Original Book Reviews

Texana:

Texas Book Reviews
Reviews of Texas General, Texana, Texas wine books and Guides

Cookbook Reviews
All our reviews of cookbooks

News Stories
Stories on major events, people and culture

Notable Native Texans
The famous and infamous born in Texas

Texas Sports Store
Clothing for UT, Texas A&M and Texas Tech

Texas / Texana General Book Reviews:

Some nice books about Texas, or life in Texas. If you are looking for cookbooks, look in Cookbook Reviews.

Lovin' That Lone Star Flag Book Review by Alfredo Alvarez Texans have never been shy about pride in their state. So it's high time for someone to offer, in the form of a large coffee table book, examples of some of the many ways that Texans show and display their state's famous flag.	The Big Rich Book Review by Steve Labinski Texas loves big stories about itself, and nothing reads bigger than the ups and downs of its most famous entreprenuers, the Big Four oilmen H.L. Hunt, Clint Murchison, Roy Cullen and Sid Richardson. Containing interesting biographies, the book eventually wades into deep water by trying to pinpoint Texas' political origins.
Texas Poetry Calendar 2010 by Steve Labinski Texas poetry is alive and well thanks to the folks at Dos Gatos Press. Their twelfth annual book calendar contains over eighty nice poems in a sturdy spiral-bound book.	Fearless Critic Austin Restaurant Guide, 2nd Edition Book Review by Lucas Everidge A brutally honest guide to 480 restaurants in the Austin, Texas area. Highly entertaining, as well as informative, this just released second edition takes aim at everything across the board, proving once again how Austinites cannot get enough of their restaurants and local food culture.
Fort Worth - Then & Now Original book review This beautiful coffee-table book explores the changes that have taken place in Fort Worth by comparing a historic photograph with a contemporary image taken at the same place. We see how things change, and stay the same over time.	Between Heaven and Texas Original book review The beautiful Texas landscape comes alive in this book of Wyman Meinzer's vivid photography. This volume from the University of Texas Press is a sight to behold
Texas Cemeteries Original book review From the simplest slab of stone to the most ornate weathered marble, every grave marker in a Texas cemetery bears witness to an interesting life. Bill Harvey makes the readers appreciate the many stories about the lives of important Texans, which these silent stones can tell.	Texas Trilogy: Life In A Small Texas Town Original book review

• One Heartbeat: A Philosophy of Teamwork, Life and Leadership
  by Coach Mack Brown
• I'm Not Slowing Down: Winning My Battle with Osteoporosis
  by Ann Richards
• Everything Texans Need To Know About The Other 49 States

General Texas Books

• The Athiest: Madalyn Murray O'Hair
  A full-length biography of America's more determined and mont denounced Athiest.
• Backyard Brawl
  Inside the Blood Feud Between Texas and Texas A&M
• Between Heaven and Texas
  Photographs by Wyman Meinzer
• Capitol Women - Texas Female Legislators, 1923-1999
• Chinqua Where? The Spirit of Rural America, 1947-1955
  by Fred B. McKinley
• The Ghosts of North Texas
  A haunted guide to the supernatural in Dallas/Fort Worth - North Texas
• Growing Up Simple: An Irreverent Look At Kids in the 1950s
  by George Arnold
Hell's Half Acre
by Richard F. Selcer
• "Let Me Tell You What I Learned"
  Texas Wisewomen Speak
  Interviews with twenty-five accomplished, well-known Texas women
• Start With A Laugh
  An Insider's Guide to Roasts, Toasts, Eulogies and Other Speeches
• Politics of Arlington Texas
• Quotable Texas Women
  by Susie Kelly Flatau & Lou Halsell Rodenberger
• Texas Golf Bible
• Texas High School Hotshots
  The Stars Before They Were Stars
• Texas Justice - Bought & Paid For
• Texas Rivers
• Touring Texas Gardens
• A Tribute to Early Texas
  Through the Lens of Master Photographer John R. Blocker
• San Antonio Uncovered
• Wildflowers Of Texas

Books on Lyndon Johnson

• Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson
  Book three in the outstanding biography of the life of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro
• The Johnson White House Tapes
  Review of the published transcripts of the private conversations on Lyndon Johnosn while President of the United States. Historian Michael Beschloss has edited two great books covering years 1963 to 1965.
• In the Boat with LBJ
  An insightful memoir on LBJ by John Bullion, whose father was Johnson's tax attorney.

