The Mallet Ranch, from its founding to the present, has followed the arc of most Texas ranches. It has experienced booms and busts, and its owners have fretted over droughts and floods as well as fights in courtrooms. Despite hardships that may have outnumbered successes, the Mallet, headquartered in Hockley County, Texas, perseveres to this day. But More Than Running Cattle is more than just a ranch tale. It is the story of a family both unique and conventional among Texas stock raisers. David M. DeVitt, like many before him, was not "born" to be a Texas cattleman. DeVitt began his career as a reporter in Brooklyn, New York, before he decided to leave that path behind to try his luck on the wide-open ranges of West Texas. David DeVitt passed down his hardy, independent spirit to his two daughters. Although Christine and Helen were raised in Fort Worth, both from a young age learned the lesson that the West Texas land—and the Mallet Ranch—were part of their souls. When their father died, the two sisters fought to retain control of the Mallet for the family. The discovery in 1938 of oil on the ranch, and the subsequent drilling of more than a thousand oil wells over the next few decades, transformed the Mallet from a struggling enterprise into one of the most profitable such entities in the nation. From that financial windfall sprung from the land, Christine and Helen generously reinvested back into the region. The two non-profit organizations founded by the DeVitt sisters have distributed more than $200 million. The story of the Mallet Ranch told within these pages illuminates and delves into this remarkable story of a family, their operation, and the land that made it all possible.

How is it that nearly 90 percent of the Texan population currently lives in metropolitan regions, but many Texans still embrace and promote a vision of their state's nineteenth-century rural identity? This is one of the questions the editors and contributors to Lone Star Suburbs confront. One answer, they contend, may be the long shadow cast by a Texas myth that has served the dominant culture while marginalizing those on the fringes. Another may be the criticism suburbia has endured for undermining the very romantic individuality that the Texas myth celebrates. From the 1950s to the present, cultural critics have derided suburbs as landscapes of sameness and conformity. Only recently have historians begun to document the multidimensional industrial and ethnic aspects of suburban life as well as the development of multifamily housing, services, and leisure facilities. In Lone Star Suburbs, urban historian Paul J. P. Sandul, Texas historian M. Scott Sosebee, and ten contributors move the discussion of suburbia well beyond the stereotype of endless blocks of white middle-class neighborhoods and fill a gap in our knowledge of the Lone Star State. This collection supports the claim that Texas is not only primarily suburban but also the most representative example of this urban form in the United States. Essays consider transportation infrastructure, urban planning, and professional sports as they relate to the suburban ideal; the experiences of African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinos in Texas metropolitan areas; and the environmental consequences of suburbanization in the state. Texas is no longer the bastion of rural life in the United States but now - for better or worse - represents the leading edge of suburban living. This important book offers a first step in coming to grips with that reality.