“Remember, boys, nothing on God's earth must stop the United States mail!” said John Butterfield to his drivers. Short as the life of the Southern Overland Mail turned out to be (1858 to 1861), the saga of the Butterfield Trail remains a high point in the westward movement. A. C. Greene offers a history and guide to retrace that historic and romantic Trail, which stretches 2800 miles from the Mississippi River to the Pacific coast. “A fine mix of past and present to appeal to scholar and lay reader alike.”—Robert M. Utley, author of The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull

This book is a collection of essays discussing the role of Texans in World War II. It examines both the Texas soldiers fighting in the European and Pacific theaters as well as the Texans on the Homefront. The essays describe both the military and social aspects of the war. Index starts on page 241.

A collection of letters by army Dr. L. D. Collins from his tour of duty in World War II with the 56th Evacuation Hospital, chronicling his experiences and general history of WWII. He includes letters from his time stationed in Morocco, Tunisia, Italy, and Anzio Beach.

Collection of essays based on sessions presented at a conference held for the 21st Earth Day (April 1991), organized into five topical sections: Conservation Politics; Environmental Science Today and Tomorrow; Conservation, Economics, and the Corporate Effort; Environmental Philosophy; and Religion and Conservation. Index starts on page 237.

The task of providing military defense for the Texas Frontier was never an easy one because the territory was claimed by some of the greatest querrilla fighters of all times—the Comanches, Kiowas, Apaches, and Lipans. Protecting a line running from the Red River southwest to El Paso was an impossible task, but following the Mexican War the federal government attempted to do so by establishing a line of forts. During the Civil War the forts were virtually abandoned and the Indians once again ruled the area. Following the war when the military began to restore the old forts, they found that the Indians no longer fought with bows and arrows but shouldered the latest firearms. With their new weapons the Indians were able to inflict tremendous destruction, bringing demands from settlers for more protection. In the summer of 1866 a new line of forts appeared through central Texas under the leadership of General Philip H. Sheridan, commander of federal forces in Louisiana and Texas. Guardians of a raw young land and focal points of high adventure, the old forts were indispensable in their day of service and it is fitting that they be preserved. In and around the forts and …

Voudou (an older spelling of voodoo)—a pantheistic belief system developed in West Africa and transported to the Americas during the diaspora of the slave trade—is the generic term for a number of similar African religions which mutated in the Americas, including santeria, candomble, macumbe, obeah, Shango Baptist, etc. Since its violent introduction in the Caribbean islands, it has been the least understood and most feared religion of the New World—suppressed, out-lawed or ridiculed from Haiti to Hattiesburg. Yet with the exception of Zora Neale Hurston's accounts more than a half-century ago and a smattering of lurid, often racist paperbacks, studies of this potent West African theology have focused almost exclusively on Haiti, Cuba and the Caribbean basin. American Voudou turns our gaze back to American shores, principally towards the South, the most important and enduring stronghold of the voudou faith in America and site of its historic yet rarely recounted war with Christianity. This chronicle of Davis' determined search for the true legacy of voudou in America reveals a spirit-world from New Orleans to Miami which will shatter long-held stereotypes about the religion and its role in our culture. The real-life dramas of the practitioners, true believers and skeptics of …

An edited version of artist John Gaitha Browning's personal journal from his time in the United States Army during World War II, specifically two years in the South Pacific. The book includes typewritten journal entries, reformatted journal entries, some of his illustrations, photographs, letters he wrote, and maps of where he was stationed. Includes an epilogue about Browning's life after the final entry. Index starts on page 325.

In October of 1989, the State of Texas set Kenneth Allen McDuff, the Broomstick Murderer, free on parole. By choosing to murder again, McDuff became the architect of an extraordinarily intolerant atmosphere in Texas. The spasm of prison construction and parole reforms—collectively called the “McDuff Rules”—resulted from an enormous display of anger vented towards a system that allowed McDuff to kill, and kill again. Bad Boy from Rosebud is a chilling account of the life of one of the most heartless and brutal serial killers in American history. Gary M. Lavergne goes beyond horror into an analysis of the unbelievable subculture in which McDuff lived. Equally compelling are the lives of remarkable law enforcement officers determined to bring McDuff to justice, and their seven-year search for his victims. “Texas still feels the pain inflicted by Kenneth Allen McDuff, despite the relentless efforts of law enforcement officials to solve his crimes and bind up its wounds. Bad Boy from Rosebud is an impeccably researched, compellingly detailed account of the crimes and the long search for justice. Gary Lavergne takes us directly to the scenes of the crimes, deep inside the mind of a killer, and in the process learns not only …

Book discussing the life and work of author Benjamin Capps, organized into sections based on categories of his work: Capps the Man, the Anglo Novels, the Indian Novels, the historical Nonfiction, and the Writer on His Craft. Index starts on page 189.

This volume of the Publications of the Texas Folklore Society contains information about folklore in Texas and Mexico, including folk songs and ballads, ghost stories, Mexican animal tales, sermons, stories about games and celebrations, folklore of Texas plants, and information about folk remedies. The index begins on page 349.

Volume of twenty-one essays about folklore in Texas, including essays about police burials, railroads, graffiti, folk music, dance halls, and other folklore. The index begins on page 279.

A descendant of one of the pioneering boarding house families, Wanda Landrey searched the Big Thicket to find survivors of the boarding house era and to collect their stories and recipes.

