Deep In The Heart Of San Antonio

Char Miller's collection of essays provides an insightful survey of San Antonio and South Texas. The essays are grouped into six thematic sections: an overview; natural and environmental history; water issues; urban development; politics; and the city's future. Miller describes the First Friday Art Walks in Southtown, where the promenade reenacts the pedestrian traffic envisioned by the San Antonio founders when they planned the city around a central square and cathedral. He recreates the history behind the Alamo Quarry, when the upscale shopping center was a cement factory and self-contained community. Ranging further afield, he recounts how the Aplomado Falcon made a come-back in the Rio Grande Valley, and how the river in the same valley has fared in water wars between the United States and Mexico. In the four essays devoted to water in San Antonio, Miller subtly and successfully portrays how water has shaped the region's demographic and political realities.

This textbook shows how cities, regions and countries adopt branding strategies similar to those of leading household brand names in an effort to differentiate themselves and emotionally connect with potential tourists. It asks whether tourist destinations get the reputations they deserve and uses topical case studies to discuss brand concepts and challenges. It tackles how place perceptions are formed, how cities, regions and countries can enhance their reputations as creative, competitive destinations, and the link between competitive identity and strategic tourism policy making.

Cowboy politics is in. When George W. Bush announced a new American policy of pre-emptive attack against potential enemies in 2002, he ushered in the triumph of Texas values over the American agenda. This book traces in lucid and engaging style the fascinating influence of the Texas warrior culture from the Alamo to the present day. This is not a history of Texas, but much Texas history is entwined with American national politics. This book locates such diverse phenomena as Cold War politics, the Kennedy assassination, U.S.-Mexican immigration policies, Texas death penalty practices, and recent U.S. Middle East policy in the context of this Alamo attitude. While the Texas influence has always been strong, and has ebbed and flowed, never has it been stronger, especially as a guiding force in American foreign policy. Today, people around the world perceive this Manifest Destiny swaggering style in our foreign policy. Because of its sheer size, its border wars with Mexico, its ten-year history as an independent republic, and its having been settled by a warrior culture originating in the English-Scottish borderlands and arriving in Texas via the southern Appalachians, Texas is unique in American politics. The author does not assert that Texas causes, or is the sole cause of, our various policies or of so many violent events. Rather, he demonstrates convincingly that the Texas warrior culture provides a fascinating context for national politics in a way that no other state's political culture can claim.

The free-spirited, unpretentious Texas Hill Country is a treasure. Central Texas is an unpretentious, free-spirited region filled with treasured taquerias, hallowed music venues, juicy BBQ, and revered natural wonders. A non-stop schedule of cultural festivals makes for year-round revelry. Explore San Antonio's pedestrian-friendly River Walk, legendary Alamo and historic Mission Trail. Austin's internationally recognized music scene keeps feet tapping and its parks, trails, and swimming holes offer endless recreation. Take a carefree road trip through the Hill Country, past vineyards and wildflowers, to towns brimming with gourmet restaurants and relaxing B&Bs.

Presents a pictorial history of San Antonio, Texas.

The Nature of Hope focuses on the dynamics of environmental activism at the local level, examining the environmental and political cultures that emerge in the context of conflict. The book considers how ordinary people have coalesced to demand environmental justice and highlights the powerful role of intersectionality in shaping the on-the-ground dynamics of popular protest and social change. Through lively and accessible storytelling, The Nature of Hope reveals unsung and unstinting efforts to protect the physical environment and human health in the face of continuing economic growth and development and the failure of state and federal governments to deal adequately with the resulting degradation of air, water, and soils. In an age of environmental crisis, apathy, and deep-seated cynicism, these efforts suggest the dynamic power of a “politics of hope” to offer compelling models of resistance, regeneration, and resilience. The contributors frame their chapters around the drive for greater democracy and improved human and ecological health and demonstrate that local activism is essential to the preservation of democracy and the protection of the environment. The book also brings to light new styles of leadership and new structures for activist organizations, complicating assumptions about the environmental movement in the United States that have focused on particular leaders, agencies, thematic orientations, and human perceptions of nature. The critical implications that emerge from these stories about ecological activism are crucial to understanding the essential role that protecting the environment plays in sustaining the health of civil society. The Nature of Hope will be crucial reading for scholars interested in environmentalism and the mechanics of social movements and will engage historians, geographers, political scientists, grassroots activists, humanists, and social scientists alike.

"'Discovering Texas History' is a historiographical reference book that will be invaluable to teachers, students, and researchers of Texas history. Chapter authors are familiar names in Texas history circles--a 'who's who' of high profile historians. Conceived as a follow-up to the award winning (but increasingly dated) 'A Guide the History of Texas' (1988), 'Discovering Texas History' focuses on the major trends in the study of Texas history since 1990. In part one, topical essays address significant historical themes, from race and gender to the arts and urban history. In part two, chronological essays cover the full span of Texas historiography from the Spanish era to the modern day. In each case, the goal is to analyze and summarize the subjects that have captured the attention of professional historians so that 'Discovering Texas History' will take its place as the standard work on the history of Texas history"--

A fine, engaging, and valuable biography of a man who merged the spontaneity of country fiddling with the Big Band Sound, giving birth to Western Swing. A landmark in country music!