Name: Arizona's Murdered Madams
Brand: Merry Gordon
SKU: 9781467171069
Price: 24.99 USD
Availability: InStock

Arizona's Murdered Madams

9781467171069

$24.99

The true stories of the lost queens of vice

Territorial Arizona was a rough-and-tumble place, but three resilient women carved out places for themselves on the Western frontier. Minnie Powers, a former Mormon, ruled early Phoenix’s red-light district, while "Dutch May" Prescott’s scandalous Flagstaff sex show drew in crowds from miles around. In Jerome, "Belgian Jennie" Bauters lost her brothel to fire more than once, but she rose from the ashes every time. Their grit and determination to make the best of their new homes weren’t the only things they had in common. They might have survived the local gossip and notoriety with aplomb, but all three were gunned down in cold blood. Where their scandalous livelihoods once dominated headlines, now they’re remembered, if at all, for their sensational murders.

Author Merry Gordon delves into the lives—and deaths—of three of Arizona’s most infamous madams.

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True Tales, Legends & Lore of the Pecos River

9781467157339

$24.99

Make a crossing of the storied Pecos River.

The arid Pecos River Country of Texas is rich with stories, the crooked path of its alkaline waters defining the lives of any who dared venture here. Native peoples, Spanish explorers, soldiers, travelers, cattlemen, wildcatters, and just plain folks, passed by, struggled, sojourned, and perished. From the oldest book in North America to the great rock of the Jumano, their traces remain in the ruins, the records and the earth itself. Native West Texan James Collett catalogues architectural masterpieces, lonely gravestones, fanciful cowboy tales and other bits of history caught in the currents of a legendary river.

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Murder & Mayhem in Tombstone

9781467156516

$24.99

Desire, Deceit and DebaucheryTombstone was a wild place during Arizona’s territorial era, with violence and criminal activity running rampant. It wasn’t just the Earp brothers’ iconic gunfight at the O.K. Corral that left behind a trail of death and destruction—lawlessness and vigilante justice reigned throughout the Old West era. Driven by tension between the sheriff’s office and the local Deputy Marshal, daily life for infamous outlaws, corrupt civil servants, and even ordinary customers of the saloons and brothels was apt to devolve into chaos at any moment.Join author Cody Polston as he brings to life the characters who walked the dusty streets and left their mark on Tombstone's bloody past.

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Eerie Arizona

9781467156141

$24.99

Mysterious lights, mystical vortexes and the Mogollon Monster.

Go beyond the beautiful vistas and desert landscapes and discover a new, stranger side of Arizona. From the legendary cryptid that stalks the Grand Canyon to a purported alien abduction that inspired a feature film, strange happenings and weird occurrences have been recorded in every corner of the state. Join author Patrick Whitehurst as he explores tales of the odd and unexplained.

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Brief History of Greenlee County, A

9781467155021

$24.99

Home to the largest open pit copper mine in North America, Greenlee County boasts a colorful and fascinating history.

Mining, ranching, and farming have sustained generations of area families, including Blue River rancher Freddie Fritz, once the head of the Arizona Cattle Growers Association, and Robert Hannagan, who lent his name to the popular Hannagan Meadow along the Coronado Trail. Discover the fate of Metcalf, a town no longer standing, and the devastating Clifton flood of 1906. Learn about the labor strike of 1903, one of the most violent conflicts in Greenlee's history.

Join area natives Robert A. Chilicky and Gerald D. Hunt as they explore the past of one of the most interesting places in Arizona.

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Legendary Locals of Las Cruces

9781467101332

$24.99

When Las Cruces was founded 164 years ago near a group of crosses marking the graves of travelers and soldiers, a rawhide rope separated acreage for a church, a cemetery, and family lots. That rawhide rope brought to Las Cruces a new era filled with the exhilaration of the Wild West and the people who molded the City of the Crosses. Over the decades, the number of local men, women, and children who deserve recognition as heroes of history or champions of the present is infinite, including Dr. Nathan E. Boyd, entrepreneurial creator of the Boyd Sanitarium; Gov. Susana Martinez, the first female governor of New Mexico and the first female Hispanic governor in the United States; and Letticia Martinez, a legally blind swimmer who competed with the 2012 London Paralympics Swimming Team. Like thousands of others, theirs is a story of persistent hope, courage, and desire to make a difference.

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Legendary Locals of El Paso

9781467101875

$24.99

From a small settlement along the Rio Grande to a major metropolitan area at the crossroads of three states and two nations, El Paso has grown immensely. Known as the Sun City, the region has always attracted individuals and families from around the world who were looking to establish roots and make their mark. In the early days, pioneers such as Zach White, Anson Mills, and Joseph Magoffin helped lay a solid foundation on which the city was built. Gunfighters like John Wesley Hardin walked the streets of El Paso, while lawmen like Dallas Stoudenmire did their best to keep them off. Lining the streets of El Paso were, and still are, beautiful edifices designed by famed architect Henry Trost. El Paso's unique location, history, and culture have helped inspire many artists, writers, and musicians, such as Jim Ward, Cormac McCarthy, and Tom Lea. Take a moment and learn about some of El Paso's legendary locals.

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Legendary Locals of the Big Bend and Davis Mountains

9781467100540

$24.99

Home of the Last Frontier is how the local radio station aptly describes the Big Bend and Davis Mountains region of West Texas, the sparsely populated area of desert and mountain close to the Mexican border. After 1848, the first settlers started to move in. They came to make a living, and a few made a fortune. Mysterious cattle baron Milton Faver ran 10,000 cattle in the 1870s. Others came for their health, like J.O. Langford, his wife, and young daughters who, seeking a dry climate, came to homestead on the Rio Grande. Today's newcomers are equally pioneering in their own way. Donald Judd was the catalyst that changed Marfa from a moribund cow town to an internationally recognized art center. Edie Elfring, an immigrant from a small island in the Baltic Sea, has picked up trash and tended Alpine's public gardens—unasked and unpaid—for years. They were drawn to what their predecessors found: a boundless landscape peopled by a few hardy, independent souls.

