I live in a house of books.
No wonder my first impulse during the holidays is to give fans new books.
For thoughtful, Texas readers, I’ve selected 10 titles about our state, almost all published in 2022.
Some are big picture books. Others are historical or fictional. All well written.
I reviewed the last five books on this gift list as part of previous columns. I continue to treasure these volumes and quote from my past admirers.
Beasley’s Vaqueros: Memoirs, Art, and Poetry of Ricardo Beasley by Andres Tijerina (Texas State Historical Society)
When one of the state’s major historians meets a perfect subject, you pay attention. Since the 1970s, Tejerina, who recently retired as a professor at Austin Community College, has documented the Tejanos of South Texas—as well as the origins of American democracy, among other subjects—in book after book. done He is not lazy.
In the 1990s, Tijerina came across a book by Ricardo Beasley, an artist and poet who didn’t romanticize the vaqueros as much as he documented it in high fashion. Historians immediately recognized that their hard work from the 1940s to the 1980s not only captured the perils and dynamics of farm life in pen and ink; Beasley also knew how it all connected to the original Tejano cowboys of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Tejerina includes a lengthy translated interview with Beasley alongside the original Spanish, and she provides context for Mexican Americans who organized against the British power structure during the 20th century.
‘The Art of Texas State Parks: A Centennial Celebration, 1923-2023’ by Andrew Sansom and Linda J. Reeves (Texas A&M University Press)
Andy Sansom is the God of Texas Conservation. Former director of the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University, he also served as director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Nature Conservancy.
Here are three of the most effective protectors of the Texas wild.
For this book, he teamed up with art expert and collector Linda Reeves to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Texas State Parks System by creating art about the parks. (I hope to visit this auspicious centenary next year.)
This is, first and foremost, a coffee table book. In our house, it sat on a side table near our couch for months, and in the quiet moments of another busy day, I would flip through it for peace and renewal. Some of the artists—Margie Crisp, Fidancio Duran, William B. Montgomery, Gordon Fowler, Milo Fulto—will be familiar to casual fans of Texas art. Others are worth discovering for the first time.
This book includes valuable historical background and an excellent map of the park system.
At the Table with LBJ and Lady Bird: History, Humor and True Texas Recipes by Jane E. Schuller (TCU Press)
This is the most widely designed book in Texas this year. Jane Shuler, who worked as a volunteer at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, dug into the archives for Ladybird’s collection of recipes, some of which were originally created by family cook Zephyr Wright.
This was just for starters.
If these recipes had simply been presented on the page with a few illustrations and anecdotes, “On the Table” would have been a valuable cookbook. Schuler and her team at TCU Press went two steps further: entire pages are covered with illustrations of Schuler’s toys, while portions of the text are presented as scribbled notes.
It ends up looking and functioning like a scrapbook, personal and inviting. Fortunately, page-filling design doesn’t hinder legitimacy. I want to make these dishes. And while I can take a break from cooking, I’ll dive into history and humor.
Historic Homes of Bastro Texas with Sandra Chapley by Ruby Moore Sanders and photos by Mark Winslet (Texas A&M University Press)
Are you the type—I am—who, after visiting a historic town somewhere in Texas, you head straight to the nearby old haunts? Best explored on foot, this leafy district is home to stately mansions, cozy bungalows and casual cottages that hold all the pieces of the city’s past generations.
One of the oldest towns in Central Texas, Bastrow traces its roots to a settlement in 1804. The authors of this beautiful volume document about 100 houses, most of which were built between 1835 and 1920. Each entry includes an architectural assessment with a brief history. The families who were lucky enough to live in these houses, which were lovingly photographed by Mark Winslet.
I’m looking forward to my next day trip to Bastille, so I can visit – or revisit – these treasures.
‘Another World: The Art of David Everett’ edited by Becky Duval Rees (Texas A&M University Press)
I have admired the work of Texas sculptor David Everett since the 1980s. Perhaps you have seen his hideous animals and humans made of wood, organized, richly painted and showing signs of his tools. It was inspired by the wildlife he grew up on on the Big Tiket side of Beaumont.
In a small, cozy studio west of the capital, Everett still draws painstaking attention to detail and creates aged wood pieces that keep the state’s natural wonders front and center. His small, soft bronze should be noticeable. The museum’s former curator Becky Duvall-Rees created this long-awaited tribute to Everett’s work. Author Stephen Harrigan, who has a wonderful and humorous appreciation of the artist, contributed the introduction.
‘Texas Divers: The Endurance of the Lone Star State’s Neighborhood Bars’ by Anthony Head with photographs by Kirk Weddle (Texas A&M University Press)
As I wrote in my Oct. 24 column, “This book is gold. … San Marcos journalist Anthony Head devotes his witty insight and layered prose to immersing himself in 12 cities and towns across the state.”
“Austin photographer Kirk Weddle gives depth and dignity to each bartender, customer and bar scene by using available light to powerful effect.
“I’ve read several chapters of the book over and over again, and already plan on judging. … I urge you to buy or borrow Texas Davis and raise a glass to this enduring tradition. “
‘Unsettled Land: From Revolution to Republic, The Struggle for Texas’ by Sam W. Haynes (Basic Books)
I wrote in an April 18 column: “Don’t believe anyone who tells you they know all the answers to Texas history. Especially not about the period before, during, and after the Texas Revolution of the 1830s. .Early 19th century Texas is emerging as a scene of utter chaos.
“Hundreds of notable players switched sides for dozens of different reasons. Many didn’t know what others were thinking or doing because the distances were so wide and the terrain so bad.
“The reader comes away from this book (from this book) with no single proximate cause for the Texas Revolution. Yet the conflict had a profound effect on the informally multiracial society increasingly dominated by the English classes. ruled.”
‘Bad Mexico: Race, Empire and Revolution on the Borders’ by Kelly Little Hernandez (Norton)
As I wrote in my September 5th column, “In his latest volume, Hernández traces the part played by anarchists, socialists and liberals in the overthrow of President Porfirio Diaz, the general who in 1862 defeated the French in the decisive Battle of Puebla, and who became the de facto dictator of Mexico during seven elections and a 31-year reign, in 1911 against a weak coalition of revolutionaries. Resigned after losing several battles.
“Hernández usefully describes how Díaz rose from a liberal to a dictator, and how his forces, official and unofficial, decisively crushed any threat to his authority, whether from indigenous tribes, labor activists, , or was aided by local political leaders.–wealthy Americans who allowed Daz to expropriate millions of acres of Mexican land while dominating the country’s railroads, mines, and oil production.
“These powerful Americans, in turn, put enormous pressure on both the Mexican and American governments to prevent dissent and any action against their material interests.”
‘The Last Gangster in Austin: Frank Smith, Ronnie Earle and the End of the Junkyard Mafia’ by Jess Siblett (University of Texas Press)
From the June 20 column: “Writer and musician Jesse Sublette’s true-crime story reads like a classic novel. It illuminates a 1970s Texas underworld you might not have known existed, unless you already knew him. Equally expressive is 1960s Austin Gangsters, published in 2015.
In the book, Sublett profiled the Overton Gang, who committed bank robberies across the state while also running prostitution and trafficking rings. Austin’s Timmy Overton and Odessa’s Jerry Ray James, former football players, were sometimes friends with the infamous Austin madam Hattie Valdes at Nandrio.
“Although it also tells the story of a criminal empire that outgrew the rest of Texas, “The Last Gangster in Austin: Frank Smith, Ronnie Earle and the End of the Junkyard Mafia” is more tightly focused and produced. If it Not having the story in a feature film — not just true crime TV — is a crime in itself.”
“The Cheetah is Loose: A Novel” by Stephen Harrigan (Noof)
In a March 22 column, I wrote: “Hands down, Stephen Harrigan is one of the top writers in the state of Texas. Gentle and generous, the novelist, journalist and screenwriter would probably deny such a grand statement.
His latest novel, The Leopard Is Loose: A Novel, isn’t set in Texas, although the state always looms over the horizon. Oklahoma City looks a lot like 1950s Dallas, Fort Worth or even the future. -Door Louisiana, Shreveport, where I spent part of the 1950s.
Harrigan was inspired by the escape of a tiger from the Lincoln Park Zoo in Oklahoma City on February 25, 1950. Interesting citizens built properties. Parents kept the children behind closed doors in fear. And the violence escalated until the death of the Lippy Leopard was taken. A man who jumped 18 feet from his zoo enclosure died after eating poison ivy grown outside his zoo enclosure.
Michael Barnes writes about the people, places, culture and history of Austin and Texas. He can be reached at [email protected]
