Name: The Texas Rangers
Brand: Chuck Parsons
SKU: 9780738579825
Price: 17.49 USD
Availability: InStock

The Texas Rangers

9780738579825

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

The Texas Rangers. The words evoke exciting images of daring, courage, high adventure. The Rangers began as a handful of men protecting their homes from savage raiding parties; now in their third century of existence, they are a highly sophisticated crime-fighting organization. Yet at times even today the Texas Ranger mounts his horse to track fugitives through dense chaparral, depending on his wits more than technology. The iconic image of the Texas Ranger is of a man who is tall, unflinching, and dedicated to doing a difficult job no matter what the odds. The Rangers of the 21st century are different sizes, colors, and genders, but remain as vital and real today as when they were created in the horseback days of 1823, when what is today Texas was part of Mexico, a wild and untamed land.

The Downfall of Galveston's May Walker Burleson

9781467139663

$24.99

Jennie May Walker Burleson was envied for having everything a woman of her time could want--the privileged upbringing, the dazzling good looks, the dashing war hero husband. She was admired for demonstrating that a woman could want more, from the front of the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession to the bottom of a Mesoamerican archaeological dig. But as she stood over the body of her husband's second wife, gun in hand, society's envy and admiration quickly hardened into pity and scorn. T. Felder Dorn examines the complicated trajectory of her life as socialite, suffragist and shooter.

The Downfall of Galveston's May Walker Burleson

1960s Austin Gangsters

9781626198401

$21.99

Timmy Overton of Austin and Jerry Ray James of Odessa were football stars who traded athletics for lives of crime. The original rebels without causes, nihilists with Cadillacs and Elvis hair, the Overton gang and their associates formed a ragtag white trash mafia that bedazzled Austin law enforcement for most of the 1960s. Tied into a loose network of crooked lawyers, pimps and used car dealers who became known as the "traveling criminals," they burglarized banks and ran smuggling and prostitution rings all over Texas. Author Jesse Sublett presents a detailed account of these Austin miscreants, who rose to folk hero status despite their violent criminal acts.

Historic Movie Houses of Austin

9781467117180

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Motion pictures came to Austin on October 10, 1896, debuting at the Hancock Opera House. Since then, movies have continued to enchant, entertain, and inform the citizens of the capital of Texas. And, the places--the movie houses and theaters--where people saw motion pictures played just as important a role in the moviegoing experience as the movies themselves. As the city's population grew and motion picture technology changed, so too did Austin's movie houses, from the first kinetoscope parlor on Congress Avenue to the city' s first four-plex, the Aquarius 4, in southeast Austin. While most of these places are long gone, some withstood the test of time and are still showing movies or have been repurposed for other uses. Through the rich archival collections of the Austin History Center, Historic Movie Houses of Austin explores the stories of these important historic spaces and of the lives of those who were connected with them.

Galveston's Maceo Family Empire

9781626197534

$23.99

At the dawn of the twentieth century, Galveston was a beacon of opportunity on the Texas Gulf Coast. Dubbed the "Wall Street of the Southwest," its laissez-faire reputation called those hungry for success to its shores. Led by brothers Salvatore and Rosario at the height of Prohibition, the Maceo family answered that call and changed the Oleander City forever. They built an island empire of gambling, smuggling and prostitution that lasted three decades. Housed in their nightclubs frequented by stars like Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra and Duke Ellington, they endeared themselves to their Galveston neighbors by sharing their profits, imitating crime syndicates in their native Sicily. Though certainly no saints, the Maceos helped bring prosperity to a community weary from a century of turmoil. Discover the history of Galveston's famous crime family with authors Nicole Boatman, Dr. Scott Belshaw and Texas historian Richard McCaslin.

Galveston's Red Light District

9781467138833

$23.99

Known today as a colorful resort destination featuring family entertainment and a thriving arts district, Galveston was once notorious for its flourishing vice economy and infamous red-light district. Called simply "The Line," the unassuming five blocks of Postoffice Street came alive every night with wild parties and generous offerings of hourly love. A stubborn mainstay of the island cityscape for nearly seventy years, it finally shut down in the late 1950s. But ridding Galveston of prostitution would prove much more difficult than putting a padlock on the front door. Kimber Fountain pursues the sequestered story of women who wanted to make their own rules and the city that wanted to let them.

