The three cookbooks Lone Star Legacy, Lone Star Legacy II and Changing Thymes are excellent, easy recipes for family and entertaining. The Lone Star Legacy (blue) book has recipes for basic great meals; Lone Star Legacy II has very tasty, easy meals and a particularly great Tex-Mex section with some speciality Mexican dishes. The Changing Thymes has very simple recipes that always turn out -- Citrus Mint Tea is great. This book has had all the recipes analyzed for dietary information and caloric content. A real plus for those watching their diets and cholesteral. The trio of these books is a must for good cooks, who like to make entertaining and family meals easy and delicious.

To attract movie-goers during the "golden age" of movie theaters throughout the early decades of the 20th century, the movie theater industry in Texas built many of their theaters as palatial buildings complete with smoking rooms, nurseries, and even "love seats" for couples. When money was tight during the years of the Great Depression Texas movie house operators lured audiences with free dishes and accepted canned goods in lieu of money for tickets. Then came the great and novel draw of "air conditioning" to lure theater patrons during the scorching Texas summers. All of this and more is ably showcased in Lone Star Picture Shows, Richard Schroeder's meticulously researched, splendidly written, and wonderfully illustrated history. Highly recommended reading for students of American popular culture, as well as nostalgic movie buffs.

"Lone Star Preacher": Being a Chronicle of the Acts of Praxiteles Swan, M.E. Church South Sometime Captain, 5th Texas Regiment Confederate States Prov. (Currently available on Amazon.com)

This one was written by none other than Capt. John W. Thomason USMC (author of "Fix Bayonets"). The story is a compilation of a number of short stories written for the Saturday Evening Post back in the 20s and 30s. "Praxiteles Baby" (actually a thinly disguised story of Thomason's Grandfather) is a transplanted Virginian who is a Hell Fire and Brimstone Preacher in Texas at the beginning of hostilities. His wife (also a firey Southern lady) is depicted reading "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by firelight and casting the volume into the fire muttering about that "Stowe Hussy"... Praxiteles seeing that his flock will need guidance in the coming hostilities, joins up with the 5th Texas as a Chaplain to see to their spiritual needs. After the first battle, he is found in the woods with a clubbed musket dripping with some sort of gray matter and is made a Captain of the 5th Texas by a general who sees his actions. The rest of the book is an entertaining and in many ways factual story of the Southern Texans in the late War of Northern Aggression. Thomason's narrative style is much like his graphic descriptions of the Marines in Belleau Wood and is definitely worth the read. An extremely talented artist, he illustrates his own books. Examples of Thomason's WWI sketches can be found illustrating the Poem "Rifles" in the Rifle Poetry section of this site - I got permission from the Marine Corps Association to use his sketches - great stuff!

Thomason is a great historian (specializing it the Civil War) and has written very entertaining biographies on such as JEB Stuart. You can no doubt tell he is a man of Southern extraction and sympathies. I had a copy many years ago and loaned it to one of our chaplains and never got it back! Hee, hee... it's that good! I didn't know it was still in publication, but stumbled across it while surfing Amazon...

If you like stories about patriotic "Sky Pilots", this one is for you!

Anyone with experience in Civil War history, or with an interest in Texas history generally, is familiar with the work of Prof. Wooster of Lamar University. His academic and scholarly accomplishments and recognitions over the past half-century are many and deserved, and his list of publishing credits is lengthy. This volume follows logically from his TEXAS AND TEXANS IN THE CIVIL WAR (1995) and LONE STAR GENERALS IN GRAY (2000), helping to complete his portrait of Texas forces in the War between the States. Texas contributed seventy-eight infantry and cavalry regiments and thirty-five artillery batteries which saw service from the Virginia Tidewater to the California border (not even counting the fourteen regiments and independent battalions raised for state service, and which are not considered here). Many Texan soldiers served in the same unit throughout the War. Since the regiment, the basic military building block, was usually recruited in a single region of the state and was commanded by a local (elected) individual, the genealogical value of understanding the system is obvious. Nor is this simply a handbook setting out the key details of each unit (though those are included), but a narrative history and explanation of the Texas military establishment, the broad campaigns and specific battles in which its units fought, and the successes and failures of the men who commanded it. There also are nearly nine hundred footnotes (many of them considerably more than source citations) and a lengthy bibliographical essay, making this almost required reading for any student of the Civil War and any family researcher with mid-19th century Texas ancestry.

