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

Texas ReadsGlenn Dromgoole

>> archiveFBI agent finds small-town chief’s job challenging

Dallas author Melissa Lenhardt introduces readers to the new police chief in town, Jack McBride, in her debut novel, Stillwater (Skyhorse Publishing, $24.99 hardcover).

McBride moves to the fictional East Texas small town of Stillwater to take the chief’s position in hopes of bringing some stability to his life and that of his thirteen-year-old son, Ethan.

This should be an easy assignment for a former FBI agent, he figures, a town with a very low crime rate. But on his first day on the job he encounters what appears to be a murder-suicide but soon realizes it’s a double murder, perhaps drug-related.

And on the first day, he also meets bookstore owner Ellie Martin and is immediately attracted to her. McBride’s wife left him and their son a year ago, and they’ve had no contact with her since. He is finally ready to file for divorce despite Ethan hoping somehow for a reconciliation.

On his second day on the job, McBride is pistol-whipped, his squad car is stolen and burned, and his suspect flees the county.

On the third day, he investigates a young boy’s report of finding a skeleton in the woods. That reopens a fifty-year-old case involving some prominent citizens, including McBride’s predecessor, the corrupt longtime police chief who used his power for personal gain.

Stillwater is a page-turner (I breezed through it in two days) and covers a lot of ground in McBride’s action-packed first week on the job.

The novel’s ending leaves readers anticipating the sequel, The Fisher King, scheduled for November.

UH football, basketball: History teacher and former high school coach Robert D. Jacobus has produced a thoroughly researched and compelling account of the groundbreaking University of Houston football and basketball teams of the 1960s.

Jacobus tells the story of UH breaking the color barrier in Texas under football coach Bill Yeoman and basketball coach Guy V. Lewis in Houston Cougars in the 1960s: Death Threats, the Veer Offense, and the Game of the Century (Texas A&M University Press, $29.95 hardcover, 392 pages). The book is based on nearly 250 interviews as well as published accounts.

“The UH story,” Jacobus writes, “is both a team history and a history of integration of college athletics throughout the South. “This book,” he continues, “recounts many courageous decisions that put the UH Cougars near the top of America’s college football and basketball world.”

The main characters in the story are Yeoman, Lewis, football star Warren McVea, and basketball stars Elvin Hayes and Don Chaney, all of whom were interviewed extensively by Jacobus. At the end of the book, Jacobus provides a list of all the people he interviewed and sources he consulted as well as an extensive index.

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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.

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