Adroitly edited by Texas historian Bruce S. Cheeseman, Maria Von Blucher's Corpus Christi: Letters From The South Texas Frontier, 1849-1879 presents the correspondence by a young German-American pioneer who made a new life in Texas with her husband. Here portrayed are first person accounts of weathering Indian raids, droughts, the American Civil War, and the development of a town that her descendants would help evolve into a great city. A touching, personal narrative that takes the reader deep into the joys, frustrations, tribulations, and triumphs of pioneer life, Maria von Blucher's Corpus Christi is a superbly presented and highly recommended contribution to Pioneer Studies and Texas History supplemental reading lists and reference collections.

The third Callaway brother in the series is Cody. Cody is the mysterious younger brother of Cole and Cameron. No one knows what it is that keeps Cody away for long periods of time, but for their protection Cody can not tell them. Cody insists he is not the marrying type. He was more than suprised when Carina Ramirez shows up in his Mexican hotel room to warn him that someone is going to kill him. Before they can escape they are kidnapped, and if things were not bad already, they are rescued by Carina's older brother. Alfonso believes that his sisters innocence and reputation are ruined by her time "together" with Cody. Now the man that claimed to never marry was about to be forced to marry Carina. Cody has always been an honorable guy, so for Carina's sake, they marry. The question is can Cody and Carina make a forced marriage work. Also, there is still the matter of Cody's job that keeps him away for long periods of time and forces him to keep secrets from his wife.

This story in the Sons of Texas series is yet another terrific love story, but it also wraps up the mystery surrounding the problems and accidents that have troubled the Callaways.

Once, all barrier islands were natural places where sand dunes and sea grasses, water birds and beach creatures flourished, undisturbed by human development. Matagorda Island still is. Part of a chain of five major barrier islands that shelter the Texas coastline from the Gulf of Mexico, Matagorda Island is the only one completely under public ownership. This guide to the island seeks to acquaint first-time visitors and seasoned naturalists alike with the natural wealth and ecological fragility of Matagorda. The book also tells the human history of Matagorda - the Karankawa Indians, European explorers, Civil War-era settlers, lighthouse keepers, and the U.S. Air Force, which used Matagorda for a bombing range during the 1940s and 1950s. There are appendices on plants, wildflowers, and birds as well as maps and line drawings

This book is like a warm slice of fresh-from-the-oven homemade applie pie. Tina does a great job of bringing to life the sincerity and values that a small town can offer. You are instantly drawn to the hero and heroine, and can't help but smile at the antics that the matchmaking old-timers use to get the two together. This book would make a great TV movie of the week. It leaves you with a warm, loving feeling.

As is the case with almost all romances, the characters are attracted to and fall in love with each other all to quickly. What sets this story apart from most others is the very real tragedy described in it. It has a very sad background story that is a focal point in the beginnings of the romance.

My favorite part of this book though is the family ranch dynamics described. I always love books with rough and handsome cowboys, but I like this one because it includes his family and their relationships that carry on through the rest of the West Texas series. Ginger Chambers did an excellent job with this series.

This intensively researched, profusely illustrated guidebook to defensive living reached the shelves just as the Texas Right to Carry statute was going into effect. Four years later, it remains a thinking person's guidebook to a subject that is too often muddied by the political language of the "Culture War" and by the self-opinionated in-fighting of the experts in the field.

Briggs' phylosophical agenda is clear and he lucidly argues the superiority of the Republic of armed, free citizens over the Statist model. He presents legal and historical references in an effective and credible manner.

The bulk of "A Matter of Personal Protection" is a nuts and bolts approach to the miriad aspects of what he calls defensive living. While the primary theme of the book is armed self defense, home and vehicular security, conflict avoidance and non-lethal response receive thoughtful treatment.

The chapter titled "The Stalker" effectively addresses the key subjects of threat management, equipment selection, training and incident aftermath. It is the story of a successful professional woman who, stalked by a sexual psychopath, takes responsibility for her personal safety and there-by becomes the hero of her own life. Briggs frequently utilizes real-life vignettes of this sort to bring home his point.

Briggs tells you exactly where to go to purchase firearms and accessories (page 236). He provides contact information for training facilities and public shooting ranges( Page 296 & 350).

Specific recommendations about defensive firearms, and ammunition are based on practicallity and are free of the fadism that often attends the subject.

Taken as a whole, " A Matter of Personal Protection " presents a thorough overview of the subject of armed self defense and tells the reader where to look to learn more on the subject. While willing to express his personal opinions Mr. Briggs clearly expects the reader to think for himself.

" A Matter of Personal Protection is a guidebook and a road map for the responsible and self reliant.

