Assigned as the senior medical advisor to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam in I Corps, an area close to the DMZ, James G. Van Straten traveled extensively and interacted with military officers and non-commissioned officers, peasant-class farmers, Buddhist bonzes, shopkeepers, scribes, physicians, nurses, the mentally ill, and even political operatives. He sent his wife daily letters from July 1966 through June 1967, describing in impressive detail his experiences, and those letters became the primary source for his memoir. The author is grateful that his wife retained all the letters he wrote to her and their children during the year they were apart. The author describes with great clarity and poignancy the anguish among the survivors when an American cargo plane in bad weather lands short of the Da Nang Air Base runway on Christmas Eve and crashes into a Vietnamese coastal village, killing more than 100 people and destroying their village; the heart-wrenching pleadings of a teenage girl that her shrapnel-ravaged leg not be amputated; and the anger of an American helicopter pilot who made repeated trips into a hot landing zone to evacuate the wounded, only to have the Vietnamese insist that the dead be given a …

A History of Fort Worth in Black & White fills a long-empty niche on the Fort Worth bookshelf: a scholarly history of the city's black community that starts at the beginning with Ripley Arnold and the early settlers, and comes down to today with our current battles over education, housing, and representation in city affairs. The book's sidebars on some noted and some not-so-noted African Americans make it appealing as a school text as well as a book for the general reader. Using a wealth of primary sources, Richard Selcer dispels several enduring myths, for instance the mistaken belief that Camp Bowie trained only white soldiers, and the spurious claim that Fort Worth managed to avoid the racial violence that plagued other American cities in the twentieth century. Selcer arrives at some surprisingly frank conclusions that will challenge current politically correct notions. "Selcer does a great job of exploring little-known history about the military, education, sports and even some social life and organizations."--Bob Ray Sanders, author of Calvin Littlejohn: Portrait of a Community in Black and White.

Funny, heartbreaking, and real--these twelve stories showcase a dynamic range of voices belonging to characters who can't stop confessing. They are obsessive storytellers, disturbed professors, depressed auctioneers, gambling clergy. A fourteen-year-old boy gets baptized and speaks in tongues to win the love of a girl who ushers him into adulthood; a troubled insomniac searches the woods behind his mother's house for the "awful pretty" singing that begins each midnight; a school-system employee plans a year-end party at the site of a child's drowning; a burned-out health-care administrator retires from New England to coastal Georgia and stumbles upon a life-changing moment inside Walmart. These big-hearted people--tethered to the places that shape them--survive their daily sorrows and absurdities with well-timed laughter; they slouch toward forgiveness, and they point their ears toward the Holy Ghost's last words. "In its precise prose and spooky intelligence and sharp-eyed examination of the condemned kind we are, Last Words of the Holy Ghost is an original. Listen: if you can find a collection of stories more cohesive, more ambitious in reach, more generous in its passion, and fancier in its footwork, I will buy it for you and deliver it in person. In the meantime, put some …

A guest artist and faculty recital performed at the UNT College of Music Voertman Hall.

Faculty and student recital presented at UNT College of Music Voertman Hall.

Faculty recital presented at UNT College of Music Recital Hall.

A percussion ensemble recital performed at the UNT College of Music Voertman Hall.

A senior recital presented at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall.

A junior and student recital presented at the UNT College of Music Voertman Hall.

Recital presented at the UNT Main Auditorium in partial fulfillment of the Master’s of Music degree.

A senior recital presented at the UNT College of Music Kenton Hall.

A cappella choir concert performed at the UNT College of Music Winspear Hall.

A faculty and guest artist recital presented at UNT College of Music Voertman Hall.

A senior recital presented at the UNT College of Music Voertman Hall.

A senior recital presented at the UNT College of Music Voertman Hall.

A senior recital presented at the UNT College of Music Voertman Hall.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Recital Hall in partial fulfillment of the Master’s of Music degree.

A senior recital presented at the UNT College of Music Voertman Hall.

Big band concert performed at the UNT College of Music Winspear Hall.

Big band concert performed at the UNT College of Music Winspear Hall.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Voertman Hall in partial fulfillment of the Master’s of Music degree.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Kenton Hall in partial fulfillment of the Master’s of Music degree.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Voertman Hall in partial fulfillment of the Master’s of Music degree.

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Voertman Hall in partial fulfillment of the Master’s of Music degree.