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Texas Far & Wide

9781625859181

$21.99

"Fascinating information…little-known facts about remarkable Texans and events across the state.”—North Dallas Gazette

Texas is renowned for its legendary and colorful history—but even the state’s famous storytellers don’t know it all. Ever hear 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.

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The Elks Opera House

9780738585420

$24.99

For over 100 years, the Elks Opera House has been a landmark of the cultural scene in Prescott, Arizona, and the western United States. In 1904, the people of Prescott raised $15,000 toward a performance hall to be included in the Elks Building. The original structure featured opera boxes that were later removed to adapt to the demands of motion pictures, and the entire proscenium arch was covered with wood paneling. In 2010, the Elks Opera House Foundation completed major renovations to restore the original 1905 grandeur of the theater and the 1928 marquee, which was paid for by grants from local charitable foundations, Arizona historic preservation funds, and generous participation by businesses and individuals. The Elks Building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

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Irish Arizona

9780738556475

$24.99

The Irish greatly contributed to the creation of the territory and state of Arizona due to their enterprising personalities and persistence in a difficult environment. The first documented Irishman in Arizona was Hugo O'Conor, who established the Presidio of Tucson for the Spanish government in 1775. Sheriff Bucky O'Neal of Yavapai County and the Brophy and Riordan families left their mark on Arizona's landscape as well as the Irish-born Sisters of Mercy, who established St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix. This photographic history identifies famous and lesser-known Arizona settlers who were ranchers, merchants, miners, lawmen, explorers, soldiers, and healers. Irish Arizona offers a unique perspective on an ethnic group not typically associated with the American Southwest.

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The True Story of Notorious Arizona Outlaw Augustine Chacón

9781467147965

$21.99

By the time he was hanged in 1903, Augustine Chacón had become the most notorious Mexican outlaw in the Arizona Territory. His alleged crimes had made him a virtual legend, but the facts show that Chacón wasn't the bloodthirsty fiend he was made out to be. Journalists of the era chased sensationalist stories, pandering to a readership that longed for excitement. Each retelling of Chacón's exploits added outlandish details, painting the escaped prisoner as a brutal gunman responsible for as many as fifty-two murders. In reality, Augustine Chacón may not even have killed the man he was hanged for shooting. Join author David Grassé as he uncovers the true story of Arizona's most enduring criminal legend.

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Greeks in Houston

9781467130295

$24.99

This history of the Greeks in Houston is really the story of individuals who worked diligently to forge new lives for themselves even as they maintained their Greek identity and their Orthodox faith. The efforts of many of the founders are immortalized in the buildings that constitute the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral complex. Their names remind us of their hard work and commitment to establishing their koinonia (communion) in Houston. There are many other names that have gone unremarked over the decades but to whom we owe just as much for their tenacity and dedication. And there are the new generations who inherited this legacy and keep it vibrant through the stewardship of their faith and culture.

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The Odyssey of Texas Ranger James Callahan

9781625858771

$24.99

James Callahan entered Texas armed, a quixotic young man enlisted in the Georgia Battalion for the cause of independence. He barely survived the 1836 Battle of Refugio and the Goliad Massacre. Undaunted by the perils of his adopted home, he remained in the line of fire for the next twenty-one years, fighting to protect Texas settlers from Apaches, Comanches, Seminoles, Kickapoos, outlaws, mavericks and the Mexican army. As a Texas Ranger, he rode with the legendary men of Seguin and San Antonio. In 1855, he commanded the punitive expedition into Mexico that bears his name, a fiasco that has been shrouded by mystery and shadowed by controversy ever since. In this first-ever biography, Joseph Luther traces the tragic course of the wayfarer who crossed so much of the Texas frontier and created so much of its story.

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Legendary Locals of Grand Prairie

9781467102179

$24.99

Grand Prairie is a city on the edge. Citizens have been innovators with a love for family and community. Alexander Dechmann traded land to insure a railroad depot; early settlers started schools for their families; and the police department hired one of the first women. Leaders at nonprofits such as Brighter Tomorrows not only helped the local community, but also helped develop services in surrounding communities. Business owners and volunteers have strong family traditions of giving back to Grand Prairie, and civil servants have loyalties for extended years of service, such as Ruthe Jackson and her family, who provided support for both businesses and the community. From the early settlers to today's city, Grand Prairie is built upon loyalty.

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Oklahoma's Bennie Owen

9781626199491

$24.99

Before Bob and Barry, even before Bud, there was Bennie, and he might have been the best of them all. He was certainly the most innovative. Best remembered as the mentor of the University of Oklahoma's football team from 1905 through 1926, Bennie Owen also coached baseball and basketball and served as the director of athletics. He retired as intramural director at the age of seventy-five. A visionary and a builder, he exerted the driving force that created the university's Memorial Stadium, one field house, Memorial Union building, men's swimming pool, baseball field and bleachers, concrete tennis courts, nine-hole golf course and intramural playing fields. A true man of all seasons, he laid the foundation for a Sooner tradition of excellence—in football and beyond.

Cover image for Oklahoma's Bennie Owen, isbn: 9781626199491

Legendary Locals of Rockwall

9781467101899

$24.99

Since its founding in 1854, Rockwall has been home to dedicated public servants, pioneer personalities, hometown heroes, successful business owners, devoted educators, and hardworking farmers. Containing more than 100 profiles of Rockwall's interesting and influential citizens, Legendary Locals of Rockwall includes the stories of Confederate veteran John Summerfield Griffith, who rode on horseback to Austin to gain the original charter for Rockwall County; long-tenured office holders such as Lannie Stimpson, who served 53 years in office, and Derwood Wimpee, who served 35 years; a long list of educators, including Maurine Cain, Dorothy Smith Pullen, Ouida Springer, and Doris Cullins, who influenced generations of Rockwall students; and business professionals such as newspaper publishers P.J. and Jane Bounds, local developer and philanthropist Raymond Cameron, and Texas's first formally trained female dentist, Dr. Jessie Castle LaMoreaux. In addition, Rockwall has long honored its agricultural heritage by naming roads after farming families who influenced the region. The names Bourn, Rochell, Cornelius, Clem, and Smirl, among others, will be familiar to those who travel the roads of Rockwall County.

