{"id":486,"date":"2018-12-31T12:29:29","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T12:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=486"},"modified":"2018-12-31T12:29:29","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T12:29:29","slug":"texas-readsglenn-dromgoole-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=486","title":{"rendered":"Texas ReadsGlenn Dromgoole"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/span><\/span><\/span>Texas Reads<\/span>Glenn Dromgoole<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n

>> archive<\/span><\/a><\/span>George Jones biography chronicles musician’s colorful life<\/span><\/h1>\n

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If you were a fan of George Jones\u2019s country music<\/span>, you will want to read Rich Kienzle\u2019s<\/span> biography, The Grand Tour: The Life and Music of George Jones<\/span><\/a><\/span> (Dey Street Books, $27.99 hardcover), which comes out Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Appropriately, Kienzle begins the book with the question often on promoters\u2019 and fans\u2019 minds when they attended a George Jones concert during his hard-drinking years: \u201cWould he or wouldn\u2019t he show up?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones was born George Glenn Jones in Saratoga, Texas, in 1931. He went by Glenn, not George, growing up in Southeast Texas and took to music early on, singing hymns at revival meetings in and around Kountze. His mother was devoutly religious, his dad prone to drunkenness and physical abuse.<\/p>\n

In about 260 pages, Kienzle traces Jones\u2019s life and career through eight periods: 1931\u201353, 195361, 196268, 1968\u201375, 1975\u201383, 1983\u201390, 1990\u201399, 1999\u20132013. Jones died in April three years ago at age 81. \u201cHe was a common man graced with uncommon talent,\u201d Kienzle writes. \u201cDuring his life, he was considered by peers and fans to be the greatest living country singer. In death, he remains, to many, the greatest country singer of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet he wrestled continuously with drinking, drugs, arrests, debt, marital problems and other demons, often barely surviving them\u2014 and finally rebounding from them. \u201cHis failures were as spectacular as his triumphs,\u201d says Kienzle. \u201cJones\u2019s life and music are inseparable. The music often triumphed even during his worst personal moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Texas history: <\/span>Three new books on Texas history have been published by the University of Oklahoma Press.<\/p>\n

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The Texas Frontier and the Butterfield Overland Mail, 1858\u20131861<\/span><\/a><\/span> by Glen Sample Ely<\/span> is a lavish, oversized (8 x 10) volume tracing the Butterfield stage line through Texas. Ely tells how the Butterfield became the frontier equivalent of the modern interstate highway system, helping promote business and settlement in the primitive and often violent West Texas frontier ($34.95 hardcover, 440 pages, 236 color and 56 black and white photos, maps and illustrations).<\/p>\n

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Bitter Waters: The Struggles of the Pecos River<\/span><\/a><\/span> by Patrick Dearen is the first book-length treatment of the environmental history of the 926-mile Pecos River. Dearen, from Midland, has written award-winning historical novels and non-fiction works set along the Pecos and Devils Rivers ($29.95 hardcover, 256 pages,41 black and white illustrations, nine maps).<\/p>\n

Lone Star Unionism, Dissent, and Resistance: Other Sides of Civil War Texas,<\/span><\/a><\/span>edited by Jesus F. de la Teja, is a collection of ten essays by noted historians on non-Confederate sentiments in Texas before, during and after the Civil War. Pieces concern such topics as slave flight, Unionist German Texans, anti-Unionist violence in North Texas, Tejano Unionism, the significance of Juneteenth, and the story of Edmund J. Davis, the \u201cunlikely radical\u201d who went from being a pro-slavery Democrat to a Union general and Reconstruction governor ($29.95 hardcover, $19.95 paperback, 296 pages).<\/p>\n

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Glenn Dromgoole<\/span> is co-author, with Carlton Stowers, of 101 Essential Texas Books<\/span><\/a><\/span> Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.<\/p>\n

>> <\/span>Check out his previous Texas Reads columns in Lone Star Lit<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

UPCOMING CONFERENCES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS<\/h1>\n

San Antonio Book Festival to feature more than 75 authors, Sat., Apr. 2<\/h1>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span>The San Antonio Library Foundation <\/span>has announced the lineup of writers who will appear on panels, in cooking demos and at special events during the annual festival. Now in its fourth year, the one-day fest is scheduled for April 2, 2016, and will feature more than 75 national, regional, and local authors. >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Inspirational Writers Alive! spring conference, Amarillo, Sat., Apr. 2<\/h1>\n

