Books
April 9, 2021
When the Political Gets Personal
Veteran Austin journalist Bill Minutaglio’s latest book is a crowd-pleasing account of heated political battles in Texas over the past 150 years. But does it get the big picture right?…
History
Texas History
December 15, 2020
What Happened at Pease River Wasn’t a Battle. It Was a Massacre.
How a Texas Ranger’s personal mythology came to be accepted as popular history.
Being Texan
June 18, 2020
Essay: Celebrating Juneteenth in 2020 Is an Act of Resistance
I’ve always observed Juneteenth, but this year the stakes feel higher than ever.
Texas History
September 18, 2019
‘Big Wonderful Thing’ Author Stephen Harrigan Explains Why Davy Crockett Was the Taylor Swift of His Day (Sort Of)
The Austin author on his fascination with H.L. Hunt, his inability to hate Santa Anna, and how he met the challenges of writing a history of Texas for the twenty-first century.
Texas History
September 18, 2019
The New Texas History
Stephen Harrigan’s ’Big Wonderful Thing’ sweeps away decades of mythmaking. Are we ready to remember the Alamo—and the Texas Rangers and the Civil War—differently?…
Texas History
September 18, 2019
‘Big Wonderful Thing’ Excerpt: “Sediciosos”
In the early twentieth century, long-simmering tensions in South Texas erupted into a grim and brutal race war.
Texas History
September 18, 2019
‘Big Wonderful Thing’ Excerpt: “Savage Ware Fare”
After breaking away from Mexico, the combative Republic of Texas took its fight against Native Americans to the heart of Comanchería, led by a group of militiamen who called themselves Rangers.
Texas History
September 18, 2019
‘Big Wonderful Thing’ Excerpt: “Reason Had Left Its Throne”
As the Civil War violently divided the nation, Texan turned against Texan.
Texas History
September 18, 2019
Américo Paredes vs. J. Frank Dobie
For years, the great folklorist convinced many scholars and activists that the vaunted “Texas Man of Letters” was an anti-Mexican racist. Maybe it’s time to reconsider that judgment—as Paredes himself eventually did.
Texas History
September 18, 2019
The Battle to Rewrite Texas History
While a new generation of scholars is rewriting our history, supporters of the traditional narratives are fighting to keep their grip on the public imagination.
Being Texan
March 6, 2018
How the Alamo Got Its Hump
The “ridiculous scroll” didn’t top the structure until after the Battle of the Alamo.
The Culture
February 7, 2018
A Deep Dive Into How Dallas Got Its Name
Prepare for a tale of blackface minstrelsy and swashbuckling high seas adventures, a whodunit with the last page maddeningly ripped out.
Texas History
September 22, 2016
The Texas Connection to The Iconic Photo of V-J Day in Times Square
Longview lawyer Howard Coghlan, who identified himself in the photograph, passed away at 89.
The Daily Post
July 27, 2015
From Texas to Cuba: An Epic Road Trip, Castro’s Trip to Houston, and How It’s Changed
As the doors to Cuban travel slowly re-open, the author’s dad recalls his epic road/cruise ship trip to Havana just before Castro’s take-over, and we remember Castro’s hero’s welcome in Houston a few months later.
The Daily Post
May 28, 2015
Hakeem Olajuwon, the Rockets Star Who Valiantly Fought to End Sneaker Violence
As Houston basketball fans mourn the end of the Rockets season, we remember the efforts of one of the team’s all-time greats. …
Film & TV
May 13, 2015
That Sinking Feeling
Don’t invite a history buff to your "Texas Rising" viewing party.
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.
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.
The Daily Post
August 1, 2014
1983 New York Times Profile Of Austin Showcases The Fact That Austinites Have Always Complained About The City Changing
'Booming Austin Fears It Will Lose Its Charms' is a story that could be—and has been—written any number of times over the past 30+ years, the evidence shows.
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.
Practice
April 2, 2014
Tips From the Great Debater
At 94 years old, debate icon Thomas Freeman has taught everyone from Martin Luther King Jr. to Barbara Jordan.
Food & Drink
November 12, 2013
Chicken Fried State
How a lowly cut of beef—breaded, spiced, and fried to order—was transformed into a vessel for the modern food system.
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.
Sports
January 21, 2013
Did Fort Worth Really Have the World’s First Indoor Rodeo?
Kansas stakes a claim to the "World's Original Indoor Rodeo" title, a crown Fort Worth has worn since 1918. …
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.
Books
January 21, 2013
Friedrichsburg Revisited
The German novel, penned in 1867 and set in the just-settled Hill Country hamlet, gets a modern translation.
Longreads
January 20, 2013
The Last Empire
The King Ranch saga: how one family conquered, tamed, loved, toiled on, and fought over a great piece of Texas.
News & Politics
January 20, 2013
Lady Bird
In this excerpt from Means of Ascent, the shy, withdrawn young wife of Lyndon Johnson reveals a presence and command that took everyone by surprise—including her husband.
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.
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.
Books
October 31, 2012
The Cold Eye of Larry McMurtry
Catching up with our leading unsentimentalist.
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.
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.
Books
April 30, 2011
Crockett Science
A new Crockett biography by Michael Wallis weighs in on how Davy died.
Books
March 31, 2011
An Excerpt From Trillin on Texas
Introduction Yes, 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…
News & Politics
October 31, 2010
Back to the Future
A trip through South Texas in search of the ghosts of borders past—and a vision for what comes next.
Books
September 30, 2010
A Q&A With H. W. Brands
The author of The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream talks about peddling history and more.
Books
August 31, 2010
Ann Weisgarber
On her new novel, The Personal History of Rachel Dupree, and more.
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.
News & Politics
May 31, 2007
“The President Is Dead, You Know”
What the late LBJ confidant Jack Valenti remembered about the longest day of his life.
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.
The Culture
December 1, 2004
Groundbreaker
One groundbreaker, one Ranger. A story from Texas Ranger Christine Nix in her own words.
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.
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.
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.