Texas Reads>> archiveGlenn Dromgoole

6.12.16   Texas books make good gifts for dear old dad

Father’s Day is just around the corner, so I have gone back and pulled together some Texas books that I’ve written about in the last year or so that might make good gifts for dear old dad.

One of the best Texas books of the year so far is The Texas Frontier and the Butterfield Overland Mail, 1858–1861 by Glen Sample Ely, a lavish, oversized (8 x 10) volume tracing the Butterfield stage line through Texas ($34.95 hardcover).

If dad likes country music, he would probably enjoy reading The Grand Tour: The Life and Music of George Jones by Rich Kienzle ($27.99 hardcover).

I recently wrote about the action-packed new biography of Frank Hamer — Texas Ranger: The Epic Life of Frank Hamer, the Man Who Killed Bonnie and Clyde ($29.99 hardcover).

Another good Texas Ranger title is Mike Cox’s Gunfights & Sites in Texas Ranger History ($21.99 paperback). Also new: Whiskey River Ranger: The Old West Life of Baz Outlaw by Bob Alexander ($34.95 hardcover).

Bill O’Neal of Carthage, the official Texas State Historian for the past four years, takes a fresh look at Sam Houston: A Study in Leadership ($19.95 paperback).

Two selections for Texas Aggie dads: The Fightin’ Texas Aggie Defenders of Bataan & Corregidor by John A. Adams Jr. ($30 hardcover) and 12 Texas Aggie War Heroes: From World War I to Vietnam by James R. Woodall ($29.95 hardcover).

Big and Bright: Deep in the Heart of Texas High School Football by Gray Levy ($27.95 hardcover) profiles successful football programs from different size schools in different parts of the state, including Abilene High.

If dad likes good western historical novels, here are several compelling new ones to choose from: Phantom Hilland Comanche Trail, both by Carlton Stowers under the pen name of Ralph Compton ($6.99 paperback); Buffalo Trail: A Novel of the American West by Jeff Guinn ($27 hardcover); Paradise Sky by Joe R. Lansdale ($26 hardcover); House of the Rising Sun by James Lee Burke ($27.99 hardcover). All four are real page-turners, but the Lansdale and Burke novels are a bit more R-rated.

You might introduce dad to the writing of Miles Arceneaux if he isn’t already a fan. The three-writer team has produced four entertaining murder mysteries set on the Texas Gulf Coast, the latest being North Beach ($11.99 paperback).

Finally, if dad likes to cook, he can find more than 140 Texas recipes in Jessica Dupuy’s United Tastes of Texas: Authentic Recipes from All Corners of the Lone Star State ($24.95 hardcover).

There are more, of course, but these give you a place to start. Happy Father’s Day.

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Glenn Dromgoole’s latest book is More Civility, Please. Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.

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