7.15.2018  Texas A&M Press offers compelling non-fiction titles

Texas A&M University Press continues to step up its regional non-fiction offerings with titles covering a wide range of interests.

Here are a few current selections from A&M, and a peek at the new fall catalog promises many more are in the works.

The Natural History of Texas by veteran ecologists Brian R. Chapman and Eric G. Bolen ($50 oversized hardcover) is a 390-page, full-color celebration of the biological diversity of Texas.

“No work has more elaborately described the remarkable biodiversity of Texas than this monumental volume,” respected naturalist Andrew Sansom writes in a foreword.

The authors discuss in easy-to-understand language each of eleven natural regions of Texas, telling the stories behind the natural wonders, with informative sidebars sprinkled throughout the text.

An appendix offers histories of the various natural state symbols — state flower, state tree, state bird, state stone, state gem, state grass, state fish, state insect, etc. — twenty in all.

I suggest starting with the introductory chapter, then flipping over to your favorite region of Texas, then leisurely continuing the tour region by region. Or, even better, get out and see Texas’ magnificent diversity for yourself. Take the book along with you.

Bob Spain’s Canoeing Guide and Favorite Texas Paddling Trails ($26.95) is, appropriately, a waterproof paperback. Spain, a certified canoe instructor who retired from Texas Parks and Wildlife ten years ago, offers a thorough guide for beginning or experienced paddlers.

When Good Gardens Go Bad: Earth-Friendly Solutions to Common Garden Problems is the latest guidebook from Texas organic gardening expert Judy Barrett ($23.95 flexbound). A garden doesn’t have to be perfect, Barrett contends, but it should be fun!

The Grand Duke from Boys Ranch by Bill Sarpalius ($34.95 hardcover) is a political memoir of a man whose alcoholic mother sent him and his two brothers to Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch when he was thirteen. He couldn’t read. He went on to become a state senator, a U.S. Congressman, and a motivational speaker and advocate for those struggling with addiction.

The Cedar Choppers: Life on the Edge of Nothing by Ken Roberts explores the story of the hillbilly culture of poor Scots-Irish clans from Appalachia who migrated to the Texas Hill Country in the mid-1800s ($27.95 hardcover). At first they survived by hunting, fishing and trapping and later by cutting, selling and transporting cedar fence posts until the drought of the 1950s caused them to move to small towns to find work.

Exiled: The Last Days of Sam Houston by Ron Rozelle ($29.95 hardcover) is a biographical sketch of Houston after he was forced to resign as governor when he wouldn’t take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy in 1861. He died two years later.

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Glenn Dromgoole writes about Texas books and authors. Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.

>> Read his past Texas Reads columns in Lone Star Literary Life here.