Books in the Jack and Doris Smothers Series in Texas History, Life, and Culture series

An essential historical overview of African American theatre organizations in Texas's five major cities, from antebellum productions to the present, that chronicles the remarkable stories of visionary playwrights, actors, and producers who shaped a vibran

The shocking story of the black inmate who was acquitted after killing two high-ranking prison guards in a case that publicized the horrors of Texas's "plantation-style" prison system

In these amazing stories, Texans who spent their youth in an institution for "dependent and neglected" children reveal both the positive outcomes and the horrific abuses that resulted when a government-run "home" was allowed to operate for decades without any public oversight.

Three decades of music writing from Austin's renowned alternative newspaper creates an invaluable record of one of America's most vibrant musical communities-"the live music capital of the world"-and of musicians from Townes Van Zandt to Spoon.

A senior scholar of Latino political action examines the intriguing incongruities in post-WWII Texas politics, particularly the curious flourishing of Latino leadership during the state's simultaneous transition to conservatism.

First published in Germany in 1867, this fascinating autobiographical novel of German immigrants on the antebellum Texas frontier provides a trove of revelations about the myriad communities that once called the Hill Country home.

Completing the story of the Mexican American struggle for inclusion and equal rights that he began in Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836-1986 and Quixote's Soldiers, Montejano presents a rich ethnography of the street-level Chicano movement.

Much has been debated about the presence of undocumented workers along the South Texas border, but these debates often overlook the more complete dimension: the region's longstanding, undocumented economies as a whole. Borderlands commerce that evades government scrutiny can be categorized into informal economies (the unreported exchange of legal goods and services) or underground economies (criminal economic activities that, obviously, occur without government oversight). Examining long-term study, observation, and participation in the border region, with the assistance of hundreds of locally embedded informants, The Informal and Underground Economy of the South Texas Border presents unique insights into the causes and ramifications of these economic channels.The third volume in UT-Pan American's Borderlife Project, this eye-opening investigation draws on vivid ethnographic interviews, bolstered by decades of supplemental data, to reveal a culture where divided loyalties, paired with a lack of access to protection under the law and other forms of state-sponsored recourse, have given rise to social spectra that often defy stereotypes. A cornerstone of the authors' findings is that these economic activities increase when citizens perceive the state's intervention as illegitimate, whether in the form of fees, taxes, or regulation. From living conditions in the impoverished colonias to President Felipe Calderón's futile attempts to eradicate police corruption in Mexico, this book is a riveting portrait of benefit versus risk in the wake of a "no-man's-land" legacy.

Now in paperback-the acclaimed biography of one of Texas's most influential and controversial judges, with a new epilogue that traces William Wayne Justice's impact and legacy.

A collection of 15 living history plays about key aspects of African American life commissioned by museums and historic sites in Texas.

Based on thousands of fascinating primary accounts in letters, magazine articles, and interviews, Gray Ghosts and Red Rangers is the definitive social history of a vanishing American pastime-folk fox hunting.

Drawing on a wealth of previously unused primary sources, this book offers the first full-scale assessment of the much-reviled Texas State Police and its role in maintaining law and order in Reconstruction Texas.

To paint a more complete portrait of the missions as they once were, Jacinto Quirarte here draws on decades of on-site and archival research to offer the most comprehensive reconstruction and description of the original art and architecture of the six rem

With paradigm-shifting readings of dozens of Westerns, from Gunfight at the O.K. Corral to No Country for Old Men, this book challenges us to rethink the genre as a supposed purveyor of conservative political and religious values.

By the author of the critically acclaimed and best-selling novels The Gates of the Alamo and Remember Ben Clayton, here is the definitive, career-spanning collection of nonfiction from one of America's leading writers, Stephen Harrigan.

Legislators, lawyers, community organizers, political historians, and political scientists offer a complete history of Texas redistricting during the past century-and the repercussions still felt from the map battles of the 1960s.

A history of independent African American settlements in Texas during the Jim Crow era, featuring historical and contemporary photographs.In the decades following the Civil War, nearly a quarter of African Americans achieved a remarkable victory-they got their own land. While other ex-slaves and many poor whites became trapped in the exploitative sharecropping system, these independence-seeking individuals settled on pockets of unclaimed land that had been deemed too poor for farming and turned them into successful family farms. In these self-sufficient rural communities, often known as "e;freedom colonies,"e; African Americans created a refuge from the discrimination and violence that routinely limited the opportunities of blacks in the Jim Crow South.Freedom Colonies is the first book to tell the story of these independent African American settlements. Thad Sitton and James Conrad focus on communities in Texas, where blacks achieved a higher percentage of land ownership than in any other state of the Deep South. The authors draw on a vast reservoir of ex-slave narratives, oral histories, written memoirs, and public records to describe how the freedom colonies formed and to recreate the lifeways of African Americans who made their living by farming or in skilled trades such as milling and blacksmithing. They also uncover the forces that led to the decline of the communities from the 1930s onward, including economic hard times and the greed of whites who found legal and illegal means of taking black-owned land. And they visit some of the remaining communities to discover how their independent way of life endures into the twenty-first century."e;Thad Sitton and James H. Conrad have made an important contribution to African American and southern history with their study of communities fashioned by freedmen in the years after emancipation."e; -Journal of American History"e;This study is a thoughtful and important addition to an understanding of rural Texas and the nature of black settlements."e; -Journal of Southern History

A rich critical study of the literary legacies bestowed by the late Americo Paredes (1915-1999), and the intellectual paths he created as one of the forebears of Mexican American Studies.

Tells the story of aviation in Austin, from 1911 to the opening of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in 1999. This book shows how aviation and the city grew together and supported each other, which makes the Austin aviation experience a case study of the impact of aviation on urban communities nationwide.

A first-ever history of recreation in Texas that shows how our pastimes reveal our characters.

Mark Carroll draws on legal and social history to trace the evolution of sexual, family, and racial-caste relations in the most turbulent polity on the southern frontier during the antebellum period (1823-1860).

In the first comprehensive history of the region, Jefferson Morgenthaler traces the history of La Junta de los Rios from the formation of the Mexico-Texas border in the mid-19th century to the 1997 ambush shooting of teenage goatherd Esquiel Hernandez by

Twelve essays by noted Reconstruction-era historian Barry A. Crouch which explore the African American experience in Texas following emancipation.

This book tells the stories of the vaqueros of the Wild Horse Desert for fourth- through eighth-grade students.

This groundbreaking book is at once a general history and a celebration of Tejanas' contributions to Texas over three centuries.

How Texans of Mexican ancestry have established a cultural province in this Texas-Mexico borderland that is unlike any other Mexican American region.

A comparative history of Mexican-American Protestants that describes how they have created a truly indigenous, authentic, and empowering faith tradition in the Mexican-American community.

The largest single-volume collection of interviews with 50 of Texas's most important writers-including a photo and bibliography for each author.

This literary biography thoroughly investigates how Horton Foote's life and worldview have shaped his works for stage, television, and film.

The first complete, annotated publication of the reminiscences of San Antonio native and Battle of San Jacinto veteran Jose Antonio Menchaca, with commentary that contextualizes and debates Menchaca's claims while delivering a rich portrait of Tejano life in the nineteenth century.