Texas Reads>> archiveGlenn Dromgoole

11.18.2018  Author explores women’s roles in Texas history

Women in Texas History by Angela Boswell (Texas A&M University Press, $37 hardcover) traces the impact women have had on the state’s history from prehistoric times to the present.

“This book is a narrative of Texas women’s history,” Boswell writes. “It is based on a simple premise: what women did in the past is intrinsically worth knowing. Texas would not be Texas without one half of its population.”

Boswell tells the story of Texas women from numerous perspectives and points of view, giving “special attention to the differences in the lived experiences of Native Americans, Tejanas, African Americans, Anglos, Germans, and Asians.” She also examines the effects of class, religion, political ideology and sexuality.

Organized chronologically, Women in Texas History includes ten chapters and a conclusion, as well as extensive footnotes, bibliography and index, totaling about 375 pages. Each chapter includes a conclusion that concisely summarizes the era covered in that section.

Boswell begins with Native American, Spanish, and Mexican women, then focuses on the Frontier South, the Antebellum period, the Civil War, and Reconstruction, settling the West Texas frontier, women’s activism from the 1870s to 1920s, women’s work during that same period, Depression and war, the postwar decades, and women taking charge at the end of the twentieth century.

Hailed as a “groundbreaking” book for its concept and approach, Women in Texas History is part of a series sponsored by the Ruthe Winegarten Foundation for Texas Women’s History. For more on the subject, see the foundation’s web site, womenintexashistory.org.

Texas before you die: Texas author E.R. Bills has put together a delightful and useful Texas travel guide called 100 Things to Do in Texas Before You Die (Reedy Press, $18 paperback).

Bills divides the state’s attractions into six categories: amusements and entertainment, parks and recreation, history and culture, food and drink, road trips, and photo ops.

Each attraction is covered concisely in one or two pages. Bills doesn’t limit himself to the usual tourist sites like the Alamo, Big Bend, Padre Island, Galveston, and the State Fair. They’re in there, but so are these:

Two-step at the Broken Spoke. Create graffiti at the Cadillac Ranch. Dive into a Texas swimming hole. Discover the Devil’s Sinkhole. Watch a six-man football game. Eat some chicken-fried steak. Stay in a small town. Take a friend to try the 72-ounce Big Texan steak challenge. Snap your picture at the Sam Houston or Buddy Holly or Lightnin’ Hopkins statues.

Fun stuff. And, along the way, you’ll probably learn something you didn’t know about Texas.

* * * * *

Glenn Dromgoole’s most recent book is The Book Guy. Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.

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