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Legendary Locals of Buckeye

9781467102001

$24.99

In 1884, Malie Monroe Jackson began and named a canal Buckeye in honor of his native state, Ohio, the Buckeye state. In 1886, Thomas Newton Clanton added 10 miles to the canal. The following year, he applied for a post office, and on March 10, 1888, the post office, named Buckeye, was established. Clanton platted a townsite and named the town Sidney, though why he chose that name remains a mystery. Beginning in 1910, advances in transportation put the community on the map, and Sidney became Buckeye. Hugh Watson, founder of the Buckeye Valley Bank, became the town's first mayor in 1929. On January 1, 2014, Buckeye became the newest city in Arizona. This newest volume also celebrates today's Buckeye settlers, such as Levi Beard, Tony Youngker, Clemie Arnold, and Bob Doster, DVM, updating Buckeye's colorful history of notable residents.

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Fort Worth's Rock and Roll Roots

9780738584997

$24.99

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.

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Historic Dallas Theatres

9781467131285

$24.99

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.

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Legendary Locals of Edmond

9781467101233

$24.99

Edmond was settled in 1889 when pioneers claimed the land during the first Oklahoma land run. Located in the heart of America, Edmond is an ever-growing city with more than 80,000 residents. It is found just north of Oklahoma City on historic Route 66. Through the first 125 years, a diverse and interesting batch of people have made Edmond their home. From early leaders such as Milton Kicking Bird Reynolds, founding editor of the Edmond Sun, and Anton Classen, a civic leader and businessman, to present-day business leaders, celebrities, and sports stars, Edmond has had a wealth of remarkable characters. Doctors, ministers, beauty queens, lawmen, firefighters, a former governor, and many other everyday citizens have made Edmond the town it is today. Former mayor Saundra Naifeh once said, Edmond has always been held to a high standard by the people and businesses who call it home. Residents are proud of its heritage and small-town character and values.

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Texas Jailhouse Music

9781626198678

$21.99

Inside the Texas State Prison is a surprising story of ingenuity, optimism and musical creativity. During the mid-twentieth century, inmates at the Huntsville unit and neighboring Goree State Farm for Women captured hearts all over Texas during weekly radio broadcasts and live stage performances. WBAP's Thirty Minutes Behind the Walls took listeners inside the penitentiary to hear not only the prisonersʼ songs but also the stories of those who sang them. Captivating and charismatic, banjo player Reable Childs received thousands of fan letters with the Goree All-Girl String Band during World War II. Hattie Ellis, a young black inmate with a voice that rivaled Billie Holiday's, was immortalized by notable folklorist John Avery Lomax. Cowboys, songsters and champion fiddlers all played a part in one of the most unique prison histories in the nation. Caroline Gnagy presents the decades-long story of the Texas convict bands, informed by prison records, radio show transcripts and the words and music of the inmates themselves.

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Legendary Locals of Marana, Oro Valley, and Catalina

9781467100168

$24.99

Running west to east along the northern boundary of Tucson is a corridor. of unique and inspiring communities. In Legendary Locals of Marana, Oro Valley, and Catalina, readers will discover the historical riches, courage, and determination of the Western spirit that shaped the state and the country. George Pusch was a member of the Arizona Territorial Legislature that guided Arizona from territory to statehood. Sam Chu, a Chinese immigrant, turned barren land into one of the most productive cotton farms in America. Sheriff John Nelson helped establish Arizona's reputation as cattle country. Under the guidance of Dick Eggerding, the public arts program made Oro Valley one of the best small towns in America. America's talented athletes have called the corridor home, including Hank Leiber, 1930s baseball star; Maren Seidler, Olympic shot-putter; and Sherry Cervi, barrel racing champion. In these communities, charity work, artistic talent, and military courage are found in abundance. If people make history, then the corridor is a treasure trove of the country's past and future.

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The Observer: Letters from Oklahoma Territory

9780738520155

$24.99

R.H. Wessel was the owner, editor, and publisher of the Frederick Enterprise / Frederick Press, and a leading citizen from the day he first came to Frederick, Oklahoma, in 1902 until his death in 1956. He is best known for his column "The Observer," for which this book is titled. He left behind a considerable legacy of his adventurous life through letters, photographs, documents, and historic files. His experiences in Lawton during the 1901 Land Lottery and the following homestead years in Frederick are covered in this book.

As a newspaperman, with a love for telling a story, his letters are an incredible documentation of life on the Oklahoma frontier, as well as his love story by mail with Margaret Scow, the bride he brought to Oklahoma after "proving up" on his homestead and obtaining his own newspaper.

Book cover for The Observer Letters From Oklahoma Territory showing a sepia photograph of a formally dressed couple

Legendary Locals of Oak Cliff

9781467100779

$24.99

Since its earliest days, Oak Cliff, a rolling, tree-covered section of Dallas, has generated outstanding personalities in all fields of American society and business and continues to do so today. In a high school history class, future US Speaker of the House Jim Wright caught his political vision; two years later, future Olympic champion and LPGA founder Babe Didrikson began her training at Lake Cliff Park. The legendary Stevie Ray Vaughan, along with contemporaries Michael Martin Murphy and Ray Wylie Hubbard, began his music career in Oak Cliff, while sports legends like Jerry Rhome and Harvey Martin paid their dues on local fields of play. Hollywood successes Belita Moreno and Stephen Tobolowsky first trained in their high school drama classes, decades after pioneer Oak Cliff girl Sarah Horton Cockrell became Dallas's first millionaire. Although a presidential assassin once lived in the community, two of America's largest mega-churches now call Oak Cliff home, as did the Father of the Texas Sesquicentennial.

