This is the story of how a myth began, with the Texas Revolution against Mexico, cattle drives, and "hyperactive" Texas Rangers, and became embodied in larger-than-life figures, from Sam Houston to "Speaker Sam" Rayburn, from the explorer La Salle to L. B. J. It is also the story of a state larger than its myth, a Confederate state that contained enclaves of pro-Union German-Americans, a football-loving state that produced musicians of the sensitivity of Scott Joplin and Van Cliburn, a western state that also is Southern, Mexican, and Spanish in its influences.
This is the story of how a myth began, with the Texas Revolution against Mexico, cattle drives, and "hyperactive" Texas Rangers, and became embodied i...
Utah is a land whose geographical isolation would forever mark its history. To the Mormons who took refuge there in the 1840s, distance from the outside world was its greatest attraction, and there in the desert of the Great Basin, the Saints set out to build up Zion and wait for the Lord.
Today, believes author Charles S. Peterson, Utahans have proved to be followers rather than leaders on most public issues, seeking the sure precedent and the safe path--a legacy of the Saints' old quest for security and respect in a hostile world.
Utah is a land whose geographical isolation would forever mark its history. To the Mormons who took refuge there in the 1840s, distance from the o...
