Consortium Book Blog

Selfless Service Honored with Generous Donation

Texas Aggies Go to War                                                                                                                   
In Service of Their Country                                                                       Henry C. Dethloff with John A. Adams Jr.                                          

When their country calls, Texas Aggies go to war. To honor the thousands of Aggies who have served and sacrificed in all branches of the military over the past 100 years, Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets and the Corps of Cadets Association have donated a copy of Texas Aggies Go to War by Henry C. Dethloff with John A. Adams Jr. to every high school library in the state of Texas—a donation totaling nearly 1,800 books.

Texas Aggies Go to War celebrates the school's distinctive Corps of Cadets and its military contributions while honoring the individual sacrifices of its members.  Those students who read its pages will find a comprehensive account of the distinguished war record of Texas A&M.
The stirring stories in the book include the horrific experiences of some of the eighty-seven Aggies who were stationed at Corregidor and Bataan on December 7, 1941; the perils of five Aggies who participated in the raid over Tokyo with Jimmie Doolittle; the heroics of the seven Medal of Honor recipients from Texas A&M during World War II; James Earl Rudder's leadership of the Ranger assault at Normandy on D-Day; and examples of vigorous support and devotion to duty given by Aggies in Korea, Vietnam, and the Middle East.

“Since the university's founding in 1876 Texas Aggies have provided exemplary leadership and service to their state and their country in peace and in war. . . . Texas Aggies Go to War: In Service of Their Country is a remarkable story, one that makes me value and admire my adopted university all the more.”—George H. W. Bush

    The donation of these books will ensure that students across the state can be inspired by these Aggies' stirring stories of selfless service, integrity, excellence, loyalty, and leadership.

For more information:

Texas A&M Press Author Wins Theodore Saloutos Book Award

Texas A&M University Press is pleased to announce that Geoff Cunfer, author of On the Great Plains: Agriculture and Environment, has received the 2006 Theodore Saloutos Book Award from the Agricultural History Society for most outstanding major new scholarly reinterpretation of American agricultural history.  The award was presented at the society’s annual meeting at Cambridge, Massachusetts in June 2006.

On the Great Plains poses an intriguing new view of Euro-American farmers’ interaction with nature on the Great Plains. The book investigates how America’s interior prairies have remained remarkably stable throughout the twentieth century’s unpredictable weather and technological innovations. Cunfer surveys the entire Great Plans by using historical agricultural census data, coupled with GIS mapping, to evaluate land use over the past 130 years. This collected information allows Cunfer to expertly reassess the interaction between farmers and nature in this vast landscape.

For more information:
http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2005/cunfer.htm

Texas A&M Press Author Wins Neustadt Book Prize

Texas A&M University Press is pleased to announce that Nigel Bowles, author of Nixon’s Business: Authority and Power in Presidential Politics, has received the 2006 Neustadt Book Prize from the American Politics Group for the best book on American politics published by a scholar based in the UK.  The award will be presented at the American Politics Group Colloquium, taking place at the US Embassy in London on Friday, November 17, 2006.

Using Richard E. Neustadt’s analytical framework of presidential power, Bowles develops five case studies around Nixon’s economic policies. For each of the cases, Bowles considers the president’s bargaining advantages: his constitutional and statutory authority, presidential reputation, popular prestige, and personal qualities. He then answers Neustadt’s twin questions: “What was the president’s inheritance?” and “What was his legacy?” These analyses help readers understand the sources of Nixon’s authority and power and his use of both, and demonstrate the implications of authority and power for understanding the institution of the presidency.

For more information:
http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2005/bowles.htm

Texas A&M Press Author Wins Ottis Lock Award

Texas A&M University Press is pleased to announce that Charles Russell, author of Undaunted: A Norwegian Woman in Frontier Texas, has received the 2006 Ottis Lock Award from the East Texas State Historical Association for the best book on East Texas history.  The award was presented at the Association’s fall meeting at the Fredonia Hotel in Nacogdoches, Texas on September 23, 2006.

Undaunted is the first full biography of Texas Norwegian Elise Waerenskjold, a strong and independent thinker who championed women’s rights. The book opens a window to both her own life and life in Texas’ Norwegian colonies from 1847 to the end of the nineteenth century. Russell’s vivid account of Waerenskjold describes not only her influence among her countrymen but also her life, which was a saga of considerable drama itself. A journalist who was pro-Union, against slavery and championed women’s rights, Waerenskjold’s writing influenced other Norwegians to emigrate to Texas.

