Evolution Of The Texas Plains

Accept an invitation to the boundary-pushing heritage of the Texas Plains, from the first American Thanksgiving feast in the 1500s to Amarillo's iconic seventy-two-ounce steak challenge five hundred years later. Even the limitless horizons of the Panhandle couldn't contain the notes of musical pioneers like Mac Davis, Bobby Keys and the Velvets. Take a dip in Lubbock's oldest swimming hole or share a sip with Pinkie Roden, the benevolent bootlegger of West Texas. Keep an eye out for longballs from Justiceburg's "Stormin' Norman" Cash and stray bats in Doodlebug Line's Clarity Tunnel. Join Chuck Lanehart as he tracks the long-standing traditions and unexpected twists of life on the Texas Plains.

"Surveys the history and geologic past of the Texas High Plains and upper Brazos River region by focusing on human activity and adaptation and on shifting environmental conditions and animal resources on the Llano Estacado and in Yellow House Draw, the site of the current Lubbock Lake Landmark"--Provided by publisher.

Published in Cooperation with the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, Southern Methodist University This iconic description of the interaction between the vast central plains of the continent and the white Americans who moved there in the mid-nineteenth century has endured as one of the most influential, widely known, and controversial works in western history since its first publication in 1931. Arguing that "the Great Plains environment . . . constitutes a geographic unity whose influences have been so powerful as to put a characteristic mark upon everything that survives within its borders," Walter Prescott Webb identifies the revolver, barbed wire, and the windmill as technological adaptations that facilitated Anglo conquest of the arid, treeless region. Webb draws on history, anthropology, geography, demographics, climatology, and economics in arguing that the 98th Meridian constitutes an institutional fault line at which "practically every institution that was carried across it was either broken and remade or else greatly altered." This new edition of one of the foundational works of western American history features an introduction by Great Plains historian Andrew R. Graybill and a new index and updated design.

Geoarchaeology is the application of geoscience to the study of archaeological deposits and the archaeological record. Employing techniques from pedology, geomorphology, sedimentology, geochronology, and stratigraphy, geoarchaeologists investigate and interpret sediments, soils and landforms at the focal points of archaeological research. Edited by Rolfe D. Mandel and with contributions by John Albanese, Joe Allen Artz, E. Arthur Bettis III, C. Reid Ferring, Vance T. Holliday, David W. May, and Mandel, this volume traces the history of all major projects, researchers, theoretical developments, and sites contributing to our geoarchaeological knowledge of North America's Great Plains. The book provides a historical overview and explores theoretical questions that confront geoarchaeologists working in the Great Plains, where North American geoarchaeology emerged as a discipline.

Texas is as well known for its diversity of landscape and culture as it is for its enormity. But West Texas, despite being popularized in film and song, has largely been ignored by historians as a distinct and cultural geographic space. In West Texas: A History of the Giant Side of the State, Paul H. Carlson and Bruce A. Glasrud rectify that oversight. This volume assembles a diverse set of essays covering the grand sweep of West Texas history from the ancient to the contemporary. In four parts—comprehending the place, people, politics and economic life, and society and culture—Carlson and Glasrud and their contributors survey the confluence of life and landscape shaping the West Texas of today. Early chapters define the region. The “giant side of Texas” is a nineteenth-century geographical description of a vast area that includes the Panhandle, Llano Estacado, Permian Basin, and Big Bend–Trans-Pecos country. It is an arid, windblown environment that connects intimately with the history of Texas culture. Carlson and Glasrud take a nonlinear approach to exploring the many cultural influences on West Texas, including the Tejanos, the oil and gas economy, and the major cities. Readers can sample topics in whichever order they please, whether they are interested in learning about ranching, recreation, or turn-of-the-century education. Throughout, familiar western themes arise: the urban growth of El Paso is contrasted with the mid-century decline of small towns and the social shifting that followed. Well-known Texas scholars explore popular perceptions of West Texas as sparsely populated and rife with social contradiction and rugged individualism. West Texas comes into yet clearer view through essays on West Texas women, poets, Native peoples, and musicians. Gathered here is a long overdue consideration of the landscape, culture, and everyday lives of one of America’s most iconic and understudied regions.

Natural history - Texas, table of contents, index.

In its essence, Texas history is military history. Comprehensive in scope, A Military History of Texas provides the first single-volume military history of Texas from pre-Columbian clashes between Native American tribes to the establishment of the United States Space Force as the newest branch of the nation’s military in the twenty-first century. Rather than creating new theories of what happened, author Loyd Uglow synthesizes competing views of Texas’s military past into a narrative that deals evenhandedly with different interpretations, and recognizes that there is a measure of truth in each one, even while emphasizing those that seem most plausible. Uglow ties the various engrossing aspects of Texas military history into one unified experience. Chapters cover topics of warfare in Texas before the Europeans; Spanish military activities; revolutions against Spain and then Mexico; Texas and Texans in the Mexican War; ante- and post-bellum warfare on the Texas frontier; the Civil War in Texas; the Texas Rangers; border warfare during the Mexican revolution of 1910-1920; Texas and the world wars; and the modern military in Texas. Brief explanations of military terminology and practice, as well as parallels between Texas military actions and ones in other times and places, connect the narrative to the broader context of world military history. Thoroughly documented, with an engaging narrative and perceptive analysis, A Military History of Texas is designed to be accessible and interesting to a broad range of readers. It will find a welcome place in the collections of amateur or professional military historians, devoted fans of all things Texan, and newcomers to military history.

Created by local writers and photographers, Compass American Guides are the ultimate insider's guides, providing in-depth coverage of the history, culture and character of America's most spectacular destinations. Compass Texas covers everything there is to see and do -- plus gorgeous full-color photographs; a wealth of archival images; topical essays and literary extracts; detailed color maps; and capsule reviews of hotels and restaurants. These insider guides are perfect for new and longtime residents as well as vacationers who want a deep understanding of Texas.