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The history of New Texas, the Texas we know today—oil-rich,
insufferably loud, and unbearably proud of itself—begins in the
late 1920s, when a horned frog wakes from its thirty-one-year nap
in a courthouse cornerstone and flabbergasts the nation. In
slightly over two decades ten individuals—their words, actions,
and accomplishments—come to define the New Texas of the
twenty-first century. While the history of Old Texas rests on
oft-told legends of Houston, Austin, Travis, Crockett, Rusk, Lamar,
and Seguin, today’s New Texas—proud, loud, self-promotional,
sports-crazy, and too rich for its own good—is the Texas that
percolates throughout the nation’s popular culture. In Texas
Loud, Proud, and Brash: How Ten Mavericks Created the
Twentieth-Century Lone Star State, author Rusty Williams profiles
ten largely unsung men and women responsible for the Texas you
love, hate, and (secretly) envy today. Sidebar content throughout
the book features historic anecdotes and words of wit and wisdom
from Boyce House’s numerous speeches and books about Texas.
In 1950 Dallas was a spirited Texas town of some regional
importance; by 1980 it was an international city, one of the
nation’s most populous, a center of trade, transportation,
finance, pro sports, and popular culture. Historic Photos of Dallas
in the 50s, 60s, and 70s documents this amazing
transformation with seldom-seen photographs of the period. Nearly
200 historic images show Dallas in the process of refashioning its
skyline, its streets, its institutions, its public behavior, and
its sense of self and worth. Historic Photos of Dallas in the
50s, 60s, and 70s blends striking black-and-white images with
crisp commentary to chronicle moments of joy, pride, and anguish
during these tumultuous decades. This volume takes readers back to
the not-so-long-ago Dallas of trolley buses, downtown movie
theaters, and four-lane expressways, then shows how the city
transcended its parochial beginnings to become one of the most
dynamic American cities of the twentieth century.
In the wake of America's Civil War, hundreds of thousands of men
who fought for the Confederacy trudged back to their homes in the
Southland. Some -- due to lingering effects from war wounds, other
disabilities, or the horrors of combat -- were unable to care for
themselves. Homeless, disabled, and destitute veterans began
appearing on the sidewalks of southern cities and towns. In 1902
Kentucky's Confederate veterans organized and built the Kentucky
Confederate Home, a luxurious refuge in Pewee Valley for their
unfortunate comrades. Until it closed in 1934, the Home was a
respectable -- if not always idyllic -- place where disabled and
impoverished veterans could spend their last days in comfort and
free from want. In My Old Confederate Home: A Respectable Place for
Civil War Veterans, Rusty Williams frames the lively history of the
Kentucky Confederate Home with the stories of those who built,
supported, and managed it: a daring cavalryman-turned-bank-robber,
a senile ship captain, a prosperous former madam, and a small-town
clergyman whose concern for the veterans cost him his pastorate.
Each chapter is peppered with the poignant stories of men who spent
their final years as voluntary wards of an institution that
required residents to live in a manner which reinforced the
mythology of a noble Johnny Reb and a tragic Lost Cause. Based on
thorough research utilizing a range of valuable resources,
including the Kentucky Confederate Home's operational documents,
contemporary accounts, unpublished letters, and family stories, My
Old Confederate Home reveals the final, untold chapter of
Kentucky's Civil War history.
At the beginning of America's Great Depression, Texas andOklahoma
armed up and went to war over a 75-cent toll bridgethat connected
their states across the Red River. It was a twoweekaffair marked by
the presence of National Guardsmen withfield artillery, Texas
Rangers with itchy trigger fingers, angrymobs, Model T blockade
runners, and even a costumed NativeAmerican peace delegation.
Traffic backed up for miles, cutting offtravel between the states.
This conflict entertained newspaper readers nationwide duringthe
summer of 1931, but the Red River Bridge War was a deadlyserious
affair for many rural Americans at a time when free bridgesand
passable roads could mean the difference between survivaland
starvation. The confrontation had national consequences,too: it
marked an end to public acceptance of the privately ownedferries,
toll bridges, and turnpikes that threatened to strangleAmerican
transportation in the automobile age. The Red River Bridge War: How
Texas and Oklahoma Armed Upand Went to War Over a Toll Bridge
documents the day-to-dayskirmishes of this unlikely conflict
between two sovereign states,each struggling to help citizens get
goods to market at a time ofreduced tax revenue and little federal
assistance. It also serves as a cautionary tale, providing
historical context to the current trendof re-privatizing our
nation's highway infrastructure.
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