptation among Africans, Native Americans, and Europeans. Their studies range from the Spanish imperial crisis in the 1600s to the urbanization of Europe and the Americas, from graphic portrayals of the Atlantic world to the settlement of Ireland, America, and South Africa and the recent diaspora of West Africans.
Whether on their own or as tour leaders for the Smithsonian Institution and other organizations, John and Gloria Tveten have encountered the world's wildlife with an unfailing appreciation not only for animals of all kinds but also for the places those animals call home.
In Adventures Afar, a compilation of selected ÒNature TrailsÓ columns from the Houston Chronicle, they describe their journeys to exotic destinations such as the Arctic, Central and South America, and Caribbean islands. In this new book, with contemporary notes and updates, the
Tvetens have gathered a sampling of their favorite, most recommended,
most unforgettable trips to see wildlife and nature, which include
the Guatemalan Highlands, the International Crane Foundation, the
Andes, the Grand Canyon, and Utah's Redrock Country. The Tvetens tell of characters such as Òthe Bird Lady of JamaicaÓ and animals ranging from Polar bears to humpback whales to the Resplendent quetzal that made each trip unique.
Luis G. G—mez was born in Nuevo Le—n, Mexico, in 1865. Like many of his countrymen, he chose to escape the political turmoil in Mexico and seek his fortune in the U.S. He crossed the border into Texas at the Rio Grande at about age nineteen and would later record his experiences and publish them in Spanish.
Crossing the Rio Grande presents an English edition of G—mez's memoir, originally called Mis Memorias (My Memories), which he published in 1935. G—mez's grandson, Guadalupe Valdez Jr., translated it, with assistance from Javier Villarreal, a professor of Spanish at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. The new book is titled Crossing the Rio Grande.
G—mez crossed into Matamoros-Brownsville and sought his fortune in a series of contracting operations that created the infrastructure to help develop the Texas economy. G—mez's work took him all around South Texas, and his experiences in Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Victoria, Galveston, Houston, San Antonio, Hallettsville, Yoakum, and several other small towns are covered in this book. Besides his work experiences, he describes aspects of his everyday life in the U.S. He shares observations of Mexican customs in the U.S., such as courtship and marriage, relations with Anglo employers, religious practices, and simple home gatherings.
East Texas native and conservationist Richard Donovan is determined to preserve the Neches River for future generations to enjoy. In Paddling the Wild Neches, he takes readers canoeing down a two-hundred-mile stretch, which flows through two national forests, of the upper Neches. A journal he kept while canoeing on the river from Lake Palestine to Lake B. A. Steinhagen is the basis for this book. It tells the river's story and aims to help educate the public about its outstanding qualities in hopes that ultimately, a 235-mile stretch of the river will be designated as a national Scenic River.
Donovan chronicles the river's natural history, describing the animal inhabitants and the recreational potential it holds for paddlers and others. He also delves into its cultural history, recounting stories of Native American Caddos and Anglo pioneers that made their lives along the river, of East Texas hunting traditions, and of the ways people have put the river to use. He makes a case for the Neches to be designated by Congress as a National Wild and Scenic River, calling readers to action to help preserve this natural treasure.
Larry McKinney, Senior Director of Aquatic Resources for Texas Parks and Wildlife, says, ÒRichard Donovan's Paddling the Wild Neches does for the river and East Texas what John Graves' book, Goodbye to a River, did for the Brazos River and West Texas.Ó
Ken Kramer, Director of the Sierra Club's Lone Star Chapter, also praises Donovan's book, saying it "delivers far more than it promises. . . . It is not just about preserving a river; it's about preserving a history and a way of life.Ó
Royalties earned from the sale of this book will be donated to the conservation fund for the purchase of Neches River bottomland.
President Woodrow Wilson's greatest legacy was his vision of American internationalism, which continues to influence American foreign policy today. However, his views on internationalism were not popular in his own day, and he fought a losing battle in support of the League of Nations. In Woodrow Wilson's Western Tour, J. Michael Hogan offers the first detailed analysis of Wilson's speeches-including his celebrated speech delivered in Pueblo, Colorado-from his twenty-two day tour across the Midwest and Far West that attempted to rally public support for the League of Nations.
Assessing the tour in light of Wilson's own scholarly writings about civic discourse and democratic deliberation, Hogan provides new insight into Wilson's failure. Wilson's Western tour came at a transitional moment in the history of American public address-the new age of propaganda and scientific Òopinion managementÓ was ushered in by public relations and advertising industries after World War I. Hogan states that, ÒAt times, [Wilson] played the role of the orator-statesman, rising above personal and partisan interests and engaging his fellow citizens in 'common counsel.' At other times, he gave in to the frustrations of one embroiled in bitter political debate, lashing out at this critics and trying to manipulate public opinion.Ó Although Wilson had effectively appealed to public opinion before, this time his efforts did not result in a victory for his cause, and he collapsed, never to regain his physical powers, before the tour was over.