The Houstorian Calendar

9781467139878

$21.99

September 4, 2000, was Houston's hottest day on record, as well as Beyoncé's nineteenth birthday. Sam Houston was elected president on September 5, 1836. The city was awarded a National League baseball franchise on October 17, 1960, and on November 1, 2017, the Astros won their first World Series. On December 13, 1882, the Capitol Hotel became Houston's first public building to get electricity. Tragedy struck on April 16, 1947, when a ship carrying ammonium nitrate fertilizer exploded alongside a Texas City dock. James Glassman captures every single day of the year in the prism of Houston history, from the Texas Revolution to the moon landing.

Texas Women First

9781626197145

$21.99

American history is teeming with unconventional, trailblazing Lone Star women with big, unprecedented achievements--outstanding, outrageous, outré women who know all about being "Texas Big" and being first. Texas's own Bessie Coleman was the first black person in the world to earn a pilot's license. Students and typists the world over breathed a sigh of relief when San Antonio-born Bette Nesmith Graham released Mistake Out, now known as Liquid Paper®. Way ahead of the curve, University of Texas graduate Aida Nydia Barrera saw the need for bilingual educational programming and in 1970 started Carrascolendas, the first television show of its kind in the country. In 1981, El Paso's Sandra Day O'Connor became the first female justice of the United States Supreme Court. Join author Sherrie McLeRoy for an introduction to the exceptional women of Lone Star history.

The City We Built

9781467197229

$14.99

In the tradition of Little Legends and Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls comes The City We Built: Black Leaders of Austin, an illustrated children’s book honoring the extraordinary African American men and women who played a critical role in shaping Black Austin’s social, political, and cultural heritage. A collaboration between The Black Leaders Collective; The George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center; and renowned Texas visual artist Sadé Lawson, The City We Built will take readers on an empowering and inspiring journey through Black Austin’s history, highlighting such local luminaries as:Ada Anderson, Charles Atkins, Berl Handcox, Johnny Holmes, Azie Taylor Morton, Velma Roberts, Dorothy Turner, Willie Wells, and more.

Featuring full-page biographies and vibrantly illustrated, full-color portraits, The City We Built will not only educate young readers and inspire a new generation of Austin Black leaders—but celebrate the heroes who helped build this remarkable city.

Cover image for The City We Built, isbn: 9781467197229

Fort Worth's Rock and Roll Roots

9780738584997

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

On the evening of February 9, 1964, Ed Sullivan introduced the Beatles to America. Across the country, teens were glued to their TV sets and witnessed a turning point in rock and roll history. Vibrant and creative teen scenes sprang up all across the country. The scene in Fort Worth, Texas, produced an exceptional burst of creativity in songwriting and musicianship. Weekend concerts and battles of the bands drew thousands of fans. Primitive teen recordings were pressed into 45s and received radio airplay in rotation with national acts. Local television shows featured live bands; fashions changed with go-go girls' skirts growing shorter; long hair became the style for women and men; and the seeds of the counterculture were planted and flourished. The music of this generation birthed every rock subgenre for the next 40 years (acid rock, heavy metal, punk, new wave, grunge), and today's musicians still reach back to these recordings for inspiration.

Texas Lawmen, 1835-1899

9781609492168

$29.99

The tally of Texas lawmen killed during the state's first sixty-five years of organized law enforcement is truly staggering. From Texas Rangers the likes of Silas Mercer Parker Jr., gunned down at Parker's Fort in 1836, to Denton County sheriff 's deputy Floyd Coberly, murdered by an inmate in 1897 after ten days on the job, this collection accounts for all of those unsung heroes. Not merely an attempt to retell a dozen popular peace officer legends, Texas Lawmen, 1835-1899 represents thousands of hours of research conducted over more than a decade. Ron DeLord and Cliff Caldwell have carefully assembled a unique and engaging chronicle of Texas history.

