In an era when the dominant ideology divided the world into separate public and private spheres and relegated women to the private, Anna J. Hardwicke Pennybacker ardently promoted progressive causes including public education, women's suffrage, social reform, and the League of Nations. A Texas educator, clubwoman, writer, lecturer, and social and political activist whose influence in the early twentieth century extended nationwide, Pennybacker wrote A New History of Texas, which was the state-adopted textbook for Texas history from 1898-1913 and remained in classroom use until the 1940s. She...

African American women have played significant roles in the ongoing struggle for freedom and equality, but relatively little is known about many of these leaders and activists. Most accounts of the civil rights movement focus on male leaders and the organizations they led, leaving a dearth of information about the countless black women who were the backbone of the struggle in local communities across the country. At the local level women helped mold and shape the direction the movement would take. Lulu B. White was one of those women in the civil rights movement in Texas. Executive secretary...

In times of war . . . in times of peace . . . in times of sweeping social change . . . a leader for all seasons . . .Whether scaling the seemingly insurmountable cliffs of Pointe du Hoc with his advance assault troops during the Normandy invasion, restoring integrity to the Texas Land Office, or overseeing transitions in an academic institution with hallowed traditions during a time of contentious cultural change, James Earl Rudder (1910-1970) forged a legacy of wartime gallantry and peacetime leadership that commands continuing respect. "Rudder: From Leader to Legend" pays tribute to a man...

New in paperback with a new preface "Bixel's research is thorough and her writing style is engaging. This book will be of interest to both maritime historians and historic preservationists. . . . a welcome addition to the growing literature on Texas maritime history."-Southwestern Historical Quarterly " . . . a heartening story, well-illustrated with photos."-Houston Chronicle "Her story is beautifully told in words and pictures . . ."-Austin American-Statesman " . . . recommended both as an outstanding book-to-remember-her-by and as a surprisingly complete account of a quirky aspect of...

Starting its life as an attack transport in World War II--and one of the last five left afloat by war's end--the USS "Queens "saw action at Iwo Jima and other hot spots in the Pacific theater. After the war, the ship became the SS "Excambion," one of the "Four Aces" of American Export Lines: the only fully air-conditioned ships in the world at the time. In 1965, the versatile "Excambion "underwent yet another transformation--into a floating classroom. Recommissioned as the USTS "Texas Clipper," the ship began a third life as a merchant marine training vessel with its home port in Galveston....

Cowboy spurs are a pure form of American folk art. Like the cowboy himself, the way spurs developed was molded by their use and the environment of the range, along with a generous dose of individualism and pride. Cowboy Spurs and Their Makers tells the fascinating story of this western art and the artisans and provides a valuable reference for identifying spurs used by riders of Texas and the Southwest.

A visit with contemporary spur maker Jerry Lindley, with pictures of him at work, traces the process and mechanics of hand forging spurs and decorating them by the overlay method....

Beginning with tribal wars among Native Americans before Europeans settled Texas and continuing through the Civil War, the soil of what would become the Lone Star State has frequently been stained by the blood of those contesting for control of its resources. In subsequent years and continuing to the present, its citizens have often taken up arms beyond its borders in pursuit of political values and national defense. Although historians have studied the role of the state and its people in war for well over a century, a wealth of topics remain that deserve greater attention: Tejanos in World...

The nineteenth-century "cult of curability" engendered the optimistic belief that mental illness could be cured under ideal conditions-removal from the stresses of everyday life to asylum, a pleasant, well-regulated environment where healthy meals, daily exercise, and social contact were the norm. This utopian view led to the reform and establishment of lunatic asylums throughout the United States. The Texas State Lunatic Asylum (later called the Austin State Hospital) followed national trends, and its history documents national mental health practices in microcosm. Drawing on diverse...

Having first visited the Big Bend in 1928, Kenneth B. Ragsdale has been digging around in and writing about the region for decades. In Big Bend Country: Land of the Unexpected, he takes a nostalgic retrospective journey through the times and places of this increasingly popular corner of West Texas to say goodbye to those who made the history, created the myths, and lived the legends.?Building his stories around themes of compassion, conflict, and compromise, he profiles both famous and relatively unknown figures. He tells stories of curanderas (healers), charity workers, a woman who practiced...