In his autobiography, A Kine–o Remembers, Lauro Cavazos, former secretary of education, hopes that his story will encourage young minorities of the importance of education. He strongly believes that his parents' encouragement of education is responsible for his success in life. He shares the story of his personal and professional life and recounts how his childhood on the King Ranch helped lead to his impressive career, which includes serving as President of Texas Tech University and as the Secretary of Education under George H. W. Bush.
Cavazos was born on the King Ranch in 1927; his father was a cowboy on the Ranch, and his mother was born and raised on the Ranch. Growing up, he and his siblings were introduced to a natural bilingualism-they were encouraged to speak only English with their father and only Spanish with their mother. Although his parents had little formal education, they knew the value of education and insisted that all five of their children go to college. He says life on the King Ranch gave him Òas fine an education as the one I received at great universities.Ó
Slovenia is a country that covers an area of land slightly smaller than New Jersey that is home to about two million people. It broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991, and its experience transitioning from a communist state to a democratic one is of interest to policy makers and scholars, because Slovenia has become one of the most successful among the post-communist countries in economic achievements and democratic consolidation. In Uncertain Path, Rudolf Martin Rizman provides a careful, detailed sociological explanation and narrative on the emergence of independent statehood and democracy in Slovenia.
In his focus on the transition from an authoritarian to a democratic regime, Rizman analyzes social processes and political issues in the context of the Third Wave of democratization, identifying Òzones of certainty and uncertainty.Ó Challenging many generally accepted ideas about small states and their transitions to democracy, this book places Slovenia's pattern of democratization in the wider regional context of eastern and central European post-communist transitions.
After careful consideration of religious, political, military, intellectual, and other socio-political stakeholders in the region, he concludes that Slovenia is irreversibly set on the course of democratization.
The life of William S. Burroughs, best known as the author of Naked Lunch and Junky and one of the godfathers of the ÒBeatÓ generation, has been studied and documented by his fans and scholars of Beat culture. Author Rob Johnson now shares a little-known chapter in Burroughs's life-his years in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. The Lost Years of William S. Burroughs recounts the years 1946-1949, when Burroughs lived in the Texas Valley as a farmer.
Burroughs experiences in South Texas shed light on his life in the period just before he began writing his first book, Junky. He moved there to try his hand at making a living off the land after a run-in with the law in New York City. On his fifty-acre spread near Edinburg, he raised crops such as citrus, cotton, carrots, and peas. He also attempted to grow a different kind of cash crop-marijuana and opium poppies-on land he purchased and moved to in New Waverly, Texas, but that crop failed and he returned to the Valley.
Burroughs's life in South Texas was just as excessive and dangerous as it was in the more exotic locations he made his home, and his circle of friends there was just as Beat. Other Beat writers move in and out of Johnson's narrative, which includes the infamous ÒWilliam TellÓ episode in Mexico in which Burroughs accidentally shot and killed his wife trying to shoot a glass on her head.
As a setting in his work, the Valley is central in Junky (1953), ÒTiger in the ValleyÓ (an unpublished 1955 short story), and to a lesser extent in Queer (1985). It recurs as a setting in almost all of his books, in some form or other. The Lost Years of William S. Burroughs provides insight into the life of this famed American writer and how his years in the Valley influenced his writing. Johnson says, ÒBurroughs was, at heart, an explorer, and his life in the Valley turned out to be a test run for-and a pathway to-his future explorations.Ó
COLLEGE STATION-General George S. Patton said, ÒGive me an army of West Point graduates, and I'll win a battle . . .give me a handful of Texas Aggies, and I'll win a war!Ó General Patton would have known; during World War II, 20,000 Aggies fought, including 14,000 as commissioned officers. The military tradition has always run deep at Texas A&M University. The school has produced more officers than any other institution in the nation except for the service academies.
Texas Aggies Go to War is the first-ever compilation of the impressive war record of these soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines who all shared an alma mater. Dethloff and Adams have gathered first-person accounts of Aggie heroism in battle in all the wars in which Aggies have fought. Included are the experiences of the eighty-seven Aggies stationed at Corregidor and Bataan, the five aggies who participated in Doolittle's raid over Tokyo, and James Earl Rudder's leadership of the Ranger assault at Normandy on D-Day. An abundance of statistics, maps, and tables are also provided.
Proceeds from the sale of this book will be used to benefit the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets.