West Texas

West Texas PDF

Author: Paul H. Carlson

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 2014-03-04

Total Pages: 393

ISBN-13: 0806145234

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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.

The Handbook of Texas

The Handbook of Texas PDF

Author: Walter Prescott Webb

Publisher:

Published: 1952

Total Pages: 1176

ISBN-13:

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Vol. 3: A supplement, edited by Eldon Stephen Branda. Includes bibliographical references.

Buffalo Soldiers in the West

Buffalo Soldiers in the West PDF

Author: Bruce A. Glasrud

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Published: 2007-08-15

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 9781585446209

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In the decades following the Civil War, scores of African Americans served in the U.S. Army in the West. The Plains Indians dubbed them buffalo soldiers, and their record in the infantry and cavalry, a record full of dignity and pride, provides one of the most fascinating chapters in the history of the era. This anthology focuses on the careers and accomplishments of black soldiers, the lives they developed for themselves, their relationships to their officers (most of whom were white), their specialized roles (such as that of the Black Seminoles), and the discrimination they faced from the very whites they were trying to protect. In short, this volume offers important insights into the social, cultural, and communal lives of the buffalo soldiers. The selections are written by prominent scholars who have delved into the history of black soldiers in the West. Previously published in scattered journals, the articles are gathered here for the first time in a single volume, providing a rich and accessible resource for students, scholars, and interested general readers. Additionally, the readings in this volume serve in some ways as commentaries on each other, offering in this collected format a cumulative mosaic that was only fragmentary before. Volume editors Glasrud and Searles provide introductions to the volume and to each of its four parts, surveying recent scholarship and offering an interpretive framework. The bibliography that closes the book will also commend itself as a valuable tool for further research.

Lambshead Before Interwoven

Lambshead Before Interwoven PDF

Author: Frances Mayhugh Holden

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Published: 1982

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 9780890961223

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The history of Lambshead Ranch which is located in Throckmorton and Shackelford counties, Texas. The Lambshead Ranch area was occupied by several persons, including Randolph March, Robert Neighbors, and Jesse Stem, an Indian agent, who established an Indian agency there. Stem was killed by Indians, and his wife oversaw expansion of the ranch. The ranch is named for Thomas Lambshead, born in 1805 in England, who emigrated to Texas around 1847. Thomas bought land in the nearby Round Mountain Creek area. Whether Thomas ever lived on Lambshead is not known. John A. Matthews located on Lambshead in 1897, and brought his family to the ranch in 1915.

Heaven's Harsh Tableland

Heaven's Harsh Tableland PDF

Author: Paul H. Carlson

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Published: 2023-12-14

Total Pages: 537

ISBN-13: 1648431550

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The Llano Estacado—dubbed by author Paul H. Carlson as “heaven’s harsh tableland”—covers some 48,000 square miles of western Texas and eastern New Mexico. In this new survey of the region, the story begins during prehistoric times and with descendants of the Comanche, Apache, and other Native American tribal groups. Other groups have also left their marks on the area: Spanish explorers, Comancheros and other traders, European settlers, farmers and ranchers, artists, and even athletes. Carlson, a veteran historian, aims to review “the Llano’s historic contours from its earliest foundations to its energetic present,” and in doing so, he skillfully narrates the story of the region up to the present time of modern agribusiness and urbanization. Throughout the ten chronologically arranged chapters, concise sidebars support the narrative, highlighting important and interesting topics such as the enigmatic origins of the region’s name, fascinating geological and paleontological facts, the arrival of humans, the natural history of bison, colorful “characters” in the history of the region, and many others. The resulting broad synthesis captures the entirety of the Llano Estacado, summarizing and interpreting its natural and human history in a single, carefully researched and clearly written volume. Heaven’s Harsh Tableland: A New History of the Llano Estacado will provide a helpful, enjoyable, and authoritative guide to the history and development of this important region.