Dallas Tough

9781467146081

$21.99

The history of Dallas is speckled with the lean, the determined and the obstinately opinionated--fighters who brought the city up out of the prairie. Ride with Nicholas Sparks, who christened the soil with his blood, and stand with Henry Ervay, the mayor who challenged one of the most powerful governors Texas has known. Bonnie Parker shot her way to infamy, while Corinne Maddox solved her stalker problem with two pocket guns. Herbert Noble pushed his luck to the breaking point. Jacob Rubenstein avenged his fallen idol. Accompany Josh Foreman and Ryan Starrett into a largely forgotten Dallas, where citizenship was a matter of gumption.

Texas Singularities

9781467140867

$21.99

Texas, that most singular of states, conceals an entire parade of peculiar events and exceptional people in the back pages of its history books. A Lone Star man once (and only once) tried to bulldog a steer from an airplane. One small Texas town was attacked by the Japanese, while another was "liberated" from America during the Cold War. Texan career choices include goat gland doctor, rubbing doctor, striking cowboy and singing cowboy, not to mention swatter, tangler and dunker. From gunslinger Sally Skull to would-be rainmaker R.G. Dyrenforth, Clay Coppedge collects the distinctive odds and ends of Texan lore.

Texas Pistoleers

9781609490003

$23.99

The Vaudeville Theater Ambush of 1884 went down in history as one of the most famous gunfights in San Antonio, but the killing that night of Ben Thompson and John King Fisher, two of the most notorious pistoleers of the day, became something of a mystery. The two men entered the theatre just before midnight on March 11, and less than an hour later, both lay dead, shot down in what for all accounts was a true massacre. The responsible gunmen never were prosecuted for their crimes, and Thompson and Fisher--a mere mention of either man's name was enough to put the fear of death in any opponent--have been widely ignored since. Now, historian G.R. Williamson brings to light the mystery and the myths surrounding these men and their infamous deaths in Texas Pistoleers.

Stake in West Texas, A

9781626193802

$21.99

In 1950, Ann was eighteen and Bob D twenty when he asked her to marry him and hit the road for West Texas. They packed their station wagon, left home and began a life of adventure together on Conoco's West Texas survey crew during the 1950s oil boom. Five kids, twenty-one towns and thirteen years on the road--Bob D and Ann's travels along the highways of West Texas are a portrait in a landscape of oilfields, railroads and ranches. Layering local history with family memoir, author Rebecca D. Henderson reveals a glimpse of mid-century West Texas through her grandparents' adventures as a young couple raising children on the road..

The Ghostly Tales of Granbury

9781467198332

$12.99

Ghost stories from this Texas town have never been so creepy, fun, and full of mystery!

Granbury, Texas's, haunted history comes to life--even when the main players are dead. Meet inmates past that haunt the historic Hood County Jail. See the mysterious woman in red who inhabits the home of one of Granbury's most famous residents. Venture into the Granbury Opera House to encounter the spirit of John Wilkes Booth. Dive into this spooky chapter book for suspenseful tales of bumps in the night, paranormal investigations, and the unexplained; just be sure to keep the light on.

Houston Police Department

9780738595351

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

The Houston Police Force was established by the naming of a city marshal in January 1841. Houston Police Department historian Denny Hair wrote, "As befitted a frontier community, the meeting of justice in Houston was swift and uncompromising. Trials were conducted in an informal manner with little attention paid to formal rules of evidence and legal procedure." Eventually, conditions changed and law enforcement became more sophisticated. The "Bayou City" population went from 44,633 in 1900 to almost 1 million by 1960. "Houston" was the first word spoken from the moon, thus it became "Space City" and, ultimately, the nation's fourth-largest city. Its police department weathered decades of mayoral appointment for every officer before state civil service reform in the 1940s. It also met the civil rights years better than most cities and saw dramatic change with the 1982 appointment of Lee Brown as the first African American police chief of a large American city.

Texas Entertainers

9781467141512

$21.99

In keeping with its reputation for size and spectacle, Texas has produced a staggering number of stars. Although many hailed from towns too small to have a post office, they occupied the spotlight on the largest of stages. Roger Miller's songs made him the "King of the Road,'? and Howard Hughes stretched his vision across the skies of the silver screen. Gene Autry won fame as a singing cowboy and Van Cliburn wore a tuxedo to international piano competitions, but both hailed from the Lone Star State. Texans penned Old Yeller and voiced Daffy Duck. From Buddy Holly to Ginger Rogers and Joan Crawford to Jimmy Dean, Bartee Haile charts the brightest constellations of Texas entertainers.

