The Texana Review

From the Sam Houston Project, An Interview with historian James Haley

Back in the days before Texas was a state, a fellow by the name of Sam Houston rode over from Tennessee.  As a result, he came to be, along with others, legendary as Texas fought and gained its independence from Mexico, survived as its own nation for a while and eventually joined the United States of America as a state.

Sam Houston has been called many things, some good, some bad.  But all said and done, Sam Houston reflected a unique spirit that permeated many men and women in that era when the United States was expanding – vision, desire, frontiersman ship, a “can-do” attitude and leadership.

Several years ago, I was contacted by Denton Florian who was working on The Sam Houston Project (which evolved into The Sam Houston Movie) and asked to contribute, in a small way, to his effort.  Being an amateur Texas historian of sorts (thanks to my mother’s and father’s almost insatiable love of history in general and Texas history in particular), I readily agreed.

With a target audience of Texas history educators, Denton asked if I’d “podcast” several interviews with Texas history academics for the Project.

I did and here’s one of them – “Honor and Integrity.” 

 

Listen…and include your children

   <- Click here

 

For more on the Sam Houston Project and the Sam Houston Movie, visit this website…The Sam Houston Movie

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Wildcat wildfire visits Butterfield Canyon Ranch, Coke County, Texas - April 2011

In a previous post, I reported on the Wildcat Fire and included photos and a short video of the devastation the fire caused. Here, I've finally compiled some video I took of the event from April 14 and April 15 showing what I saw while the fire raged and firefighters did what they could to contain the conflagration.

On April 14, 2011, the infamous Wildcat wildfire roared into Coke County, Texas from the north and northwest and then into Tom Green County threatening the City of San Angelo. Then, the next day, winds shifted and blew the fire back from the south. Winds gusted 30-40 mph.

The Butterfield Canyon Ranch, belonging to my family, was in the middle of it all.

Here are some scenes I caught on video.

And many thanks to the Texas Forest Service firefighters and all other volunteer firefighters who fought this devastating wildfire.

 

 

The Wildcat wildfire burned for weeks and destroyed an estimated 159,000+ acres.

 

(Music by Rob Costlow)

Texas Tales Illustrated

Drawing upon the increasing popularity of graphic or illustrated novels among young readers, Texas Tales Illustrated: The Revolution is an innovative retelling of the Texas revolution for independence and is sure to become an invaluable classroom resource. Author Mike Kearby and illustrator Mack White designed the book for use in seventh-grade Texas history courses in response to a need for more interactive textbooks, which will appeal to the learning styles of students in today’s overwhelmingly visual media culture.

White’s detailed line drawings recall classic comic book style and capture the dramatic tension of the battle, while Kearby’s narration is enticing, full of intriguing historical detail. The comic pages are supplemented with traditional text, including excerpts of historical documents and visual materials such as maps and battlefield schematics.

Students at three North Texas middle schools found the graphic format “easy to read,” the illustrations “exciting” and well executed. Many responded that they would check out the book from their school libraries—even if the text were not required reading.

 

MIKE KEARBY, a retired high school reading and English teacher, is the author of seven novels. The Road to a Hanging, Ride the Desperate Trail, and Ambush at Mustang Canyon completed his Young Adult trilogy published by Dorchester Publishing (NY). Ambush at Mustang Canyon was honored as a Spur Award Finalist from the Western Writers of America. Dorchester Publishing will publish The Taken in November 2010, and Dead Man’s Saddle in 2011.

More on Mike Kearby HERE

 

Native Texan MACK WHITE is an illustrator and comics creator who has been publishing professionally for twenty years. His artwork and stories have appeared in numerous publications throughout the world, including Heavy Metal, Details, Old West Journal, Zero Zero, Hotwire, Top Shelf, El Vibora, and Strapazin. In 2004, he co-edited the political comics anthology. Most recently, his work was featured in the Yale Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories. He currently resides in Austin, Texas.