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Legendary Locals of Albuquerque

9781467101974

$24.99

Spanish settlers founded Albuquerque in 1706, making it the third of only four villas (towns) in colonial New Mexico. Located in the Rio Abajo along a wide turn on the Rio Grande, the settlement developed from a small farming community into New Mexico's largest, most modern city. Many notable men and women participated in this remarkable growth, lending their talents and sacrificing their time, energy, and sometimes their very lives. Dozens of these legendary figures are portrayed in this unique book, with chapters devoted to those who played important roles in politics and diplomacy; the military; law and order; religion and education; art and literature; culture and entertainment; business and tourism; health, science, technology, and space; and sports. A final chapter describes several of Albuquerque's sung and unsung heroes. The result is a collage of a Western city filled with diversity, tradition, and cultural pride.

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The Dallas Music Scene

9781467131513

$24.99

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.

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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.

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Unforgettable Texans

9781467137737

$21.99

History books burst at the seams with stories about Houston, Travis, Crockett and other icons of Texas history. Yet many of the Lone Star State's fascinating figures—well known in life but forgotten in death—remain obscure by omission. This scintillating company includes a World War I spy who became a movie star, the first gringo matador, a West Texas tent showman and the husband-and-wife trick-shot act that amazed audiences for forty years. Some characters cut across the common narrative, like the admiral whose advice might have prevented the attack on Pearl Harbor, the one and only Republican congressman in the first half of the twentieth century, the Klansman Texans elected to the U.S. Senate and the businessman who wrote the longest English-language novel in complete secrecy. Popular columnist and author Bartee Haile brings to life some of the most intriguing Texans who ever slipped through the cracks of history.

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Legendary Locals of Tempe

9781467102285

$24.99

Tempe started collaboratively, and its innovative citizens continue to work together, creatively solving problems and capitalizing on opportunities in the landlocked 40 square miles surrounded by Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, Chandler, and Guadalupe. The vision began with freighter Charles Trumbull Hayden, who worked with Mexican settlers to optimize the productivity of the valley south of the Salt River with his ferry, canal building, and milling activities in 1870, and continued with the 1885 founding of the Territorial Normal School, now Arizona State University. Subsequently, Tempe has remained successful due to both individual innovations, like creating Big Surf, the first man-made wave pool in the United States, and city-led initiatives like the development of Tempe Town Lake, which reinvigorated the shore line of a river bottom frequently left dry since the implementation of a dam system.

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The Downfall of Galveston's May Walker Burleson

9781467139663

$24.99

“The story of May Walker Burleson’s murder of her ex-husband’s second wife . . . A meticulously researched work, [it] captures its era perfectly.”—Galveston County Daily News

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 May's life as socialite, suffragist and shooter.

“Dorn’s book gives small glimpses of history, especially on the 1913 Suffragist parade in Washington, DC. Plus, May was sent to Waverly Hills Sanatorium reputed to be one of the most haunted places in the U.S. One of the best features of the book is the historical photos interspersed with each chapter.”—Forgotten Winds

Cover image for The Downfall of Galveston's May Walker Burleson, isbn: 9781467139663

Foley's

9780738579283

$24.99

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.

Cover image for Foley's, isbn: 9780738579283

Austin in the Jazz Age

9781626199187

$24.99

Though renowned, Austin's contemporary music scene pales in comparison with the explosion of creative talent the city spawned during the Jazz Age. Dozens of musicians who started out in the capital city attained national and international fame—but music was just one form of artistic expression that marked that time of upheaval. World War I's death and destruction bred a vehement rejection of the status quo. In its place, an enthusiastic adherence to life lived without question or consequence took root. The sentiment found fertile soil in Austin, with the University of Texas at the epicenter. Students indulged in the debauchery that typified the era, scandalizing Austin and Texas at large as they introduced a freewheeling, individualistic attitude that now defines the city. Join author Richard Zelade in a raucous investigation of the day and its most outstanding and outlandish characters.

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Legendary Locals of Lake Worth

9781467101585

$24.99

During the early 1900s, a large reservoir built to provide water for Fort Worth, Texas, also opened up opportunities for businesses to develop. Casino Beach, Casino Ballroom, and a large bathhouse became popular spots for thousands. A nearby village, with increasing population, soon had a small school, churches, and other establishments. With nearby Jacksboro Highway running from downtown Fort Worth past the beach area, gambling increased, as did gangster activity. After a long while, with much intervention, these unlawful situations became history. Legendary Locals of Lake Worth spotlights the founders of the small village and features individuals who impacted the area—many for the better, others for the worst. Some may never have received proper recognition until this book's acknowledgment of them.

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Arizona Rangers

9780738548319

$24.99

Established in 1901, the Arizona Rangers have protected and served the citizenry for over 107 years. Though the initial organization was short lived, lasting only until 1909, the company--with an authorized strength of just 26 men--became the scourge of outlaws within the Arizona Territory and along the Mexican border where, like today, criminal activity was prevalent. In 1957, the Arizona Rangers were reestablished, and for the 50 years since, these modern rangers have continued the tradition of service that was established by their territorial predecessors. Today's Arizona Rangers are officially recognized by state legislation as a volunteer civilian law enforcement auxiliary. In keeping with their motto, "Few But Proud Then and Now," they assist numerous law enforcement agencies and help keep the peace within their communities and state.

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The Counterfeit Prince of Old Texas

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.