A Day's Ride from Here Volume 2

9781609493943

$21.99

Join historian Cliff Caldwell for volume two of A Day's Ride from Here as he takes you through the hidden history of Texas Hill Country. Follow the San Saba trail the old Spanish route from San Antonio to Menard to the famous Pegleg Crossing, where Rangers brought down Dick Dublin in 1878. Visit frontier posts like Camp Verde and Camp Ives near Bandera Pass and see the sites of the earliest Texas Paleoindians along the Pecos River. Explore early pioneer settlements and once bustling towns in this unforgiving terrain: Albert, near Fredericksburg; London in Kimble County; and Tuff in western Bandera County.

A Day's Ride from Here Volume 1

9781609493936

$21.99

Travel alongside historian Cliff Caldwell as he uncovers tales of true Texas grit, all within a day's ride of Mountain Home. Rough characters were plentiful in Kerr County after the Civil War. In fact, no fewer than three thousand of these outlaws were reportedly brought to justice in this same area before the end of the nineteenth century. While Native Americans fought for their ground, notorious gunmen like John Wesley Hardin and Frank Eastwood gained ill-deserved riches or met their fates at the hands of legendary rangers like N.O. Reynolds and Thalis T. Cook. Meet the dastardly yet lesser-known individuals like "Gip" Hardin, a teacher whose drunken night out turned into a gunfight outside Junction City's Turman Hotel, and the Ake brothers, two of the only members of the Eastwood Gang to be set free.

Texas Far and Wide

9781625859181

$21.99

The sheer volume of remarkable Texan exploits creates a dizzying tally for the proudest of its citizens. So it happens that inexplicable marvels slip past an entire state of storytellers and world-famous legends live as anonymous neighbors. Ever hear the story about the escaped ape in the Big Thicket? Or the "Interplanetary Capital of the Universe" that sat on the Gulf Coast? Does the cowboy hat that warmed U.S.-China relations ring a bell? From the Staked Plain Quakers to the Kaiser Burnout, E.R. Bills delves into some of the most fascinating chapters of overlooked Texas lore.

Historic Dallas Theatres

9781467131285

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Dallas was the show business capital of Texas and much of the South throughout the 20th century. More than 100 theatres served the city's neighborhoods, and Elm Street once boasted more than 15 vaudeville and movie theatres--second in number to Broadway. The quality of the show houses in Dallas were surpassed by few cities and all major, and most minor, Hollywood studios maintained Dallas offices. Notable names figuring in this history include Margo Jones, "Blind" Lemon Jefferson, Karl Hoblitzelle, Baruch Lumet, Bob Hope, Greer Garson, Linda Darnell, Howard Hughes, Clyde Barrow, Gene Autry, Oliver Stone, Pappy Dolson, Jack Ruby, Lee Harvey Oswald, Nicola Rescigno, Don Henley, and Frank Lloyd Wright.

The Dallas Music Scene: 1920s-1960s

9781467131513

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

For much of the 20th century, Dallas was home to a wide range of vital popular music. By the 1920s, the streets, dance halls, and vaudeville houses of Deep Ellum rang with blues and jazz. Blind Lemon Jefferson was discovered singing the blues on the streets of Deep Ellum but never recorded in Dallas. Beginning in the 1930s, however, artists from Western swing pioneer Bob Wills to blues legend Robert Johnson recorded in a three-story zigzag moderne building at 508 Park Avenue. And from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s, a wrestling arena called the Sportatorium was home to a Saturday night country and rock-and-roll extravaganza called the Big "D" Jamboree.

History Lover's Guide to Dallas, A

9781467142267

$21.99

Don't let the drawl fool you--Dallas boasts a dynamic history full of explosive growth. The cityscape itself seems eager to measure up to the outsized personalities that forged the town's identity. A sixty-seven-and-a-half-foot-tall giraffe statue greets visitors to the Dallas Zoo, while guests exiting the Joule Hotel encounter the gaze of a thirty-foot eyeball. A colossal Pegasus glows above it all from its perch on top of the Magnolia Petroleum building. Subtler storylines also thread their way through the forest of glass and steel, from the jazz of Deep Ellum alleyways to the peaceful paths of the Katy Trail. Author Georgette Driscoll looks beyond the inscriptions for the events that shaped Dallas into the city it is today.