The Amarillo chapter of Inspirational Writers Alive!<\/span> will hold its spring 2016 conference Sat., April 2, 2016, in Amarillo. >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span>Lone Star College Launches Inaugural Book Festival<\/h1>\n

for Greater Houston Area, Apr. 8\u20139<\/h1>\n

Nationally and internationally known authors<\/span> will come to Lone Star College-Kingwood April 8\u20139, 2016, to speak to audiences about their ideas, meet with attendees, and sign copies of their works. More than 100 authors will be attending. Kingwood is in the Houston metropolitan area, approximately 20 miles from the city. >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

North Texas Book Festival, Apr. 9, seeks authors<\/h1>\n

This year\u2019s North Texas Book Festival<\/span> will be held 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 9, 2016, at Patterson-Appleton Center for the Visual Arts in Denton. Authors from throughout Texas and surrounding states are welcome to sign up for tables. >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span>Books in the Basin brings more than 40 authors to Odessa, April 9-10<\/h1>\n

Sandra Brown, Jodi Thomas, and The Fabulous Beekman Boys <\/span>are just some of the bestselling authors that will appear at Books in the Basin April 9-10, 2016, in Odessa.<\/p>\n

2016 marks the return of the Permian Basin’s Book Festival, which was last held in 2014. The Odessa Council for the Arts and the Humanities, Odessa College, and the Friends of the Ector County Library will host more than forty authors from across the country, state, and region.<\/p>\n

Featured authors include Lev Grossman<\/span> (SyFy’s The Magicians), Judd Winick<\/span> (Hilo), Alfredo Corchado<\/span> (Midnight in Mexico<\/span>), The Fabulous Beekman Boys, Sandra Brown <\/span>(Friction<\/span>), and Jodi Thomas<\/span> (Rustler\u2019s Moon<\/span>). Special guests include the Writer’s League of Texas, and LIterary Death Match, coming back to West Texas. >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

DFW Writers Conference, April 23-24, announces special guest speakers, classes, agents, editors<\/h1>\n

DALLAS\u2014The 2016 DFW Writers Conference, <\/span>to be held April 23-24, 2016m at the Fort Worth Convention Center, has released a partial list of its classes and authors and the lists of agents and editors who will be attending as well. >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Houston Writers Guild presents three-day annual conference April 29\u2013May 1, with authors Ford, Hutchins<\/h1>\n

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The 2016 Houston Writers Guild annual conference<\/span> will be held April 29\u2013May 1, 2016 at the Marriott Houston Westchase, 2900 Briarpark Drive, Houston, Texas 77042. Registration and event times vary each day.<\/p>\n

Friday night, April 29, the HWG Press will hold a Book Launch\/Cocktail Reception. Conference attendees will be entertained by guest speaker Jay Asher. Light hors d\u2019oeuvres will be served along with cash bar. The main event on April 30 will begin with keynote speaker Jamie Ford,<\/span> followed by one-hour breakout sessions. In addition, there will be an opportunity for writers to pitch their work, in ten-minute sessions with agents and editors. >>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span>Dallas Book Festival,
Apr. 30, Expands With
Best-selling Novelists, Award Winners<\/h1>\n

Several nationally prominent authors<\/span> \u2014 including best-selling novelists and winners of both a Pulitzer and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize \u2014\u00a0 are headed to the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library for an expanded Dallas Book Festival.<\/p>\n

Among those just announced for the free, all-day, April 30, 2016, event:<\/p>\n

Bryan Stevenson,<\/span> a lawyer, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, which won the 2015 Dayton prize in nonfiction; Lawrence Wright,<\/span> Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower; Jessica Knoll,<\/span> best-selling author of\u00a0 Luckiest Girl Alive; Historian\/analyst Andrew Bacevich,<\/span> who is about to release America\u2019s War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History; Adam Mansbach<\/span>, famous for that picture book that is known in its polite form as Seriously, Just Go to Sleep; Ghostwriter to the stars David Ritz,<\/span> whose books include Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin, and Curtis Sittenfeld,<\/span> the American Wife<\/span> author who is about to release her newest book, Eligible,<\/span> in April.<\/p>\n

Local authors taking part will include Karen Blumenthal, Nancy Churnin, Tim Cowlishaw, AG Ford, Sarah Hepola, Don Tate<\/span> and Merritt Tierce.\u00a0 <\/span>>>READ MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Texas ReadsGlenn Dromgoole >> archiveGeorge Jones biography chronicles musician’s colorful life If you were a fan of George Jones\u2019s country music, you will want to read Rich Kienzle\u2019s biography, The Grand Tour: The Life and Music of George Jones (Dey Street Books, $27.99 hardcover), which comes out Tuesday. Appropriately, Kienzle begins the book with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}