More on Mack White HERE

TCU Press titles are available at your local bookstore or by calling 800.826.8911

or at Amazon.com

HERE

 

Technorati Tags: Texana Review,Ed Blackburn,Mike Kearby,Mack White,Texas,Texas history

Devils River: Treacherous Twin to the Pecos

Patrick Dearen has a new book.  It’s title is Devils River: Treacherous Twin to the Pecos, 1535-1900, from TCU Press.  It examines the history of a notorious river in southwestern Texas: the Devils River.

He starts by describing the Spanish explorers and other settlers from the Americas who encountered the Devils River, then known as Rio San Pedro (Saint Peter’s River), and their difficulties in traversing the region. He relates a multitude of different hardships, ranging from Indian attacks, impassable fords, unpredictable weather, and long routes with little water. The advancement of the railroad into Devils River territory brought its own share of troubles—train robberies became more common, and outlaws often passed through the area on their way to Mexico. Military outposts were built and abandoned at various points along the river, and companies of Texas Rangers patrolled the area in an attempt to keep the peace. Yet despite all their effort, the Devils River and the surrounding regions were a law unto themselves, and it would take hundreds of years and much bloodshed to civilize the area.

Devils River is at heart a scholarly work, but it is also much more. Dearen takes the time to engage readers in the events by introducing the characters involved and showing not only their actions but their words and thoughts as well. His retellings of each occurrence make readers feel as if they are actually present at that exact moment in history. It is a fascinating read, for scholars and non-historians alike.

 

Patrick Dearen is the author of nine nonfiction books and nine novels and is a recognized authority on the lower Pecos River country. He grew up in Sterling City, Texas, and earned a bachelor of journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. His nonfiction works include Castle Gap and the Pecos Frontier, Portraits of the Pecos Frontier, Crossing Rio Pecos, A Cowboy of the Pecos, and Halff of Texas. Through his books The Last of the Old-Time Cowboys and Saddling Up Anyway, Dearen has also preserved the stories of the last generation of cowhands who plied their trade before mechanization. His novels include Perseverance, set along the rails in Depression-era Texas.

More on Patrick Dearen HERE.

TCU Press titles are available at your local bookstore or by calling 800.826.8911

or

at Amazon.com

HERE

 

Technorati Tags: Texana Review,Ed Blackburn,Patrick Dearen,Pecos,Pecos River,history Texas history

TCU Press releases Jan Reid’s Comanche Sundown

Comanche Sundown is the story of the great war chief Quanah Parker, a freed slave and cowboy named Bose Ikard, and women they love.

In 1869 Quanah and Bose do their best to kill each other in a brutal fight on horseback in West Texas. But over several years, through the flash and chaos of war and killing they discover that they are friends, not enemies. They change from violent unformed youths into men of courage and decency.

The son of the ferocious warrior Nocona and the tragic captive Texan Cynthia Ann Parker, Quanah suffers the wound of being slurred and rejected by many Comanches as someone of impure blood and certain bad luck. When told he cannot marry his youthful love Weckeah, he rides off and joins another band of his people in the canyonlands and plains of the Texas Panhandle. Later, when Quanah has just emerged as a war chief in a daring rout of army cavalry, in defiance of elders and tradition he elopes with Weckeah and leads a following of the wildest Comanche bunch of all.

The enslaved son of a white physician, Bose is freed by the Civil War and rides on trail drives of longhorns into New Mexico Territory that are led by the pioneering Charles Goodnight. Bose winds up captured, utilized, and eventually valued by Quanah and his people. That period in young Bose’s life brings him into intoxicating friendship with Quanah’s other wife, To-ha-yea, a Mescalero Apache and born heart-breaker.

Comanche Sundown lays out a sprawling and plausible recast of Southwestern history that brings Pat Garrett, Billy the Kid, Bat Masterson, Colonel Ranald “Bad Hand” Mackenzie, and General William T. Sherman into one fray. In the tradition of Thomas Berger’s Little Big Man, William Styron’s The Confessions of Nat Turner, Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove, and Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses, Reid’s novel offers a rich blend of historical detail, exquisite eye for the terrain and the animals, and insight into the culture, customs, poetry, and dignity of Native Americans caught up in a desperate fight to survive.