Lone Star Sports Legends

9781467137751

$21.99

From the clash of college to the best married shooting duo in history, the Lone Star State clears every hurdle the sports world offers. A former Texas Christian basketball player became the first tenured African American professor at Harvard Business School. Aggie football legend John Kimbrough's first professional contract required him to act in movies and serve as the stadium's handyman. For every date on the calendar, Ryan Sprayberry provides a play-by-play of 365 memorable days in the state's athletic history, beginning with the birth of the Cotton Bowl on January 1, 1937, and ending with the final snap of the Ice Bowl on December 31, 1967.

Early Galveston Artists and Photographers

9781467146302

$21.99

Tour a stunning gallery of Gulf Coast artists that includes the overlooked treasures of nineteenth-century studios, the heroic advocacy of the Galveston Art League and the visual pioneers who earned the island community its overdue acclaim.

Since Audubon visited Galveston in 1837, artists have flocked to the island, some just passing through and others staying their entire lives. But because Galveston remained remote from the nation's cultural centers, its artistic contributions were initially largely ignored. However, the recovery effort from Great Storm of 1900 spurred a new sense of local pride and civic determination. The Cotton Carnivals attracted people throughout the state, the city's artists united to promote local art through the creation of the Galveston Art League, and photographers modernized their practices. In the early 1920s, a new generation, freed from nineteenth century traditions, started to gain attention both on and off the island. Explore Galveston's artistic heritage with Patricia Jakobi, from the landscapes of Boyer Gonzales to the sculptural portraits of Caroline Burton Claassen.

Early Galveston Artists and Photographers

Foley's

9780738579283

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

The story of Foley's began in Ireland in the late 1800s when William L. Foley set sail for America. Ambition led him to Houston, where he opened a store and hired his two nephews, Pat C. and James. The nephews quickly felt an entrepreneurial urge to run their own store, so their uncle gave them $2,000 to get started. On February 12, 1900, the Foley Brothers Dry Goods Company at 507 Main Street opened for business. Approximately 44,000 residents visited the store that day, and sales of $128.29 were tabulated. Soon after Spindletop was discovered, Robert I. Cohen of Galveston bought the Foley Brothers company for his son George S. Cohen to operate. Cohen, along with the aid of six of the eight Meyer brothers from Galveston, built it into the largest store in Texas. In 1945, Fred Lazarus, from the department store clan in Ohio, came to Houston to visit his son at Ellington Field. He saw Houston's potential, and in 1946, Foley Brothers became Foley's, owned by Federated Department Stores.

The Counterfeit Prince of Old Texas: Swindling Slaver Monroe Edwards

9781467117876

$21.99

After Monroe Edwards died in Sing Sing prison in 1847, penny dreadfuls memorialized him as the most celebrated American forger until the turn of the century. With a bizarre biography too complicated for easy history, his critical contributions to Texas settlement, revolution and annexation were inextricably mired in his activities as a slave smuggler and confidence man. Author Lora-Marie Bernard unravels the unbelievable story of one of the most notorious criminal adventurers ever to set foot on the soil of the Lone Star State.

The Counterfeit Prince of Old Texas: Swindling Slaver Monroe Edwards

Texas Lawmen, 1900-1940

9781609494520

$29.99

Lawlessness in Texas did not end with the close of the cowboy era. It just evolved, swapping horses and pistols for cars and semiautomatics. From Patrolman "Newt" Stewart, killed by a group of servicemen in February 1900, to Whitesboro chief of police William Thomas "Will" Miller, run down by a vehicle in the line of duty in 1940, Ron DeLord and Cliff Caldwell present a comprehensive chronicle of the brave--and some not so brave--peace officers who laid down their lives in the service of the State of Texas in the first half of the twentieth century.