The work of James Watkins is powerful and sensitive. This book beautifully illustrates the wonderful scale, color and texture of his pottery. Easy to read and provides understanding to his insights that have helped shaped his creative artmaking. It provides inspiration to artist of all media to respond to the tangible and intagible world around them. This book is a wonderful addition to any art lover's library.

Mary Ann Adams married Samuel Maverick, a man fifteen years her senior, bid farewell to her privileged upbringing, and willingly embraced life on the Texas frontier of the 1830s. Mary ultimately prevailed over uncommon diseases, primitive living conditions, clashes with Indians and Mexicans, deaths of loved ones, and the loss of innocence.

Mary and Samuel lived in San Antonio, a town with three discordant cultures: Comanche, Mexican, and Anglo. Samuel was instrumental in cementing Texas' annexation to the United States. He was fiercely independent, a quality matched by Mary, and was placed in postions of trust by his fellow Texans - mayor, judge, and state congressman. Samuel participated in the early defense of the Alamo and was a prisoner of the Mexicans for two years. He was truly a man to admire and Mary did that with a devotion that defied time.

Mary Maverick kept notes, correspondence, and other memoranda during her long life and printed a small booklet many years later for a few family members. No copies of her version (1896) have survived. Her granddaughter Rena Maverick Green later examined Mary's written material and prepared a manuscript for publication in 1921. Reissuing Green's manuscript provides a valuable resource for present day readers of Western Americana.

Mary's bold narrative is preoccupied with Comanche raids and conflicts with the country of Mexico. She writes with sadness about the horrors suffered by a 15 year old Indian captive whose "nose was actually burned off to the bone, all the fleshy end gone; both nostrils wide open and denuded of flesh." Mary vividly describes an Indian battle in her town resulting in the death of forty persons, thirty-three of whom were Indians. She had no problem separating the incidents in her mind - one involved unadulterated sadism, the other a battle between enemies. She always faithfully recorded what she saw and heard.

Every day provided unique and gruesome reminders of life on the frontier. Mary reports a pleasant visit to a friend which was interrupted by a Dr. Widemann who came to the front window with a bloody Indian head, gallantly bowed and said, "with your permission." He was collecting specimens from a nearby Indian battlefield and used the window to store one head while he searched for another.

Widemann later boiled both heads and their respective bodies in a large soap boiler located in his front yard. He emptied the contents, including flesh and some bones, into a large ditch which contained the town's drinking water; the same water also used by townspeople to wash clothing and for bathing. The doctor used a skeleton formed from one of the Indians to guard his garden from hungry birds.

Mary Maverick was a writer of uncommon strength who recounted both good and bad times with vigor and poignancy. Cholera decimated the population of San Antonio. Two of Mary's children died in the epidemic - a sad commentary on the unsanitary water that plauged many frontier communities. Mary possessed a fierce love for her family and the deaths of her beloved children tore her apart. Her description of Agatha's last hours is very moving and engfulfs one with the sadness of an unconsolable loss. Less than a year later, Mary's youngest daughter joined her sister. Mary mourned her daughters until the day she died.

There are matters for one to quibble over as the Mavericks were slave holders and intolerant of Mexican aspirations. (Yet the past endures unchanged regardless of our present day abhorrence toward such matters) In addition, some of Mary's recollections are blurred by fond remembrances and don't measure up to historical reality. Even though her memoirs encompass elements of folklore, it is folklore of the highest quality.

The Mavericks were people of extraordinary ability or they couldn't have surmounted the many obstacles and tragedies in their lives. They blazed the path for others and set a standard of individualism, adaptability, and toughness essential for survival on the American frontier.

There is a majesty, passion, and eloquence in the memoirs of Mary Ann maverick that time cannot erode. After a long, loving, and tempestuous life Mary joined the children she always mourned and her live came full circle. This is a very satisfying book.

Memories And Images: The World Of Donald Vogel And Valley House Gallery is the story of Donald Vogel who arrived in Dallas at the beginning of World War II after a sojourn at the Art Institute of Chicago and began a successful and explosive career in the arts. This is the story of the wealth that came with East Coast art dealers following the oil field trails throughout Oklahoma and Texas. During a tumultuous time of dubious art and fake old masters, Vogel was able to be a part of bringing fine art works to Dallas, beginning with the Betty McLean Gallery, and later to his own Valley House Gallery. Already established as a painter, Vogel became a critical and important outlet in Dallas for art dealers in the United States and Europe. An honor that has endured for the past fifty-eight years at the heart of the Dallas art scene. Memories And Images is an autobiography that is very highly recommended and informative reading for students of American art history in general, and the work and contributions of Donald Vogel and his Valley House Gallery in particular.

The recipes in this book are excellent! It is filled with great Southern recipes! They are the ones that are usually passed on by word of mouth from generation to generation. It is great to find them all in one book.