Jan Reid is a veteran writer-at-large for Texas Monthly and has contributed dozens of articles to Esquire, GQ, Slate, Men’s Journal, Garden & Gun, the New York Times Magazine, and many other leading publications. His highly praised nonfiction books include The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock, The Bullet Meant for Me, and Rio Grande.

Reid’s first novel, Deerinwater, was published in 1985. Since then, he has devoted time between his many projects and some perilous adventures to the research and crafting of Comanche Sundown. Praised for the versatility of his writing, Reid has won honors that include a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Dobie-Paisano Fellowship, and awards by PEN and the Texas Institute of Letters.

Born in Abilene, Texas, Reid grew up in Wichita Falls and for many years has made his home in Austin with his wife, Dorothy Browne.

TCU Press books are available at your local bookseller or by calling 800.826.8911.

Technorati Tags: Texana Review,Ed Blackburn,Texas,Stories

The Far Canyon by Elmer Kelton

The Far Canyon, the sequel to Slaughter, was published in 1994 and won Elmer Kelton his sixth esteemed Spur Award from the Western Writers of America. With such accomplishments, it is easy to understand why, in 1995, the Western Writers of America voted Elmer Kelton the greatest western writer of all time.

In The Far Canyon, Kelton masterfully unveils for his reader the finality of the buffalo’s demise, the beginning of a time when cattle would replace the American bison on the southern plains and ultimately end the Plains Indian culture. The novel reveals the history of the period, up close and personal, so his readership can judge the impact of the period upon his characters.

The novel’s first chapter introduces Comanche warrior Crow Feather, whose situation is emblematic of a common recurring theme in all of Kelton’s works . . . change. Protagonist Jeff Layne is faced with the very same dramatic problem, the devastating threat to one’s self-concept inherent in change. Layne, the hide hunter from Slaughter, is weary of killing and death. He decides to return to South Texas, determined to earn his living with the newest resource on the plains, cattle. And the cultures collide.

Kelton eloquently reveals the impact of hide hunters on Plains Indian culture. Crow Feather realizes that no matter how many whites the Comanche kill, there will always be more “coming back.” Crow Feather also understands that his life and the lives of his wives and children will never be easy again. Are Layne and Crow Feather of a character that will allow them to escape a predetermined fate by reaching that far canyon, or will they simply perish under the cultural dictate of their historical time?

Elmer Kelton was voted All-Time Greatest Western Author by Western Writers of America. He received seven Spur Awards, four Wrangler Awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Museum, and lifetime achievement awards from WWA, Western American Literature Association, and the Texas Institute of Letters. He was the author of more than fifty novels.

TCU Press titles are available at your local bookstore or by calling 800.826.8911.

Time of the Rangers by Mike Cox - an interview

Normally, I like to keep these podcast interviews limited to 10 to 15 minutes.  However, I was compelled by so much of what Mike Cox had to say about the Texas Rangers, his new book (and the previous volume "Texas Rangers: Wearing the Cinco Peso"), and his own life experience that I stretched this to about 29 minutes. 

Regardless, Mike Cox knows his stuff, is articulate and is a joy to be around (I always enjoy spending time with west Texans!).

Accompanying music by Ocean Alexander used under the Creative Commons License from MusicAlley.

Click HERE to listen...

Technorati Tags: Texana Review,Ed Blackburn,Texas Rangers,Texas,history

 

Puttin' Al Down

Another Charles Chupp contribution to the legends and lore of the Lone Star State....

Listen...

- Four minutes, thirty seconds

Music by Tracy Jane Comer

"Hootch" a story by Charles Chupp

In the waning days of 1940, Hugh got lucky and we qualified to live on the Lyman Forrest Place at the intersection of the Leon River and the paved highway. The crop of boys Hugh and Thel had amassed probably strengthened Mr. Forrest’s judgment. Three healthy, growing lads plus Hugh’s ability to manage stock and his lack of prejudice for hard work added weight to the plus side of the balance scale.

listen...

Remembrance Day 2009

Here's a small tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice so that you and I can enjoy a Memorial Day holiday.