I just purchased this book at Barnes and Noble for $12.98! I am excited about the cheap price, but more importantly, I am excited about reading some of the best written history of our beautiful state of Texas.

Any thoughts about this book...??

Luke 12:48

Best book on Texas history I've ever read. His discussion of the Commanches is awesome.Also, the section on the 1860 governor's race with Houston running as a unionist is pretty amazing.

[This message has been edited by me1og (edited 5/10/2007 7:01p).]

I've not read it but give Lone Star Nation by HW Brand a shot also. Well written and a great prof.

Brandon Stewart<Randy McCown<Mark Farris<Vance Smith<Colby Freeman<Dustin Long<Reggie McNeal<Stephen McGee<Jerrod Johnson

Best history book on Texas. I have given several copies away to friends out of state over the years. I was lucky enough to have the honor of introducing him prior to his presentation at a SA A&M Club Monday luncheon once and got him to autograph my hard copy. Class gentleman and still sharp as a tack. The book and the man are priceless treasures to the state of Texas.

"Recall.....Step off on Hullabaloo..."

Yeah, best one. Enjoy. If you like it, try his other stuff, too.

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I just purchased this book at Barnes and Noble for $12.98! I am excited about the cheap price, but more importantly, I am excited about reading some of the best written history of our beautiful state of Texas.

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Was it a limited sale? 'Cause I need to buy another one. I keep loaning them out and forgetting who I gave them to. This will be my fifth copy I believe and $13 sounds like a steal.

It's a great book!

It was a publisher's clearance sale. I thought for a book of that size and stature the price was unbeatable.

Thanks for the comments. I will read it this summer.

Luke 12:48

Best history of Texas by far.

Agreed, great book - sweeping, lyrical writing. Today's historians cannot write like that.

They have stacks of these for like $10 at most Half Price Books locations.

Got to spend an entire afternoon with Fehrenbach once. He's a great guy.

The best. Bible of Texas History.

Agreed AggieLit.

What happened to historical writing? The old guys had much better command of the lanuage and prose. It's become so cold and dry these days.

Whew! I have endured a big scare for the past couple of days ... when I attempted to log onto my favorite website for historic maps and other great stuff about Texas, I was getting some oddball site. I was afraid Maps of Texas located at Austin had gone out of business. An explanation is now posted on the site at their url ... http://www.mapsoftexas.com/

I have purchased about a dozen copies of Lone Star as gifts for family and friends ... and almost as many sets of Texas maps from Maps of Texas to accompany the books.

The maps available are great to accompany the book. A portfolio from the Texas State Historical Society contains about 15 maps from the 1600s to Republic of Texas days. Others in the folio show the development of counties from earliest times of the State to modern times. Included in a package are a Pocket Map dated in the 1880s that the folks used to venture into the Texas frontier and a Railroad Map of about the same period.

In addition, that site has a good selection of prints, framed and unframed, and all the Texas flags.

The fellow who owns the shop worked for several years at the General Land Office in the map department so you are dealing with an expert ... and a very nice person.

If you are interested use the link above to track his getting back on line ... or give him a call. This is a great resource for those interested in Texas history.

The website of Maps of Texas is back on line. If you have an interest in Texas history I think you will enjoy visiting the site and browsing around: http://www.mapsoftexas.com/

Bob is also a source for miscellaneous maps you may be interested in, such as older times county maps, school district layouts and other things that may have found their way to the General Land Office at some time or other.

(The portfolio of about 22 maps beginning in 1520 is a great starter set for about $50.)

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What happened to historical writing? The old guys had much better command of the lanuage and prose. It's become so cold and dry these days.

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At some point back in the 1960's, somebody got the idea that history needed to be a social science rather than part of the humanities. From there it was downhill.

For any of you who have read both, how does Fehrenbach's Lone Star compare to "Lone Star Nation" by HW Brands?

Fehrenbach covers all of Texas history at least through WW2, Brand just the Texas Revolution. Fehrenbach is more memorable IMO. Brand's also came out with Jack Davis' Lone Star Rising that was essentially the same book and just as good.

Brands book actually goes through Annexation and a little Civil War.

That's right, I read Davis' book at the same time and they both kind of run together for me. I guess Davis' stops with the revolution and Texas is a nation. Just goes to show how memorable they were for me compared to Lone Star. Both are good but not exceptional like Fehrenbach.

I read it about 15 years ago, and again about 10 years ago. It's a great book. I recommend it for anyone interested in Texas history. I think I'll read it again as soon as I finish reading "A Few Good Men: A History of the Fighting Fifth Marines" for the second time.

I'm a slow learner. I have to read stuff a bunch of times to get it!

Thye have this brand new at Half Price Books for $9.98.......! I've never read it... just bought it today. It was also "updated" in 2000 (originally published in 1967).

i'm about halfway thru this book but it seems he repeats a paragraph about every 2 pages. he explains an event (very well and thorough) but then explains it again (in almost the exact same words) about 2 pages later. anybody else notice this?

i read about half of it about two months ago. i need to go back and pick it back up. excellent book!

Thank you guys. I've been wanting to pick up a good book on Texas history for awhile now. But I didn't have a clue what to get....until now.