Contributing Editor
TEXAS HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY
Jane Eppinga
Henry Ossian Flipper: West Point’s First Black Graduate
Wild Horse Press
Paperback, 234 pages, with b/w images, 978-1-68179-006-0, $19.95
September 21, 2015 (originally published 1996)
Reviewed by Si Dunn
In 1877, 2nd Lieutenant Henry Ossian Flipper, the first African-American graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, was assigned, predictably, to the 10th U.S. Cavalry, one of two black units known as “Buffalo soldiers.”
Unpredictably, Flipper survived both the harsh racial criticisms and a devastating court martial that ended his young army career. He went on to become a versatile and noteworthy figure in late nineteenth-century American history, as author Jane Eppinga ably demonstrates in this recently updated edition of her book first published in 1996. >>READ MORE
CHRISTIAN FICTION / WOMEN’S FICTION
Harvest House Publishers
978-0736956055, paper, 352 pages, $14.99 (ebook also available)
February 2016
In the fictional Amish farming town of Cody’s Creek, Oklahoma, twenty-year-old Becca Troyer ponders whether she’s the kind of woman a good man will ever love, when others her age have married and started families. Sarah Yoder struggles with troubles few suspect exist in the Plain community. Tall, twenty-seven-year-old Joshua Kline works hard to help his father bring in the crops—and to keep his younger bruder in line.
Seven hundred miles away that same autumn, a hurricane is rapidly increasing strength and bearing down on Corpus Christi, Texas. >>READ MORE
Texas ReadsGlenn Dromgoole
>> archiveHackberry Holland featured in new Burke tale
Native Texan novelist James Lee Burke is a popular mystery writer with thirty-four novels and two collections of short stories. Burke, who now makes his home in Montana and Louisiana, is best known for the twenty novels featuring Louisiana deputy sheriff Dave Robicheaux, but he also has published another ten revolving around five generations of the Hackberry Holland family. Most of those novels are set in Texas.
The latest in the Holland series is House of the Rising Sun (Simon & Schuster, $27.99 hardcover).
The story begins in 1916 with hard-living, six-foot-eight ex-Texas Ranger Hackberry Holland fighting for his life in Mexico while searching for his estranged son, army captain Ishmael Holland, who commands a cavalry unit of black soldiers. Hackberry leaves Mexico without his son but in possession of a stolen religious artifact that will haunt him in the years to come.
The tale then flashes back to 1891 and the birth of Ishmael, and the events that led to their estrangement. It picks back up in 1918 with Ishmael and his troops fighting in the deadly second battle of the Marne in World War I. The novel eventually makes its way to San Antonio, where Holland — still hoping to reunite with his son — must confront his murderous, cold-blooded adversary, Arnold Beckman, who is obsessed with Holland’s stolen artifact rumored to date back to Jesus Christ himself. Along the way we meet the three influential women in Holland’s life — including Ishmael’s mother — and the roles they play in his grisly life story.
Burke’s novels are not for the faint of heart. But if you like a riveting tale, featuring a flawed character with a strong sense of justice, House of the Rising Sun packs plenty of action into its 430 pages.
Texas history: Richard McCaslin, who chairs the history department at the University of North Texas, has written a compact paperback account of Washington on the Brazos: Cradle of the Texas Republic (Texas State Historical Association, $15.95).
If you’re looking for a new book in conjunction with Texas Independence Day (March 2) or Texas History Month, here is a quick read about a significant landmark in Texas history. Washington on the Brazos is the twenty-fourth book in the TSHA’s popular history series of short, approachable, affordable paperbacks.
Hoot and Holler: The fourth children’s book by San Angelo author Linda Hermes in her Hoot and Holler series is A Day at the Fort. This story features the two Army mules seeing what adventures they can find — and trouble they can get into -— at old Fort Concho in the 1800s.
Hermes said she plans to write two more Hoot and Holler books to complete the series.
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Glenn Dromgoole is co-author, with Carlton Stowers, of 101 Essential Texas Books Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.
>> Check out his previous Texas Reads columns in Lone Star Lit
Lone Star Lit welcomes Kristine Hall to Lone Star Book Blog Tours; thanks to outgoing blog coordinator Pope
Lone Star Literary Life makes a change to its team lineup this month with the arrival ofKristine Hall as book tour coordinator for Lone Star Book Blog Tours. Hall, a professional reviewer for numerous publicity services, authors, and publishers, is a graduate of Texas A&M University and earned her master’s degree in library science from Sam Houston State University. She is an active member of the Texas Library Association and a proud member of the Grammar Police. Her book reviews can be found on her blog, Hall Ways.
We bid farewell, with great thanks for her service during our first year, to our inaugural blog tour coordinator, librarian Tabatha Pope of Spring. Pope remains on the team as a tour blogger.
If you blog about Texas books and authors and would like to apply to participate in Lone Star Book Blog Tours—for the joy of reading, and free advance copies of new books in your interest areas—contact Kristine Hall at kristinethall@yahoo.com.
We’ll also be officially rolling out our new blog tour and publicity site next week. Take a sneak peek at www.LoneStarPublicity.com.
COMING MARCH 6 AND 13
Top Texas
Bookish Destinations 2016
What’s it take for a community to be celebrated as a Top Texas Bookish Destination? Watch for Lone Star Literary Life’s March 2016 list of best Texas travel bets for book lovers everywhere. >>READ MORE
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