For more information:
http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2005/russell.htm

Texas A&M Press Authors Win Philosophical Award

Texas A&M University Press is pleased to announce that Dr. Mavis P. Kelsey Sr. and Robin Brandt Hutchison, authors of Engraved Prints of Texas, 1554-1990, have received the 2006 Philosophical Society of Texas Award of Merit.The award will be presented at the Philosophical Society’s Annual Meeting, December 2, 2006 at the Fairmont in Dallas, Texas. The Award of Merit is given annually for a book on Texas.

Engraved Prints of Texas, 1554–1900 presents the whole range of early Texas history as portrayed in published engravings: from the first printed representation of a buffalo in 1554 to a 1900 view of the University of Texas Medical School in Galveston. Entries include information on more than 2000 engravings, 470 of which are illustrated in this volume. Presented chronologically by century and decade of publication, each chapter features a brief introduction to the historical background of the era, highlighting key illustrations and placing the art within the context of major events of the period.

For more information:
http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2005/kelsey.htm

What Happens When History Becomes Film

Lights, Camera History                                                
Portraying the Past in Film                              
Edited by Richard Francaviglia and Jerry Rodnizky   

When a movie of a historical event is released, there are always two questions: What did they get right? What did they get wrong? In this volume, the authors examine the importance of not only understanding, but also embracing the range of effects film has on our understanding of history and even the present.

This collection addresses a number of central topics concerning how history is depicted in film. In the preface, the volume editors emphasize the importance of using film in teaching history: students will see historical films, and if they are not taught critical viewing, they will be inclined simply to accept what they see as fact. Authors of the individual chapters then explore the portrayal of history—and the uses of history—in specific films and film genres.

Robert Rosenstone’s “In Praise of the Biopic” considers such films as Reds, They Died with Their Boots On, Little Big Man, Seabiscuit, Cinderella Man, and The Grapes of Wrath. In his chapter, Geoff Pingree focuses on the big questions posed in Jay Rosenblatt’s 1998 film Human Remains. Richard Francaviglia’s chapter on films about the Middle East is especially timely in the post-9/11 world. One chapter, by Daniel A. Nathan, Peter Berg, and Erin Klemyk, is devoted to a single film: Martin Scorsese’s urban history The Gangs of New York, which the authors see as a way of exploring
complex themes of the immigrant experience. Finally, Robert Brent Toplin addresses the paradox of using an art form (film) to present history. Among other themes, he considers the impact of Patton and Platoon on military decisions and interpretations, and of Birth of a Nation and Glory on race relations.

The cumulative effect is to increase the reader’s understanding of the medium of film in portraying history and to stimulate the imagination as to how it can and how it should not be used. Students and teachers of history and cinema will benefit deeply from this informative and thoughtful discussion.

For more information:
http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2007/francaviglia.htm

How a Scottish Doctor almost Stole Texas for Britain

The Secret War for Texas                                     
Stuart Reid

“Forget what you think you know about the Texas Revolution! In this lively, readable, even audacious book, Stuart Reid provides startling new evidence that the cherished story of Texas independence must rightly be viewed not only as part of a wider Mexican civil war but as a ‘secret war’ between London and Washington for mastery of the North American continent. . . . Reid’s insightful, compelling narrative and masterful synthesis will serve as the point of departure for all subsequent work. Delightful reading!"—Craig H. Roell, Professor of History, Georgia Southern University

Could the British have stopped Manifest Destiny in its tracks in 1836?

On the eve of the Texas uprising, only two things stood in the way of American ambitions to reach the Pacific Ocean: the British claim to the Oregon country and the vast but sparsely populated Mexican province of Texas. Britain was therefore almost as concerned with the outcome of the Texians’ war as Mexico was.

At a crucial point when Texians had to decide whether to seek rights within the Federal Republic of Mexico or to secede and ally with the United States, James Grant led a band of followers toward Mexico, with the intent of forming a state within that nation. His efforts met enduring accusations that he fatally weakened the Alamo by stripping it of men, ammunition, and medical supplies. When Grant was killed on the ill-fated Matamoros expedition, British hopes of blocking the upstart Americans died, too.