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Legendary Locals of Denton

9781467101653

$24.99

Denton, Texas, was founded in 1857 because residents needed a location near the geographic center of Denton County to house a county seat. The city is located 39 miles north of two larger cities, Dallas and Fort Worth, and the three of them form what is often referred to as the Golden Triangle. Denton, the peak of that triangle, is the North Star, and its residents, past and present, certainly are superstars—superstars such as Bob Rogers, the beloved Piano Man; Mary Evelyn Blagg Huey, a quintessential leader; and Hal Jackson, an ace war hero and lawyer. Their accomplishments burst forth from the chapters of this book to outshine others with their generosity, talents, skills, community activism, adventurous spirits, energy, civic pride, business acumen, courage, and creativity. Citizens of Denton are proud to say, Our history defines our community. The images and words between these covers illustrate why it should be added, And our people define our history.

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True Tales of Prescott

9781467151870

$23.99

A saloon town like no other.

Carved out of the wilderness to become the first capital of Arizona Territory, Prescott has been a magnet for colorful characters since 1864. From Isaac Goldberg, proprietor of the first saloon, to musical icon Bruce Springsteen, Prescott has hosted its fair share of legends. Highwayman Brazen Bill Brazelton moseyed through the streets of Prescott, as did Bucky O’Neill and Barry Goldwater. Famous landmarks like the Palace Saloon not only survived prohibition but the Great Fire of 1900 that burned through Whiskey Row.

Join historians Bradley G. Courtney and Drew Desmond as they round up tales of Prescott’s fascinating past.

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New Mexico's Rangers

9780738579252

$24.99

The New Mexico Mounted Police were forged from a frontier civil crisis and hammered to life upon the anvil of necessity. The Sunshine Territory of New Mexico had become the last outlaw haven in the Southwest. In the tradition of their red-coated namesake, the Northwest Mounted Police of Canada, this small band of range riders used their fists, guns, and brains to restore law and order during the closing years of New Mexico's territorial era. They carried their mission forward into the early days of statehood.

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Oklahoma City

9780738583815

$24.99

Located in downtown Oklahoma City, Film Row once flourished as a sales hub for theater owners needing films, posters, and concessions for their Midwest venues. The film exchange offices along this three-square-block area and across the cityscape housed major film production studios like Paramount Pictures, MGM, Universal, Fox, and Warner Brothers from 1907 until the 1980s. But changes in demographics, economy, and technology nearly wiped their memory from the city landscape. Now these decades-old structures and their nearly forgotten history are being rediscovered and utilized once again for business. This book tells their story through rare images discovered in shoeboxes, back rooms, and the Oklahoma Historical Society's archives. Most of the images within these pages are shared here for the very first time.

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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.

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Oklahoma Scoundrels

9781467135191

$23.99

Early Oklahoma was a haven for violent outlaws and a death trap for deputy U.S. marshals. The infamous Doolin gang's OK Hotel gunfight left five dead. Killers like Bible-quoting choir leader Deacon Jim Miller wreaked havoc. Gunslinger femme fatale Belle Starr specialized in horse theft. Wannabe outlaws like Al Jennings traded train robbing for politics and Hollywood films. And Elmer McCurdy's determination and inept skill earned him a carnival slot and the nickname the Bandit Who Wouldn't Give Up. Historians Robert Barr Smith and Laurence J. Yadon dispel myths surrounding some of the most significant lawbreakers in Sooner history.

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Houston Police Department

9780738595351

$24.99

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.

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Oklahoma City Music

9780738584270

$24.99

Oklahoma City's rich music history traces back to Deep Deuce, the heart of the African American community that became an important resource for national jazz and blues bands seeking talented musicians who were often classically trained. Two icons and many legends are among the famous sons and daughters who lived in this cultural Mecca. Oklahoma City's Music: Deep Deuce and Beyond details the birth and growth of music in Oklahoma City's African American community from the 1920s until the late 1990s. Musical influences of families and individuals, venues, dance, and fashion blend with new-era traditions such as parades, jam sessions, and street parties to create a culture that became well known. This book explores how the seeds of music so deeply planted in the early days continue to produce great musicians and how the influences of those icons will vibrate throughout future international generations.

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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.

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Arizona Outlaws and Lawmen

9781626199323

$23.99

A refuge for outlaws at the close of the 1800s, the Arizona Territory was a wild, lawless land of greedy feuds, brutal killings and figures of enduring legend. These gunfighters included heroes as well as killers, and some were considered both. Bandit Pearl Hart committed one of the last recorded stagecoach robberies in the country, and James Addison Reavis pulled off the most extraordinary real estate scheme in the West. With fearless lawmen like C.P. Owens and George Ruffner at hand, swift justice was always nearby. In this collection, Arizona's official state historian and celebrated storyteller Marshall Trimble brings to life the rough-and-tumble characters from the Grand Canyon State's most terrific tales of outlawry and justice.

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Galveston's Red Light District

9781467138833

$23.99

A local historian recounts nearly seventy years of seduction and scandal along the Texas Gulf Coast in this lively chronicle of Galveston’s notorious past.

Known today as a colorful resort destination featuring family entertainment and a thriving arts district, Galveston, Texas, 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 love for sale.

Beginning in the late nineteenth century, The Line was a stubborn mainstay of the island cityscape until it was finally shut down in the 1950s. But ridding Galveston of prostitution would prove much more difficult than putting a padlock on the front door.

In Galveston’s Red Light District, Texas historian Kimber Fountain pursues the sequestered story of women who wanted to make their own rules and the city that wanted to let them.

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Legendary Locals of Arlington

9781467100588

$24.99

The people of Arlington have always had a can-do spirit. There's Carrie Rogers, the society matron who became marshal; Tillie Burgin, who changed the face of social services in Arlington; and Tom Vandergriff, the boy mayor who stayed on the job for 26 years. When educational opportunities were deemed inadequate, Edward E. Rankin and other leading citizens founded and supported a school that grew into the University of Texas at Arlington. Before there was the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, Jim Hayes opened the eyes of Arlington leaders to the difficulties of navigating the University of Texas at Arlington and the city in a wheelchair. Never willing to be overshadowed by Dallas or Fort Worth, their larger neighbors to the east and west, Arlington residents embraced industry and progress, and their enterprising spirit attracted the notice of the nation. Today, the city boasts major businesses and attractions—General Motors, Six Flags, the Texas Rangers, and the Dallas Cowboys—and continues to grow thanks to the aspirations of its people.

