Bøger udgivet af Texas A & M University Press

"When the Bosque Ran Clear: Life Along the River from Prehistory to the Civil War presents a history of early people and their environments along the Bosque River valley in North Central Texas. Spanning from the Pleistocene, thousands of years ago when the earliest peoples arrived in the cool and rainy river valley, to the time of the Comanche in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Dan Young describes how peoples' lives were shaped by climate-driven changes in the landscape. Global fluctuations in climate brought changes to the river's environment, forcing new lifestyles to develop in response to new environmental conditions, impacting foodstuffs and the presence or absence of bison. In response to centuries of alternating climates, lifeways successfully adapted in the Bosque Valley. Evidence of these inhabitants is found in the soil; stone tools and weapons, pollen, chemical signatures, and other organic matter, as discussed in archaeological and paleoclimatological studies, provide scientific evidence to support Young's insights on climate change, human occupation, and folk botany. Presented in ten chapters with forty-one original black and white illustrations, the book begins with the natural history of the river that flows through the Western Cross Timbers, the Blackland Prairies, and into the Brazos River at Waco. Beginning with the Pleistocene, Young's narrative then continues through the Early Archaic (8,000-6,000 years ago), Middle Archaic (6,000-4,000 years ago), and the Wet Centuries (5,000-2,150 years ago), with the climate-induced disappearance of bison and the arrival of the Spanish and their horses. Young concludes with a chapter on the establishment of Scots-Irish settlements in 1854 and the destruction of the Native American communities and lifeways through the new settlers' farming and ranching practices"--

"Fire lookout towers are enjoying a retrospective rebirth, attracting the curious and the adventurous, as Americans seeking escape for moments of solitude rediscover the structures' national significance. Though the Civilian Conservation Corps' national fire control policies and reforestation efforts have been covered elsewhere, each state's legacy is as unique as its people, forest conditions, traditions, and legislative history. In Texas, what emerges is a story that shaped national policies and examines the ethos of a generation. Edward Cavallerano's Fire in the Piney Woods develops several parallel stories. The first describes the Piney Woods and the antecedent conditions that necessitated fire prevention, forest fire detection, and the development of Texas' fire lookout network. Second, through collected stories, poetry, and primary accounts, it pays tribute to a generation of Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees, foresters, surveyors, and dedicated, self-sufficient lookouts who redeveloped or protected the forestlands of Texas and educated rural communities about the value of their natural resources. Finally, it describes the location and design of the lookout towers and associated structures in Texas by consolidating a decade of observations. In this effort, Cavallerano introduces methodologies to assess tower characteristics that may be useful to workers in other regions. Taken together, the book shares an appreciation of the past and celebrates the heritage these sites still possess. Fire in the Piney Woods preserves the history of forest fire protection in Texas, enhances readers' recreational experiences, and builds a compelling case among Texans to preserve the lookout towers that still stand"--

"How often do we pass by moths under a porch light or fluttering under a streetlamp without giving them a second glance? Yet moths, far more plentiful than butterflies, with their intricate patterns and curious coloration, often emerge as beautiful as butterflies. Book of Texas Moths is based on the original field work of distinguished Texas naturalist, author, and photographer John Tveten (1934-2009), whose work stands as testament to what a person can discover by careful and systemic observation of the natural world. Beginning in 1978 until his death in 2009, Tveten kept meticulous field notes about nearly every bird, butterfly, mammal, reptile, dragonfly, and moth he encountered, using a form designed by his wife, Gloria, who shared his enthusiasm for documenting wildlife. In addition to careful field notes detailing the when, where, and what of moth observations, Tveten's entries were linked to corresponding photographs of the moths in various stages of their life cycles. He planned to shape all of this information into a book to be called Butterflies of the Night. After his passing, nature writers Gary and Kathy Adams Clark, close friends and proteges of John and Gloria Tveten, set out to transcribe and publish his field notes alongside the corresponding photographs. Remaining faithful to John's original research, this manuscript presents Tveten's careful documentation on the distribution, history, and identification of 100 Texas moth species, while incorporating his descriptive phrases into as many species accounts as possible. It is not intended as a field guide; rather, Book of Texas Moths takes readers into the mind of a disciplined naturalist as he conducted important original research."--