Yet, despite his important role, Grant remains a shadowy and often sinister figure routinely condemned by historians and frequently dismissed out of hand as merely an unscrupulous land speculator. Drawing heavily on British sources, Reid tells the forgotten story of Dr. James Grant and the twelve-year-long secret war for Texas, from his involvement in the “silly quixotic” Fredonian Rebellion to the bloody battles along the Atascosita Road. The international scope of the story makes this far more than just another tale of the Texas Revolution.

For more information:
http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2007/reidstuart.htm

Life of a South Texas Cowboy

Tío Cowboy                                        
Juan Salinas, Rodeo Roper and Horseman             
Ricardo D. Palacios

One of the best tie-down calf ropers ever to come out of South Texas, Juan Salinas grew up on a 15,000-acre ranch near Laredo, with the finest of horses to ride and hundreds of head of cattle to practice on. He roped in Texas rodeos large and small from the mid-1920s to 1935. From 1936 to 1946, he followed the national rodeo circuit, competing from Texas to New York’s Madison Square Garden. At the time, few if any other Mexican Americans competed in rodeo, and Salinas drew a lot of attention.
Salinas also operated his family’s Texas ranch, where he ran cattle and raised prize roping quarter horses.

In this account of his life and career, Salinas’s nephew, Ricardo Palacios, recounts the many tales his uncle told him—tales of friendship with Gene Autry, going to Sally Rand’s wedding reception, riding on the Rodeo Train, and sponsoring seven-time world champion tie-down calf roper Toots Mansfield. He also narrates life on the range, with his uncle riding across a pasture at full speed, gingerly holding the reins and a thirty-five foot coil of rope in his left hand while swinging the roping loop overhead with his right hand as he chased a three-hundred-pound calf for the throw.

The story of Juan Salinas is also the story of the people of Mexican origin who live on the ranches of the South Texas brush country. Strong, rugged, independent, and  hard-working, they knew social and economic success that has all too seldom been chronicled.

Tío Juan was the family cowboy, the hero, the rodeo star, and Palacios tells his uncle’s story with warmth and admiration.

For more information:
http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2007/palacios.htm

The Best Ice Cream in the Country

Blue Bell Ice Cream                               
A Century at the Little Creamery in Brenham, Texas 1907–2007
Dorothy McLeod MacInerney    

A century after it first opened its doors, the "Little Creamery in Brenham" is still going strong, gaining new fans every day. This charming book celebrating Blue Bell's first 100 years tells the story of the ideas, people, and cows that made Blue Bell Ice Cream the delicious sensation it is today.

Filled from cover to cover with historic photographs, colorful artwork, vintage ads, and interesting facts, the book gives readers a taste of what makes Blue Bell "the best ice cream in the country." The story begins when Blue Bell wasn't called Blue Bell and it didn't yet make ice cream, takes you through three generations of the family-run business, and culminates with details about special centennial festivities.

The company's unique combination of can-do spirit, small-town values, and old-fashioned optimism is told along with fun tidbits of information about Blue Bell's flavors, people, and frozen treats.

Ever wondered...

•     How all those chocolate cookies get into Cookies 'n Cream?
•     If anyone ever sends in ideas for flavors?
•     Why the company is named after a wildflower?
•     If there's any connection between Blue Bell and the Beatles?

Along with the answers to these questions, you'll also come across other amusing anecdotes like the tale of the Jelly Terror and the time when Blue Bell went into outer space. Don't be surprised if you feel compelled to run out for a half-gallon or two as you read!

For more information:
http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2007/macinerney.htm

A Forgotten Hero, Remembered

War Bird Ace                          
The Great War Exploits of Capt. Field E. Kindley           
Jack Stokes Ballard

"Until now, Field Kindleys was one of the great, yet lost, stories in Air Force history. Jack Ballard brings this world War I ace to life, chronicling the kind of American hero that makes us proud."—Herman S. Wolk

"Almost everyone remembers Eddie Rickenbacker and Frank Luke from World War I; a few recall Raoul Lufbery, Elliott White Springs. . . . To that pantheon must be added the name of Field Eugene Kindley, an American ace who deserves to be numbered in that honored company. . . . Jack Stokes Ballard has revived Kindleys record and breathed life into his memory. War Bird Ace will be appreciated by aviation aficionados, and by those interested in the rise of airpower and the U. S. Air Service during the Great War."—Roger G. Miller

Using arduously gathered primary materials, as well as drawing from other accounts of Great War aces, Jack Ballard has told at last the story of this little-known hero from the glory days of aerial warfare. Through this tale, an era, as well as a daring flyer, live again.

For more information:
http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2007/ballard.htm