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Wicked Prescott

9781467119528

$21.99

Swindlers, confidence men and outlaws—the mountain shadows and Ponderosa pines surrounding Prescott conceal their grim histories and crooked ways. The small hamlet turned mining town became Arizona's first capital in 1864, and with wealth and power came every type of vice and crime. One block west of the famed Whiskey Row, the roaring red-light district attracted ladies of easy virtue, who often became victims of crimes of passion and coldblooded murder. Legendary crook Fleming Jim Parker escaped from Yavapai County Jail on the back of the sheriff's stolen horse. Cattle rustlers terrorized nearby ranches, while tavern brawls and liquor-fueled shootouts dominated newspaper headlines. More than ten legal hangings brought criminals to justice. Local author Parker Anderson recounts these and more wicked misdeeds from Prescott's wild early days.

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Legendary Locals of Santa Fe

9781467100472

$24.99

Founded in 1610, Santa Fe has been a beacon for those yearning for adventure, a different way of life, a place of expression, and the opportunity to meld the old with the new. Designated America's first United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Creative City in 2005, Santa Fe is home to people from around the world. Legendary Locals of Santa Fe pays tribute to a diverse group of individuals, who through different eras have contributed to the city's vitality: Native American Po'pay, leader of the Pueblo Revolt; world-renowned sculptor Allan Houser; performing artist Maria Benitez, who rejuvenated the genre of Spanish Flamenco dance and music; Pulitzer Prize authors Willa Cather and Oliver La Farge; Fray Angelico Chavez, Santa Fe's preeminent historian; Santa Fe Opera founder John Crosby; Stewart L. Udall, former Secretary of the Interior under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations; and Sgt. Leroy A. Petry, the 2011 Medal of Honor recipient. All share an enduring spirit and belief in the community that the Spanish explorers had the foresight to name the City of Holy Faith.

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Dude Ranching in Arizona

9781467116022

$24.99

Dude ranches were Arizona's first destination vacation. The earliest were built on working cattle ranches, stage stops, mining claims, and homesteads. Early dudes were typically wealthy and stayed for a long time, some for so long that one ranch had a school for its guests' children. Dude ranches were built around unspoiled country and offered spectacular views, healthy weather, and the chance to experience the cowboy life. Hollywood filmmakers came and, with them, some of the biggest figures of their time. Among those who were guests at dude ranches were John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Clark Gable, Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Dean Martin, Tom Hanks, Walt Disney, and US presidents.

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The Phoenix Sound

9781467118989

$21.99

In 1956, a fresh-faced Sanford Clark recorded The Fool with guitarist Al Casey at Floyd Ramsey's small Phoenix recording studio. Written by local deejay Lee Hazlewood, the song became a top-ten Billboard hit nationwide and launched a new trailblazing era of Arizona music. Their success paved the way for other Phoenix acts and producers to chart national hits. Grammy-winning audio engineer Jack Miller started out in Ramsey's studio, and Hazlewood produced rock hall of famer Duane Eddy's debut album, Have ‘Twangy' Guitar, Will Travel. These early artists pioneered a sound that inspired Arizona's best musicians from Waylon Jennings and Buck Owens to Stevie Nicks and Linda Ronstadt. Join former radio and broadcast personality Jim West for the story and soundtrack to the early days of music in the Valley of the Sun.

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Pioneer & Military Memorial Park of Phoenix

9781467138031

$23.99

Pioneer & Military Memorial Park exists to honor the legacies of early residents buried in seven historic cemeteries established in 1884 and closed in 1914. Henry Garfias, a popular and prominent lawman, once served the town as constable and marshal. Rose Gregory, one of Phoenix's most colorful forerunners, is remembered as a benevolent madam. Charles Posten was once regarded as the Father of Arizona. And the tragic death of Letitia Rice led to a hasty trial and acquittal before being ruled accidental. The Pioneers' Cemetery Association delves into the past and brings to light the movers, shakers and regular folks who built this incredible desert city.

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Italians in Albuquerque

9780738520544

$24.99

The close-knit Italian-American community has been a strong presence in Albuquerque, New Mexico since the transcontinental railroad first arrived in the city in 1880. In this new book, Nicholas P. Ciotola relays the journeys, struggles, and triumphs of these immigrants, from their hometowns in Italy, to their treacherous journey to the feet of Lady Liberty, and finally across the vast distance of America to make their new home in Albuquerque. Told in their own words and showcased in nearly 200 vintage images, these are the stories of the families who established a foundation for the growth and development of a vibrant Italian community in New Mexico's largest city. Readers will recognize names like Alessandro and Pompilio Matteucci, Antonio and Cherubino Domenici, Ettore Franchini, and Orseste Bachechi, who is known as the Father of the Albuquerque Italian Community. Also included are images of Colombo Hall, the city's first Italian-American organization, and the Italmer Club, founded in the late 1930s. Collected largely from members of the Italian-American community, these photographs also document integral aspects of the immigrant experience including work, leisure, religion, and family life.

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John A. Brown's, Kerr's & Halliburton's

9781626193604

$21.99

Department stores John A. Brown's, Kerr's and Halliburton's ruled supreme in Oklahoma City. From lucky penny giveaways to defying blue laws, the three big department stores did whatever it took to entertain and entice. The stunning display windows of Kerr's downtown once lured shoppers inside, but the closing of Halliburton's in 1961 signaled the final days of downtown shopping. Adoption fairs and civil rights sit-ins at Brown's wove the store into the social fabric of the city. Authors Ajax Delvecki and Larry Johnson chronicle the stories, history and memories of the best of Oklahoma City shopping.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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New Mexico State Police

9781467129992

$24.99

The New Mexico State Police traces its beginnings to the New Mexico Mounted Police, a statewide law-enforcement agency that was disbanded in 1921. No state law enforcement existed until the formation of the New Mexico Motor Patrol in 1933. A year and a half later, the governor of the state of New Mexico and the chief of the patrol saw the need to expand their forces to better serve the citizens of New Mexico. The New Mexico State Police formed in 1935, marking the beginning of what has become many years of tradition and service.