The Boardinghouse is an account of how a diverse group of high spirited, self-assured, talented youths were able to meld in supporting one another during Vogel’s first year as a student at the Chicago Art Institute’s School of Fine Art during the desperate times of the great depression. The book portrays one year in the lives of eighteen young men from various parts of the country who shared similar dreams of becoming an artist. In this Artist Community House, under the charge of Malcolm Hackett, some of the other young art students included Don Goodall, later to become Chairman of the Art Department at the University of Southern California and then the University of Texas at Austin; Gibson Danes, later to become chairman of the Art Department at UCLA and then Yale School of Art and Archeology; Dick Shaw who later would work on such cartoons as “Grin and Bear It,” and “Mr. Magoo.”

This autobiographical text discusses Evelyn Oppenheimer's role as a reader and book reviewer in Texas. The book discusses both her life and opinions regarding books and various topics. A selection of her poetry and one of her short stories ("The Green Conscience") are also included. Index starts on page 153.

This volume of the Publications of the Texas Folklore Society contains a miscellany of Texas, Mexican and Spanish folklore, including information about hunting, canning, cooking, and other folklore. The index begins on page 225.

Book providing.a biographical account of Frank M. Brandstetter, documenting his life and work as a hotelier, corporate executive, and U. S. Army intelligence officer. The text is based on Brandstetter's own recollections and corroborated with source documents and other published accounts. Index starts on page 367.

"Cold Anger is an important book about the empowerment of working-class communities through church-based social activism. Such activism is certainly not new, but the conscious merger of community organizing tactics with religious beliefs may be. The organizing approach comes from Aul Alinsky and his Industrial Areas Foundations (IAF). . . . The book is structured around the political life of Ernesto Cortes, Jr., the lead IAF organizer who has earned recognition as one of the most powerful individuals in Texas (and who has been featured on Bill Moyers' "World of Ideas"). . . . Cortes fashioned a hard-ball Alinsky approach onto the natural organizing ground of church-based communities. The experiment began in San Antonio . . . and was successful in the transformation of San Antonio politics. Such dramatic success . . . led to similar efforts in Houston, Fort Worth, El Paso, the Rio Grande Valley, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and New York, to mention only a few sites. Expansion beyond San Antonio meant organizing among Protestant churches, among African American and white, and among middle-class communities. In short, these organizing efforts have transcended the particularistic limits of religion, ethnicity, and class while maintaining a church base and sense of …

A candid and often humorous discussion between Hackerman and Ashworth on the problems scientists and society will face with reductions in government financial support for research, or with restrictive government directives. In dialogue that is accessible to laymen and policy makers, the authors explain why scientific research must be allowed to continue unfettered and undirected if humankind is to accrue its full benefits. "In the United States, the universities are the sole source of scientists and engineers . . . That alone should tell our political leaders . . . how essential it is for them to provide support for the universities in order to generate and promote economic development and vitality. The universities provide the adequately educated scientists and engineers, and without them a society does not have the slightest chance—short of accidentally running across a diamond mine or gold mine or another thirty trillion barrels of oil—of remaining in the economic race."

Allan Blooms’ book, The Closing of the American Mind, reopened the debate on the value of a classic learning curriculum. In recent years the Classic Learning Core and the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Texas have sponsored national conferences on the core and the curriculum. The articles which appear here are among the papers presented to those conferences. The Classic Learning Core is a distinguished curriculum for integrating the humanities requirements into a coherent sequence, a program which has been cited by the former Secretary of Education as one of four programs in the country leading to renewal in general education. It emphasizes the underlying units of knowledge, the study of class and classical books and documents, critical and creative thinking, and a thorough mastery of reading, writing, and speaking skills. This curriculum forms a coherent background in the greatest traditions of Western civilization. Topics covered include the history and development of the liberal arts, pros and cons of the core curriculum, advantages and disadvantages of teaching the great books, the role of the liberal arts in a pluralist society, the contents of the core curriculum and pedagogy.

This volume contains popular folklore of Texas, including information about folk music, folk arts and crafts, history of Texas, prominent Texas writers, and other miscellaneous folklore. The index begins on page 285.

An important chapter in the history and folklore of the West is how women on the cattle frontier took their place as equal partners with men. The cowboy may be our most authentic folk hero, but the cowgirl is right on his heels. This Spur Award winning book fills a void in the history of the cowgirl. While Susan B. Anthony and her hoop-skirted friends were declaring that females too were created equal, Sally Skull was already riding and roping and marking cattle with her Circle S brand on the frontier of Texas. Wearing rawhide bloomers and riding astride, she thought nothing of crossing the border into Mexico, unchaperoned, to pursue her career as a horse trader. In Colorado, Cassie Redwine rounded up her cowboys and ambushed a group of desperadoes; Ann Bassett, also of Colorado, backed down a group of men who tried to force her off the open range. In Montana, Susan Haughian took on the United States government in a dispute over some grazing rights, and the government got the short end of the stick. Susan McSween carried on an armed dispute between ranchers in New Mexico and the U.S. Army, and other interested citizens; and in …

A non-fiction book about Native Americans serving in the military during World War II, as well as Native American efforts on the home-front. The book also chronicles attempts by Nazi propagandists to exploit Native Americans for the Third Reich, and the postwar experiences of Native Americans. Includes photographs of Native American civilians and military personnel. Index starts on page 219.

Collection of popular folklore of Texas, including information about animals, folk music, weather lore, folk beliefs, legends, folk medicine, poetry and other folktales. The index begins on page 229.

This book describes the work done at the Dallas Morning News newspaper office by taking a "behind-the-scenes" approach to discuss story selection, journalistic decisions, staff contributions, and community reactions. Although the text focuses on the week from November 4-10, 1991, it also looks at the history of the Dallas Morning News and major accomplishments of the newspaper.