From Cabeza de Vaca's ship-wreck in 1528 through the Texas Revolution to present day... almost 500 years of recorded history ... a myriad of significant events in Texas history have occurred (political, cultural, sporting, meteorological, criminal, tragic and amusing). These events are arranged by day of the year to allow the reader to see 'into the past' on any specific day.

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

A young person's guide to the story of the State of Texas from its birth to the present day

The story of Texas is the story of struggle and triumph in a land of extremes. It is a story of drought and flood, invasion and war, boom and bust, and of the myriad peoples who, over centuries of conflict, gave rise to a place that has helped shape the identity of the United States and the destiny of the world. “I couldn’t believe Texas was real,” the painter Georgia O’Keeffe remembered of her first encounter with the Lone Star State. It was, for her, “the same big wonderful thing that oceans and the highest mountains are.” Big Wonderful Thing invites us to walk in the footsteps of ancient as well as modern people along the path of Texas’s evolution. Blending action and atmosphere with impeccable research, New York Times best-selling author Stephen Harrigan brings to life with novelistic immediacy the generations of driven men and women who shaped Texas, including Spanish explorers, American filibusters, Comanche warriors, wildcatters, Tejano activists, and spellbinding artists—all of them taking their part in the creation of a place that became not just a nation, not just a state, but an indelible idea. Written in fast-paced prose, rich with personal observation and a passionate sense of place, Big Wonderful Thing calls to mind the literary spirit of Robert Hughes writing about Australia or Shelby Foote about the Civil War. Like those volumes it is a big book about a big subject, a book that dares to tell the whole glorious, gruesome, epically sprawling story of Texas.

In the spring of 1880, Ulysses S. Grant, former general-in-chief and two-term president of the United States, stepped ashore at Galveston and began what turned out to be a seven-day whirlwind visit to Texas. Because of his past accomplishments and the chance that he might be nominated to serve an unprecedented third presidential term, Grant was the most famous and eagerly awaited celebrity ever to visit the Lone Star State. The general visited Galveston, San Antonio, and Houston, where he was greeted by thousands of cheering Texans. Grant's visit to Texas was the subject of extensive coverage in newspapers across the nation, providing a unique time capsule for modern readers. The detailed reports of parades, banquets, receptions, and social activities not only document what Grant did at these functions, but also provide a record of what the thousands who came to see him said and did. The elaborate banquet menus and the word-by-word transcriptions of after-dinner toasts and speeches provide a fascinating window into social activities that are no longer an active part of modern life. This book tells the story of Grant's busy week in Texas, allowing the reader to see Texas the way Grant experienced it. The book also includes a tour guide that will allow readers to literally retrace the general's footsteps to the sites of many historic buildings that still exist today.

The Texas Revolution is remembered chiefly for the 13-day siege of the Alamo and its immortal heroes. This book describes the war and the preceding years that were marked by resentments and minor confrontations as the ambitions of Mexico's leaders clashed with the territorial determination of Texan settlers. When the war broke in October 1835, the invading Mexicans, under the leadership of the flamboyant President-General Santa Ana, fully expected to crush a ragged army of frontiersmen. Led by Sam Houston, the Texans rallied in defense of the new Lone Star state, defeated the Mexicans in a mere 18 minutes at the battle of San Jacinto and won their independence.

Psychic Manfred Bernardo enlists the help of the enigmatic Olivia Charity when he is wrongly accused of murder.

Presents at least one event, anecdote, or item of information for each day of the year, covering the full 150-plus-year range of Texas history.

An inspiring collection of Pat Mora's own glorious poems celebrating a love of words and all the ways we use and interact with them: reading, speaking, writing, and singing.