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The Grand Canyon's Uncle Jimmy Owens

9781467147422

$21.99

In 1906, James "Uncle Jimmy" Owens, at the request of Teddy Roosevelt, moved to the remote North Rim of the Grand Canyon to help control the mountain lion population. He earned a reputation as a legendary hunter and guided hunts and tours for the rich and famous. Passionate about wildlife, Uncle Jimmy started out as a quiet, unassuming cowboy on a cattle ranch in Texas before taking a job as a buffalo warden in Yellowstone and meeting the future president, who would change the course of his life. He spent twenty-three years acquainting himself with the cliffs of the Grand Canyon, where one slip could mean instant death, before fading into obscurity. Join author Albert L. LeCount as he delves into the fascinating life of a forgotten man.

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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.

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Legendary Locals of Carlsbad

9781467102261

$24.99

Born from opportunity and a promotional scheme hatched by founding father Charles B. Eddy, Carlsbad started life as a tent city on a desolate landscape. As the investment money started to flow, the Pecos River was harnessed through the creation of irrigation, which turned the region into a rich, fertile valley. As tuberculosis swept the nation, hundreds of new settlers arrived in Carlsbad for the arid climate. Legendary Locals of Carlsbad celebrates their descendants who forged the community of today. Learn about socialite Cesarine Graves, daredevil and Mr. Welcome Frank Kindel, actors Dan Blocker and Bruce Cabot, drag racer Dick Harrell, newscaster Linda Wertheimer, astronaut F. Drew Gaffney, and baseball star Cody Ross, to name but a few. Included also are the tales of the trials and heroism shown and faced by all the veterans of wars that Carlsbad provided, especially the World War II veterans of the Bataan Death March, the Vietnam War, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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The Inspiring Life of Texan Héctor P. García

9781467119016

$21.99

As a Mexican immigrant, Dr. Héctor P. García endured discrimination at every stage of his life. He attended segregated schools and was the only Mexican to graduate from the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, in 1940. García's passion for helping others pushed him to advocate for equal rights. After serving in World War II, the doctor worked to help minorities achieve greater access to healthcare, voting rights and education. He started a private practice in Corpus Christi and in 1948 founded the American GI Forum. Cecilia García Akers shares a daughter's perspective on her father's remarkable achievements and sacrifices as an activist and physician.

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The Cadet Nurse Corps in Arizona

9781467118255

$21.99

Congress established the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps during World War II to meet the high demand for medical care. The first federal women's education program, it included a nondiscrimination policy decades before the civil rights movement. The trailblazing cadets and innovative healthcare practices at the five participating teaching hospitals in Arizona left a lasting national legacy. Sage Memorial Hospital was the country's only accredited nursing school for Native Americans. Santa Monica's Hospital and nursing school was the first to integrate west of the Mississippi. The daughter of a Navajo medicine man, U.S. Army Nurse Corps second lieutenant Adele Slivers helped bridge a gap between traditional healing practices and modern medicine. Arizona author Elsie Szecsy details momentous local challenges and achievements from this pivotal era in American medicine.

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The Texas Rangers

9780738579825

$24.99

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.

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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.

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Arizona Gold Gangster Charles P. Stanton

9781467144896

$21.99

Does Charles P. Stanton deserve the title of Arizona’s Most Notorious Villain?

For generations, Arizonans have been fascinated with the story of Charles P. Stanton. The alleged crime boss and mass murderer oversaw a reign of terror in the small mining town that bore his name. Driven by greed, he stole ore, swindled mines away from their owners and bribed his way out of justice. Those who crossed him usually ended up dead. But are the legends actually true? Relying on original source material, including court documents and newspapers, Arizona historian Parker Anderson reveals the true story of Stanton for the first time and broaches the possibility that the mysterious Irish Lord may not have been guilty of the terrible crimes that folklore has attributed to him.

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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.

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Gunfights & Sites in Texas Ranger History

9781626199712

$24.99

Since colonizer Stephen F. Austin proposed hiring ten rangers for the common defense in 1823, the Texas Rangers have protected the Lone Star State from its enemies with dedication and fortitude. All across Texas are places where Rangers made history. From the Alamo to nearly forgotten graves and battle sites, important landmarks in the story of these legendary lawmen lie in every corner of the state. Historian and author Mike Cox reveals history hiding in plain sight and true tall tales of the world-famous Texas Rangers.

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Tall Tales and Half Truths of Billy the Kid

9781626199965

$21.99

While many respectable books on Billy the Kid aim to demystify his illusory life, this one-of-a-kind collection proudly has no such intention. Find all of the untold and potentially true—but very unlikely and highly embellished—stories of the Kid's life, death and enthralling life thereafter. Be thrilled by sightings of Billy's ghost riding through old Fort Sumner and marvel at his search for the fabled Lost Adams Diggings. Wonder at the mysterious thefts of his tombstone and discover the famed desperado's dozen or so doppelgangers who posthumously popped up all across the Southwest. Courtesy of yarn-spinning raconteurs of yore, author John LeMay unveils the many forgotten and discarded tales of the legendary William H. Bonney, an everlasting emblem of the American West.

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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.

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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.

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Historic Movie Houses of Austin

9781467117180

$24.99

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.