The Texas Ranch Sisterhood

9781625858481

$29.99

Most people may think of ranchers and cowboys as men. But although they are under-chronicled, ranch women work from dark to dark, keeping step with hired hands, brothers, fathers and husbands. They blaze trails through unforgiving scrub. They cook supper and feed bulls. At any given time, they wear the hats-and the gloves-of geologist, veterinarian, lawyer and mechanic. They are fierce and feminine and powerful. Photojournalist and writer Alyssa Banta spent over a year following more than a dozen Texas women through their grueling daily routines, from the messy confines of the working chute to the sprawling reaches of the back pasture. The result of this unprecedented access is an intimate portrait of the challenges and achievements of the ranch women of the Lone Star State, along with the land and livestock that sustain them.

Texas Ingenuity

9780738503561

$24.99

Imagination is bigger in Texas, too. This collection of inspiring and often quirky stories highlights dozens of examples of innovation from Lone Star history. The Hamill brothers devised a better oil well to reach gushers at Spindletop. The first Neiman-Marcus store opened in Dallas in 1907, revolutionizing the retail fashion world. Astroturf emerged at the Astrodome in 1966. Fritos and corn dogs are just two ubiquitous snack foods claimed as Texan originals. Houston native, and civil rights activist, Congresswoman Barbara Jordan rose to national prominence as a voice of unity during the Watergate scandal. Author Alan C. Elliott details these and many more lessons in success in Texas Ingenuity.

Unforgettable Galveston Characters

9781467140232

$23.99

From financiers of the Texas Revolution to contestants in the Pageant of Pulchritude, the shores of Galveston enticed and cultivated a host of memorable men and women. Bishops and bookies, concert pianists and cotton tycoons--all left an indelible print on their remarkable home. Magnolia Willis Sealy and the members of the Women's Health Protective Association reshaped the ravages of the Great Storm into the glories of the Oleander City. The benevolent activism of Norris Wright Cuney transformed the social landscape, while actress Charlotte Walker and painter Boyer Gonzales Sr. extended the island's cultural reach abroad. Jan Johnson keeps company with Galveston's most fascinating characters.

Legendary Locals of Fort Worth

9781467101349

$24.99

Fort Worth is "the City of Cowboys and Culture"--and where the West begins. Its citizens highlight the Texas can-do spirit and the determination and compassion to make a difference, to be legendary. When Buckley (B.B.) Paddock persuaded the railroad to lay track west of Dallas, a city was born and so was opportunity. Cowboys like T.J. Ryon rode into town with their cattle. J. Frank Norris preached against the vices in Hell's Half Acre while Jennie Schueber tried to rally support for a free library. Feisty entrepreneurs like Ninnie Baird and John B. Laneri baked bread and sold pasta noodles. "Cowtown" also boasts such notables as Edna Gladney, who helped countless orphans find a home; the Clark brothers, who brought Texas Christian University home; and Claude R. Platte, who bravely served as a Tuskegee airman. These fine folks are just a sampling of Fort Worth's fascinating--and sometimes infamous--characters.

Texas Dames

9781609498122

$21.99

These are the Texas Dames, women who sallied forth to run sprawling ranches, build towns, helm major banks and shape Lone Star history. These "Dames" broke gender and racial barriers in every facet of life. Some led the way as heroines, while others slid headlong into notoriety, but nearly all exhibited similar strands of courage and determination to wrest a country, a state and a region from the wilds. From Angelina of the Hasinai, interpreter for the Spanish, and sharpshooter Sally Scull to Dr. Claudia Potter, America's first female anesthesiologist, and Birdie Harwood, first female mayor in the United States, historian Carmen Goldthwaite has been profiling Texas women and their accomplishments in her popular "Texas Dames" column. Here are their stories, from early Tejas to the twentieth century.

Texas Adoption Activist Edna Gladney

9781626193512

$21.99

In 1941, Greer Garson earned an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Fort Worth's Edna Gladney in Blossoms in the Dust." All eyes turned toward the small yet mighty Gladney and her fight for children's rights and adoption reform. Born in 1886, Edna Gladney was labeled as "illegitimate" from birth and, as an adult, lobbied for that label's removal from all birth certificates. During World War I, when many women left the home to work, Edna opened an innovative daytime nursery to care for the children of these workingwomen. What became the Gladney Center for Adoption has changed the lives of families and children the world over. Author and Gladney parent Sherrie McLeRoy tells Edna's amazing story alongside the making of the movie that launched Edna and adoption reform beyond Fort Worth's borders to national recognition.."