"After his release from the Green Bay Packers, realizing that his football career was abruptly over, Delvin Williams asked himself some hard questions: What happened to the game he fell in love with as a kid? What is a retired football player supposed to do? Where did he fit in? Nothing had prepared him for life after football. From his childhood in inner-city Houston and school days at all-Black Kashmere High School, Williams tells the story of a young boy who realized that football filled some of the empty places in his spirit left by an absent father, a poverty-stricken childhood, and the ongoing sting of racism. His determination carried him through a four-year degree at the University of Kansas and, ultimately, an All-Pro career with the San Francisco 49ers and Miami Dolphins. Football afforded him an education and a good living. But it also had an impact on his body and soul beyond anything he could have imagined ... Delvin Williams brings readers on the long journey from Houston's Fifth Ward to the packed stadiums of the NFL, continuing with his decades-long fight for the compensation due an athlete who sustained injuries on the job. Here, Williams recounts the circumstances that motivated him to meet challenges at every level, exceeding his own expectations, telling the story of a career that produced a head-on collision between a starry-eyed kid from the tough streets of Houston and the industry of football"--

"Both Sides Now: Writing the Edges of the North American West brings together the best scholarship in a focused, synthetic survey of five themes in the history of the northern and southern borderlands: the borderlands as aboriginal homelands and the persistence of Indigenous territories and ways of being; imperial and national efforts to create binary notions of territory and identity; regulatory efforts aimed stopping or limiting the movement of certain people across their borders; the way the cross-border movement of capital, goods, and people, usually aided by state power, weakened those efforts; and the complex, binary-refusing identities that persist in borderlands communities. Historian Sheila McManus uses these themes to highlight the commonalities between the two borderlands' histories and provides an overview and a starting point for experts and newcomers in the field of North American borderlands history to address new questions. By conceptualizing both borders together and focusing particular attention on race and gender as well as empire and nation, Both Sides Now provides a unique methodology in North American scholarship that emphasizes the connections between these borderlands and others around the world"--

This collection by Teresa Palomo Acosta - poet, historian, author, and activist - spans three decades of her writing, from 1988 through 2018. The collection is divided into poems, essays, a children's story, and plays. Each work addresses cultural, historical, political, and gender realities that she experienced from her childhood to the present.

Many of Texas' leading writers have had their hearts captured by a river, and they have created sparkling accounts of the waterways they love. Now, editors Steven Davis and Sam Pfiester have assembled the best of those works into a revelatory collection of diverse literary voices.

Austin artist David Everett was born and raised in Texas, and his work reflects an organic and wholly original Lone Star State ethos. His stunning vision and exquisite craftsmanship evoke nature's essential grace and harmony in beautiful sculptures, bas-relief carvings, woodcuts, and drawings.

Based on interviews with 200 justices of the peace from all parts of Texas, Texas People's Court takes readers on a tour of what it means to be a Texas justice of the peace: an experience that is by turns hilarious, sobering, heart-wrenching, and, from one end to the other, fascinating.

Offers an informative look at the challenges and changes faced by Texans on the home front during the Second World War. This collection of essays by leading scholars of Texas history covers topics from the African American and Tejano experience to organized labour, from the expanding opportunities for women to the importance of oil and agriculture.

Based on extensive oral history interviews and archival research, Texas Jazz Singer recalls both the glamour and the challenges of life on the road and onstage during the golden age of swing and beyond.

When people think of legendary Texas cattle ranches the images that first come to mind are iconic, open-range operations like King Ranch of South Texas. In Henry C. 'Hank' Smith and the Cross B Ranch, historian M. Scott Sosebee tells the story of one pioneer settler's small but significant ranch in West Texas.