A comprehensive historical narrative of the Big Bend region of Texas, this "magnum opus" of native historian Dr. Cecilia Thompson received the prestigious T. R. Fehrenbach Book Award in 1985 as best county history.

Authors Louise S. O'Connor and Cecilia Thompson present a simple encyclopedic study of the Trans-Pecos area of Texas with emphasis on Presidio County VICTORIA, Texas — In their quest to complete their study and to share a better knowledge and understanding of a part of Texas that is still somewhat a frontier, authors Louise S. O'Connor and Cecilia Thompson reveal the first volume of their book "Marfa and Presidio County, Texas: A Social, Economic, and Cultural Study 1937 to 2008 Volume One, 1937 - 1989." In a book that offers a closer look at the past and the present, readers will see how a place known as a tourist area and a center of contemporary art came to be. It returns to the pre-historic era of Far West Texas and bring readers up to the present with yearly reports on the region as well as extensive formal research and personal interviews with present day people who live in Presidio County. A case study worth reading, this book is an eye-opener for a better understanding of how this small yet historically rich land is what it is now. Packed with the economic, social, and cultural history of Presidio County; this book gives readers, both lay and the historians, a clear and complete picture of the events that lead to the preservation, industrialization, and the improvement of one of the frontiers of the United States of America.

In their quest to complete their study and to share a better knowledge and understanding of a part of Texas that is still somewhat a frontier, authors Louise S. O'Connor and Cecilia Thompson reveal the first volume of their book Marfa and Presidio County, Texas: A Social, Economic, and Cultural Study 1937 to 2008 Volume One, 1937-1989. In a book that offers a closer look at the past and the present, readers will see how a place known as a tourist area and a center of contemporary art came to be. It returns to the pre-historic era of Far West Texas and bring readers up to the present with yearly reports on the region as well as extensive formal research and personal interviews with present day people who live in Presidio County. A case study worth reading, this book is an eye-opener for a better understanding of how this small yet historically rich land is what it is now. Packed with the economic, social, and cultural history of Presidio County; this book gives readers, both lay and the historians, a clear and complete picture of the events that lead to the preservation, industrialization, and the improvement of one of the frontiers of the United States of America.

This inviting book explores how small-town Marfa, Texas, has become a landmark arts destination and tourist attraction, despite--and because of--its remote location in the immense Chihuahuan desert.

Texas writer/historian Mike Cox explores the inception and rise of the famed Texas Rangers. Starting in 1821 with just a handful of men, the Rangers' first purpose was to keep settlers safe from the feared and gruesome Karankawa Indians, a cannibalistic tribe that wandered the Texas territory. As the influx of settlers grew, the attacks increased and it became clear that a much larger, better trained force was necessary. From their tumultuous beginning to their decades of fighting outlaws, Comanche, Mexican soldados and banditos, as well as Union soldiers, the Texas Rangers became one of the fiercest law enforcement groups in America. In a land as spread-out and sparsely populated as the west itself, the Rangers had unique law-enforcement responsibilities and challenges. The story of the Texas Rangers is as controversial as it is heroic. Often accused of vigilante-style racism and murder, they enforced the law with a heavy hand. But above all they were perhaps the defining force for the stabilization and the creation of Texas. From Stephen Austin in the early days through the Civil War, the first eighty years of the Texas Rangers is nothing less then phenomenal, and the efforts put forth in those days set the foundation for the Texas Rangers that keep Texas safe today. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Each of the wars fought by Texans spawned the creation of scores of military sites across the state, from the lonely frontier outpost at Adobe Walls to the once-bustling World War II shipyards of Orange. Today, although vestiges of the sites still exist, many are barely discernible, their once-proud martial trappings now faded by time, neglect, the elements and, most of all, public apathy. ?In Faded Glory: A Century of Forgotten Texas Military Sites, Then and Now, Thomas E. Alexander and Dan K. Utley revisit twenty-nine sites—many of them largely forgotten—associated with what was arguably the most tumultuous hundred-year period in a five-century span of Texas history.? Whether in the war with Mexico, the American Civil War, in clashes between Indians and the frontier army, or in two worldwide conflicts fought on foreign shores, Texas and Texans have often answered the call to arms. Beginning in 1845 and continuing through 1945, the Lone Star State and its people were fully involved in seven major conflicts. ?In this thoroughly researched and absorbing guide, Alexander and Utley recount the full story of the sites from their days of fame to the present. Comparing historic sketches, paintings, and period photographs of the original installations with recent photographs, they illustrate how time has dealt with these important places. Providing maps to aid readers in locating each site, the authors close with a resounding call for preservation and interpretation for future generations. ?The descriptions and images restore, at least in the mind’s eye, a touch of vitality and color to these forgotten and disappearing sites. Thanks to Faded Glory: A Century of Forgotten Texas Military Sites, Then and Now, both the traveler and the armchair tourist can recover a sense of these places and events that did so much to shape the military history of Texas.