History

Books |
February 12, 2015

The White Stuff

The secret history of cotton, the crop that transformed the global economy—and kept Texans in poverty for generations.

By Michael Ennis

The Daily Post |
January 8, 2015

Does “Selma” Get LBJ Wrong?

The Golden Globe-nominated film about the Civil Rights Movement is the subject of some unexpected controversy regarding its depiction of the relationship between Martin Luther King and President Lyndon Johnson.

By Dan Solomon

Books |
June 5, 2014

Race and Relations

Journalist Chris Tomlinson delves into the parallel histories of two Texas families with the same last name—one black, one white.

By Michael Ennis

Sports |
March 11, 2013

Hoop Queens

Half a century ago, the women’s basketball team at Wayland Baptist College set an extraordinary record that may never be broken: the longest winning streak in sports history.

By Skip Hollandsworth

How to Raise a Texan |
January 21, 2013

Confessions of a Seventh-Grade Texas History Teacher

Bobby Jackson has taught students in the Aransas County school district about the Plains Indians, the Battle of San Jacinto, and Spindletop since the state celebrated its sesquicentennial. How he does it bears no resemblance to the class I took when I was stuck in middle school.

By John Spong

News & Politics |
January 20, 2013

The Evolver

“All you’ve got is a famous name,” a Republican operative told George W. Bush. But six years later he was governor, and six years after that he was president. And six years after that, his place in history—not to mention the fate of the world—is a little uncertain.

By Robert Draper

Feature |
January 20, 2013

The Next Frontier

How has the state’s most storied ranch managed to survive and thrive in the twenty-first century? By operating in a way that its founder, Captain Richard King, would scarcely recognize.

By S. C. Gwynne

Art |
August 31, 2011

Common Threads

Karey Patterson Bresenhan and Nancy O’Bryant Puentes have finally completed their life’s work, a massive three-volume history of the quilts of Texas, from 1836 to the present. Here are ten that tell the story of quilting—and our state.

By Katharyn Rodemann

Energy |
July 31, 2011

Wind Instruments

From the old-style models to the three-story turbines, windmills are a part of Texas history. The machine's evolution is on display in Lubbock at the world's largest windmill museum.

By Kate Galbraith

Books |
March 31, 2011

An Excerpt From Trillin on Texas

IntroductionYes, I do have a Texas connection, but, as we’d say in the Midwest, where I grew up, not so’s you’d know it. I come from an immigrant family. Although my father sounded like Harry Truman and freely used phrases like “Haven’t had so much fun since the hogs ate

By Calvin Trillin

The Culture |
March 31, 2009

Ghosts Of War

Happy Texas Independence Day! Read five stories about our state's history, including this piece about the battlegrounds of Texas, which tell an incredible story of struggle, sorrow, triumph, and terror.

By Gary Cartwright

Art |
December 1, 2006

Pasó por Aquí

José Cisneros, the legendary illustrator of the Spanish Southwest, is 96, almost blind, and nearly deaf. And, of course, he has no plans to put down his pen.

By Gary Cartwright

Sports |
January 1, 2004

Duke of Dunbar

That would be 75-year-old Robert Hughes, who has amassed more victories while coaching in Fort Worth than anyone in high school basketball history. For most people, that would be enough.

By Michael Hall

News & Politics |
April 30, 2002

Giant

Master of the Senate, Robert Caro's third volume on the life of Lyndon Johnson, is an exhaustive study of power, persuasion, and private parts.

By Don Graham

Texas History |
April 1, 1998

Forget the Alamo

Sorry, T. R. Fehrenbach: the new Texas historians don’t care about Davy Crockett or other old icons. To them, the real heroes are women, blacks, and yes, Mexican Americans.

By Debbie Nathan

Feature |
June 30, 1996

Blown Away

Ninety-four years after the Goliad Tornado killed 114 people, why do we still ignore the warnings until it’s too late? A reflection on Texas’ worst twisters.

By William Hauptman

News & Politics |
January 1, 1996

Walken Tall

If you can’t get enough of creepy character actor Christopher Walken, boot up The Darkening, one of this year’s CD-ROM releases from Austin’s Origin Systems. Walken, like John Hurt and Amanda Pays, plays one of the fifty characters who meet up with the game’s hero, an amnesiac who roams the

By Josh Daniel

Texas History |
April 30, 1995

Davy Crock?

New York fireman Bill Groneman is disputing a critical piece of Alamo lore—and historians everywhere are burning mad.

By Jan Reid