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Wicked Women of New Mexico

9781626191280

$19.99

New Mexico Territory attracted outlaws and desperados as its remote locations guaranteed non-detection while providing opportunists the perfect setting in which to seize wealth. Many wicked women on the run from their pasts headed there seeking new starts before and after 1912 statehood. Colorful characters such as Bronco Sue, Sadie Orchard and Lizzie McGrath were noted mavens of mayhem, while many other women were notorious gamblers, bawdy madams or confidence tricksters. Some paid the ultimate price for crimes of passion, while others avoided punishment by slyly using their beguiling allure to influence authorities. Follow the raucous tales of these wild women in a collection that proves crime in early New Mexico wasn't only a boys' game.

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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.

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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..

Cover image for Texas Adoption Activist Edna Gladney, isbn: 9781626193512

Texas Ranch Women

9781626195981

$21.99

Texas would not be Texas without the formidable women of its past. Beneath the sunbonnets, Stetsons or high-fashion couture, the women of the Lone Star State carved out ranches, breathed new life into spreads and expanded acreage when husbands, sons and fathers fell. Throughout the centuries, the women of Texas's ranches defended home and hearth with cannon and shot. They rescued hostages. They nurtured livestock through hard winters and long droughts and drove them up the cattle trails. They built communities and saw to it that faith and education prevailed for their children and for those of others. Join author Carmen Goldthwaite in an inspiring survey of fierce Lone Star ladies.

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A Day's Ride from Here Volume 2

9781609493943

$21.99

Join historian Cliff Caldwell for volume twp 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.

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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.

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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.

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Wild Women of Prescott, Arizona

9781626198630

$21.99

Arizona remained a raw, rather uncivilized territory before it became one of the last states to enter the Union. Few towns exemplify this more than Prescott. Untamed land lured those who saw an opportunity to prosper, including a number of shady ladies. A staple of any western town, these wanton women were independent, hearty individuals eager to unpack their petticoats and set up shop. Within six years of establishment, at least five prostitutes operated in Prescott. As their clientele grew, so did their influence. Mollie Sheppard, Lida Winchell, Gabriell Dollie and many more women were integral forces on the city that should not be forgotten. From Granite Street to Whiskey Row, Prescott's painted ladies established an ever-expanding red-light district halted only by Arizona's admission to the Union in 1912. Join author Jan MacKell Collins to discover the soiled doves of Prescott's red-light district.

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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.

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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.

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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..

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Legendary Locals of Alamogordo

9781467102117

$24.99

By the time Alamogordo's founders platted the town in the late 1800s, bestowing it with the Spanish name for Fat Cottonwood, the region's lush grasses were luring cowboys such as Oliver Lee. Then, in 1941, an event more than 3,000 miles away changed the quiet community. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, chamber president Mose Cauthen quickly spearheaded bringing the Army's mission to train bomber pilots to the Tularosa Basin. During the Space Race, Dr. John Stapp oversaw the programs at Holloman Air Force Base that sent Joe Kittinger, Dave Simons, and Demi McClure floating heavenward underneath balloons. Soon after, Ed Dittmer was training chimpanzees to rocket out of Earth's atmosphere and prove man could survive in that hostile environment. Alamogordo is where the Old West melds with ever-evolving technology, along with a rich artistic and literary legacy championed by such women as Linnie Townsend, Maude Rathgeber, and Margaret Flickinger.

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Camp Verde

9781609493868

$21.99

The Verde Valley the seemingly easy route to West Texas was in fact a land of peril, adventure, and near mythic heroes. Historic Camp Verde has long been a strategic stronghold guarding the pass, the valley and the many trails converging at this river crossing. As frontiersman and settlers pushed through the pass and Native Americans responded with violent force, the famed Texas Rangers attempted to control the region. Officially established in 1856, the camp would become the testing ground for the Army's Camel Experiment and an outpost for Robert E. Lee's legendary Second U.S. Cavalry. Join local historian Joseph Luther as he narrates the tumultuous and uniquely Texan history of Camp Verde.

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The Oklahoma Cowboy Band

9780738552453

$24.99

The Oklahoma Cowboy Band was the first western string band in the nation to broadcast over the radio and appear on vaudeville, drawing large audiences throughout the Midwest and Northeast. The band began in Ripley as Billy McGinty's Cowboy Band and first played over radio station KFRU in Bristow in May 1925. Billy McGinty was a Rough Rider with Theodore Roosevelt and performed in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. The public responded to the broadcast of his band with a steady stream of telegrams, telephone calls, and letters asking for more of that old-time cowboy music. Soon Otto Gray and his wife, Mommie, of Stillwater joined the band, with both performing rope tricks, Mommie singing sad songs, and their son, Owen, performing comedy routines as the Uke Buster. Renamed Otto Gray and His Oklahoma Cowboys, the band traveled for a decade to such cities as St. Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse. Its custom-built Cadillacs drew crowds wherever the band went. By the early 1930s, other acts were copying the band's cowboy themes and songs, and Otto Gray's lawyers threatened legal action. The lawyers met with only limited success, though, and today the cowboy image is firmly established in country music, thanks in large part to the early success of Billy McGinty, Otto Gray, and the Oklahoma Cowboy Band.

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Legendary Locals of Roswell

9781467100144

$24.99

Roswell is perhaps most famous for its alleged intergalactic visitors that may or may not have crashed here via flying saucer in 1947. However, some very real famous people have traversed and lived in Roswell, including singer John Denver and actress Demi Moore. During the turbulent Wild West days, Roswell was the stomping grounds of cattle baron John Chisum, sheriff Pat Garrett, and even his arch-nemesis, Billy the Kid. Among others to call Roswell home were Robert H. Goddard, the father of modern rocketry; baseball player Joe Bauman, who hit 72 home runs in one season; pro-golfer Nancy Lopez; Western superstar Roy Rogers; rodeo champion Bob Crosby; and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach. This book explores these celebrities and the many unsung local legends and heroes of Roswell through the vast photograph archives of the Historical Society for Southeast New Mexico, as well as private collections.