Consortium Book Blog

Bound in Twine wins agricultural history award

Bound in Twine by Sterling Evans has received the 2007 Theodore Saloutos Memorial Award for the best book on agricultural history from the Agricultural History Society. The society will honor Evans at a luncheon at the Organization of American Historians Conference tentatively schedule for Saturday March 28, 2009, in Seattle, Washington.

Before the invention of the combine, the binder was an essential harvesting implement that cut grain and bound the stalks in bundles tied with twine that could then be hand-gathered into shocks for threshing. Hundreds of thousands of farmers across the United States and Canada relied on binders and the twine required for the machine's operation. Implement manufacturers discovered that the best binder twine was made from henequen and sisal—spiny, fibrous plants native to the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico.

Bound in Twine analyzes the international dependencies among Canada, the U.S., and Mexico created by the growth, manufacturing, and use of binder twine between 1880 and 1950, or what Evans terms the henequen-wheat complex.

To read more about this book, visit:
http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2007/evans.htm

Salt Warriors "gives crisp account of nearly forgotten West Texas war"

Salt Warriors, by Paul Cool, was recently reviewed favorably in the Houston Chronicle.

Read the review here:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/books/reviews/5834198.html

The El Paso Salt War of 1877 has gone down in history as the spontaneous "action of a mindless rabble," but as author Paul Cool deftly demonstrates, the episode was actually an insurgency, "the product of a deliberate, community-based decision squarely in the tradition of the American nation's original fight for self-government."

Read more about the book here:
http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2008/cool.htm

Texas Music History on a Radio Near You

Gary Hartman, author of The History of Texas Music is involved in a new radio program entitled "This Week in Texas Music History." The 90-second show airs each Monday morning on Austin's KUT 90.5 FM during NPR's Morning Edition at 6:33 a.m. and 8:33 a.m. Hartman expects many other NPR affiliate stations across the state to pick up the show and begin broadcasting it on a weekly basis. Hartman, who writes and hosts the show, is considered one of the nation's pre-eminent scholars on the subject of Texas music.
"'This Week in Texas Music History' has had a very positive response from audiences," Hartman said. "Some listeners have compared it to Garrison Keillor's nationally popular 'Writer's Almanac.'".
To read more about Hartman's book, visit http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2008/hartman.htm

Forgotten Account Gives Window into Texas's Past

The Texas State Historical Association is proud to announce the release of General Vicente Filisola’s Analysis of José Urrea’s Military Diary: A Forgotten 1838 Publication by an Eyewitness to the Texas Revolution edited by Gregg J. Dimmick and translated by John Wheat. This long-forgotten eyewitness account of the Texas Revolution has been translated into English for the first time. There are only six known original copies of Gen. Vicente Filisola’s analysis of José Urrea’s military diary. Filisola was second in command of the Mexican army in Texas during the Revolution. After the defeat of Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna by Sam Houston's Texans at San Jacinto, Filisola became commander-in-chief of the 4,000 Mexican soldiers that remained in Texas. The Mexican army eventually retreated to Matamoros, Mexico, and Filisola became the scapegoat for all that went wrong in the campaign in Texas.

His chief accuser in this disastrous action was Gen. José Cosme Urrea, commander of one of the Mexican divisions in the campaign. In 1838 Urrea published a book he entitled The Military Diary of General José Urrea. Filisola published his ultracritical analysis of Urrea's diary that same year. Totally focusing on the actions of the Mexican army, and especially Urrea's division, Filisola critiques Urrea's every move, from his advance into Texas until the disastrous and humiliating trip back to Matamoros in May and June 1836.

After reading this fascinating account of the Mexican army in Texas the reader may well need to reevaluate his opinions of the Mexican army's generals. In spite of the fact that the work is extremely biased and at times blatantly unfair, Filisola does make valid points that at least make one wonder if Urrea deserves the high respect that has been generally accorded him by Texan scholars.

New book from State House Press called "the most comprehensive volume on the Alamo . . ."

Just released from State House Press, The Illustrated Alamo 1836: A Photographic Journey has already garnered praise from several noted historians throughout the state.