Author and historian Brownson Malsch captures with his customary skill the greatness of modern-day Texas Ranger Captain M.T."Lone Wolf" Gonzaullas in this small but powerful biography. From the Lone Wolf's baptism of fire along the Rio Grande in the 1920's to the oil boom days in east Texas, Malsch recounts the engaging story of one of the most renowned and most colorful men to have ever worn the star of the Texas Rangers. In a career that spanned some four decades, the Lone Wolf became one of the most charismatic characters to have served as a Ranger, and one of the most feared lawmen among the criminal element of the Lone Star State. With a forward by Mary Nell Garrison, the wife of Colonel Homer Garrison, the longtime director of the Texas Department of Publich Safety, and an accomplished historian in her own right, this book offers up a fascinating account of the exploits of "Cap" Gonzaullas. The book is well indexed and could easily serve as a source of research data for those interested in the history of the Texas Rangers. Lone Wolf Gonzaullas was, without question, a unique individual who served during a time of transition for the Rangers. This book offers up an interesting perspective on this exceptional man whose work spanned this time of change.

Using interviews, diaries and published sources, Mr. Fairchild, a psychology professor at Texas A & M University, Canyon, Texas, explores a rarely discussed subject - the suffocating and omnipresent loneliness of the Panhandle frontier.

Diet, infant mortality, burial procedures and etiquette, mourning, and the importance of friendship and neighborliness are all covered by these sobering and sometimes heartrending personal accounts. Also discussed is the way men dealt with these problems and benefits, which predictably, was quite different from women.

Instead of romanticizing the pioneers - the facts revealed in their writings make them more human and
allow for an easy connection with the reader. The details of everyday pioneer life are valuable and the passages gleaned from letters and diaries are well chosen.

Thankfully, the second part of the book is a little lighter than the first and covers the camp or brush arbor meetings. Here the reader is relieved to find that there was some fun to be had when families would bring their children, dogs and most of their furniture to these semi-annual events. Getting a year or six months worth of friendship and/ or religion crowded into a few short days is something few societies experience.

It's a readable book on a serious subject without a droning academic tone.

This is the book to buy if you've ever floated through the Rio Grande Gorge near Taos and, as you passed beneath the John Dunn Bridge, someone on your trip asked, "who exactly was John Dunn?" As a river guide you have full authority (and some would argue a professional obligation) to make up whatever answer you like, but I've found it helpful to occasionally sprinkle facts among the many assertions I've made to trusting passengers over the years. This slim volume, only 163 pages, is full of wonderful information about the life of John Dunn for whom that bridge is named, as well as northern New Mexico from the late 1800's through 1953, the year Mr. Dunn died. By reading this book you will be well prepared for passengers' questions and, as a bonus, you'll glimpse a lifestyle that predates most of us. For me the few early photos of the Rio Grande, all from pre-boating years, and the building of the John Dunn Bridge are alone worth the price of the book. The regional history and the life of John Dunn are exquisite bonuses.

John Dunn apparently was an irascible and only sporadically honest fellow, the sort of individual whose life story is fun to read about. His is not an exception. You'll learn about his early years in Texas, his later life in New Mexico, and the various legal and not-so-legal enterprises in which he was engaged throughout. I don't think I would have liked being around John Dunn, but I did enjoy reading about his adventures. I suspect you will too.

Zeb Stone hold many reasons to hate Marshall Ben Flood in his heart, most of all, that the lawman is a Christian. At the first opportunity, he strikes against Ben by taking the woman Ben cares for, Lee Morgan, hostage. Lee is no ordinary woman. Taking her does not give Stone a victim, but another enemy, one who will prove deadly as she helps Ben track him down once she is free.

***** This novel in the WEST TEXAS SUNRISE SERIES moves faster than the initial one. Characters develop and deepen, but remain consistent to their conception. Particularly timely is this book in that it shows that at times, Christians have to be prepared to resort to ways that are not "peaceful" to uphold what is right.

This was one of the first romance books I ever read. I haven't read it in a while but I was hooked. Sarah and Cole make a wonderful couple and I found this book hard to put down.

Lt. David Buckalew and what few men he has left are on their way back to Texas after being beaten by the Union Army. On the way they find out about a bunch of weapons and powder hidden on a ranch. They decide to capture it and take it back with them to help their cause. They are only 20 men strong and this number will drop. The weapons and powder are hidden on a ranch owned by people who back the Union. They are successful it starting toward Texas with it but it is a long way from over. Bucklaew and his few men have to fight the people for the Union also a group of Indians led by Comanchero Floyd Bearfield, who wants the stuff to sell. Bucklaew is a green Lt., therefore, his men may more attention to Sergeant Noley Mitchell than to him. Can he get the material back to Texas? Will the men ever respect him? The book moves fast and will hold your attention. Some people get killed you don't want to and some live you don't want to. A good Western book, but then Kelton usually writes a good one.