• Barbecuing Across Texas
• Brown Sugar
• Butter Beans To Blackberries
  A cookbook for lovers
• Cooking with Texas Highways
• Dirty Dining
  A cookbook for lovers
• Texas On The Plate
• Celebrating Barbecue
• Mexican Light - Cocina Mexicana Ligera
• Texas Country Reporter Cookbook
• Texas Holiday Cookbook
• Wild West Cowboy Cookies
• The Texas Link to Making Sausage
  
Also reviews The Texas Link to Making Jerkey
• Texas Old-Time Restaurants and Cafes
• Tea For Texas
• Texas Food Companies
  Learn all about great local food. by Rhonda Cloos
• Dining Lean
  How to Eat Healthy in Your Favorite Restaurants

You Can't Do That, Dan Moody
by Ken Anderson
Gamblers & Gangsters - Fort Worth's Jacksboro Highway in the 1940's and 1950's
by Ann Arnold

This month we explore the law and the lawlessness of Texas. We review two books from the Eakin Press - You Can't Do That, Dan Moody by Ken Anderson and Gamblers & Gangsters: Fort Worth's Jacksboro Highway in the 1940's and 1950's by Ann Arnold. Ken Anderson's book on Texas Governor Dan Moody tells a great story which, as a life-long Texas resident, I did not know. In the 1920's the Klu Klux Klan was thriving all over the South. Anderson details the formation of a very active Klan chapter in Moody's Williamson County, which is about 40 miles north of Austin, TX. Ann Arnold's Gamblers & Gangsters runs through the lives and fates of many shady characters who made-up Fort Worth's gangster underworld. The gangster underworld? Yes, for many years Fort Worth was refered to as "Little Chicago." Readers of this book will quickly undertstand the term was well-deserved.

This book chronicles the 100 year history of the student newspaper of the University of Texas, the Daily Texan. It works on many levels: the book catalog's people and events like a yearbook, but it is also is full of historical anecdotes, photos and articles.

Stirring Prose: Cooking With Texas Authors
by Deborah Douglas

From the book jacket: Stirring Prose: Cooking with Texas Authors is a delightfully revealing look at some of Texas' best writers. Initially conceived as a Who's Who of Texas authors, Deborah Douglas quickly realized that asking authors to write about their favorite recipes freed them from "the big toe-digging constraints of having to talk directly about themselves. The resulting off-center reflections are brilliant slices of their personalities and their writing styles."

Splash Across Texas!
by Chandra Moira Beal

Swimmers and fans of Austin Texas and the Hill Country will appreciate this new, definative guide to swimming in Central Texas.

The Ultimate Chili Cookbook
by W. C. Jameson

Everyone needs at least one chili cookbook, and The Ultimate Chili Cookbook by W. C. Jameson is a good one to have.

Through Time and the Valley
by John R. Erickson

This is a carefully crafted book, well-written and researched about the Texas Panhandle, an area many Texans have never even seen.

Editor's Choice Boardin' in the Thicket: Recipes and Reminiscences of Early Big Thicket Boarding Houses
by Wanda A. Landrey



Editor's Choice
Three Self-Published Cookbooks:
As We Remember - Recipes & Recollections of the Timmermann Sisters
Secrets to Cooking Tex-Mex
by Michael W. Ludwig
The Ultimate Wine & Food Pairing Cookbook
by Merrill Bonarrigo