Richard Bruce Winders, Historian and Curator at the Alamo states:

"Many visitors to the Alamo know only its iconic postcard image. Those who realize there was more to the old mission compound are surprised to find that so much has been lost over time. Alamo aficionados long for resurrection. Mark Lemon has produced something for all of them—the curious and the serious. The Illustrated Alamo 1836: A Photographic Journey is a must for anyone who wishes to visualize the Alamo as it appeared at the time of the battle."

Jesus Francisco de la Teja, State Historian of Texas notes that by

"Combining the artist's imagination with a scholar's attention to detail, Alamo enthusiast Mark Lemon has produced the single most comprehensive volume on the Alamo as it was at the time of its rendezvous with history.The Illustrated Alamo 1836 will bring hours of pleasure to anyone wishing to gain an understanding of how a dilapidated Spanish mission became the stage for the most famous event in Texas history."

 To see what others have said about Mark Lemon's The Illustrated Alamo 1836: A Photographic Journey, or to purchase a copy of the book, click here.

The Greatest Texas Sports Stories You've Never Heard gets recognition from NCAA

The Greatest Texas Sports Stories You've Never Heard by Al Pickett received recognition from two NCAA Division III websites last week and the book has gained popularity throughout the state since its release in December.  As Dave Campbell, founder of Texas Football magazine states: "It deserves a place in every  good sports library."  Click here to read more about these feature articles and what people are saying about The Greatest Texas Sports Stories You've Never Heard (State House Press, $14.95 paper).

UNT Press publishes Texas Rangers titles

New in paperback!
Captain John H. Rogers, Texas Ranger
by Paul N. Spellman
John Harris Rogers (1863-1930) served in Texas law enforcement for more than four decades, as a Texas Ranger, Deputy and U.S. Marshal, city police chief, and in the private sector as a security agent. He is recognized in history as one of the legendary “Four Captains” of the Ranger force that helped make the transition from the Frontier Battalion days into the twentieth century. Rogers participated in the Brown County fence-cutting wars, the East Texas Conner Fight, the El Paso/Langtry Prizefight, the riots during
the Laredo Quarantine, and the hunts for Hill Loftis and Gregorio Cortez. For details see:
http://web3.unt.edu/untpress/catalog/detail.cfm?ID=203

Spellman is also the author of Captain J. A. Brooks, Texas Ranger. See:
http://web3.unt.edu/untpress/catalog/detail.cfm?ID=273

A Brave Boy continues to gain praise

A Brave Boy and a Good Soldier (TSHA Press) continues to gain momentum with several awards won: it is winner of the San Antonio Conservation Society's 2007 Publications Award; finalist for TIL's 2007 Friends of the Austin Public Library Award for Best Children's Book; and finalist for the Western Writers of America's 2007 Spur Award for Best Juvenile Nonfiction. To help teachers take advantage of this book’s excellent classroom potential, now a free educator’s guide will be included with every order of 20 or more copies of the book! Click here for more details.

The Yankee Invasion of Texas

The Yankee Invasion of Texas    
Author: Stephen A. Townsend    

Cloth: $25.00

Texas A&M Press Author Wins Book Award
    COLLEGE STATION-Texas A&M University Press is pleased to announce that Stephen A. Townsend, author of The Yankee Invasion of Texas, has received the 2006 Summerfield G. Roberts Book Award from the Sons of Confederate Veterans for the best book on Texas during the Civil War.  The award was presented in July 2007.
In 1863 the Union capture of Texas was viewed as crucial to the strategy to deny the Confederacy the territory west of the Mississippi and thus to break the back of its military force. Union efforts to cut off the Texas trade were characterized by short, unsuccessful forays, primarily in East and South Texas. Townsend examines the Union army's Rio Grande Expedition, which left New Orleans in 1863 and captured Brownsville, Texas. He traces the actions of these forces from the city's capture until Ulysses S. Grant ordered the abandonment of all of Texas except Brownsville in March 1864, analyzing the campaign's effects on the local populace, the two armies' morale, the Texas cotton trade, and its benefits and losses to the Northern war effort.
    Stephen A. Townsend teaches history at New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of North Texas.
    The Yankee Invasion of Texas is available at stores or direct from Texas A&M University Press (800-862-8911; or online at www.tamu.edu/upress).

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