Selected Sources for Reading: Books and Articles
Chapter 1: The Environment of Texas Politics
Adler, William M. Mollie’s Job: A Story of Life and Work on the Global Assembly Line. New
York: Scribner, 2000. A case study of an assembly-line job that passed (with big pay cuts)
from Paterson, New Jersey, to Blytheville, Arkansas, to the Mexican border city of Matamoros
(across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas.)
Alonzo, Armando C. Tejano Legacy: Rancheros and Settlers in South Texas, 1734-1900.
Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998.
Andreas, Peter. “Politics on the Edge: Managing the U.S.-Mexican Border.” Current History 105
(February 2006): 64-68.
Arnone, Michael. “Border Studies: Heightened Security Procedures Don’t Stop Mexican
Students Who Want American College Degrees.” State Legislatures (December 2004): 26-29.
Arreola, Daniel D. Tejano South Texas: A Mexican American Cultural Province. Austin:
University of Texas Press, 2002.
Barnes, Marian E. Black Texans: They Overcame. Austin: Eakin Press, 1996.
Barr, Alwyn. Black Texans: A History of African Americans in Texas, 2d ed. Norman, Okla.:
University of Oklahoma Press, 1996.
Barragy, T. J. J. Frank Dobie and the Men Who Saved the Longhorn. Corpus Christi, Tex.: Cayo
de Grullo Press, 2003.
Belfiglio, Valentine J. The Italian Experience in Texas. Austin: Eakin Press, 1995.
Bernstein, Jake. “Listen to the Prophet.” Texas Observer (18 May 2005): 10-11, 18-19. Interview
with Texas’ state demographer, Steve Murdoch, on population growth.
Blakeslee, Nate. “Banking on Biotech: Is the Latest Food Science from Aggieland a Lemon?”
Texas Observer (30 March 2001): 6-9.
Blakeslee, Nate. “Smoke and Water.” Texas Observer (20 August 2000): 8–13. Lignite mining
and environmental politics in Texas.
Borges, Walt. “Seismic Shift: Higher Oil Prices Bring Mixed Blessings.” Fiscal Notes (May
2000): 1, 12–13.
Brands, H.W. Lone Star Nation: How a Ragged Army of Volunteers Won the Battle for Texas
Independence. New York: Doubleday, 2004.
Bryce, Robert. Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron. Public Affairs Press, 2002.
Selected Sources-1
Buenger, Walter. The Path to a Modern South: Northeast Texas Between Reconstruction and the
Great Depression. Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2001.
Burka, Paul. "Our Number Is Up." Texas Monthly (October 2002): 8, 10, 12. Texas's population
is becoming more Latino.
Calvert, Robert A., Arnoldo De Leon, and Gregg Cantrell. The History of Texas. 3d ed.
Arlington Heights, Ill.: Harlan Davidson, 2002.
Campbell, Randolph. Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone Star State. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2003.
Campos, Emmet. "On the Border." Fiscal Notes (April 2001): 7-9. Economic growth in Texas
counties on or near the Rio Grande.
Cantrell, Gregg. Stephen F. Austin: Empresario of Texas. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University
Press, 1999.
Carroll, Patrick. Felix Longoria’s Wake: Bereavement, Racism, and the Rise of Mexican
American Activism. Austin: University Press, 2003.
Casasillas, Carlos E., and Alejandro Mújica. “Mexico: New Democracy with Old Parties?”
Politics 23 (September 2003): 172-180.
Cashion, Ty, and Jesus F. de la Teja, eds. The Human Tradition in Texas. Wilmington, Del.: SR
Books, 2001. A collection of biographical essays.
Castaneda, Jorge G. “NAFTA at 10: A Plus or a Minus?” Current History. (February 2004): 5155.
Chabat, Jorge. "Mexico's War on Drugs: No Margin for Maneuver." Annals of the American
Academy of Political and Social Science, No. 582 (July 2002): 134-148.
Chipman, Donald E., and Harriett Denise Joseph. Notable Men and Women of Spanish Texas.
Austin: University of Texas Press, 1999.
Colloff, Pamela. “The Battle for the Border.” Texas Monthly (April 2001): 96–103.
Undocumented immigrants, drug smugglers, and violence in Maverick County on the Mexican
border.
Colloff, Pamela. “The Desert of the Dead.” Texas Monthly (November 2006): 160-167, 266, 268,
270, 272, 274, 276-277. About the dry brushland between Kingsville and Raymondville, and
the undocumented immigrants who die in this South Texas desert.
Selected Sources-2
Conger, Lucy. “Mexico’s Long March to Democracy.” Current History 100 (February 2001):
58-64.
Cruver, Brian. Anatomy of Greed: The Unshredded Truth from an Enron Insider. New York:
Avalon, 2002.
Davidow, Jeffrey. The U.S. and Mexico: The Bear and the Porcupine. Princeton, N.J.: Marcus
Werner Publishers, 2004.
Davis, Graham. Land! Irish Pioneers in Mexican and Revolutionary Texas. College Station:
Texas A&M University Press, 2002.
Davis, William C. Lone Star Rising: The Revolutionary Birth of the Texas Republic. New York:
Free Press, 2004.
De León, Arnoldo. Mexican Americans in Texas: A Brief History, 2d ed. Wheeling, Ill.: Harlan
Davidson, 1999.
Dingus, Anne. “Independence Day.” Texas Monthly (June 2001): 64, 79, 81. Celebrating
Juneteenth, an African-American holiday that originated in Texas and now is celebrated
nationwide.
Dobie, J. Frank. Longhorns. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1980.
Donges, Kelli. Health Care for Undocumented Immigrants: Who Pays? Focus Report No. 77-13.
Austin: House Research Organization, Texas House of Representatives, 29 October 2001.
Dresser, Denise. “Mexico: Uneasy, Uncertain, Unpredictable.” Current History 96 (February
1997): 51-54.
Dworaczyk, Kellie. Native American Gambling Operations: Are They Legal? Focus Report No.
77-16. Austin: House Research Organization, Texas House of Representatives, 12 February
2002.
Eichenwld, Kurt. Conspiracy of Fools: True Story. New York: Broadway Books, 2005.
Elazar, Daniel. American Federalism: A View from the States, 3d ed. New York: Harper & Row,
1984.
Ennis, Michael. “The Bidness Myth.” Texas Monthly (January 2006): 66,68, 70, 72, 74. On
business-government relations in the Lone Star State.
Fehrenbach, T. R. Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans, rev. ed. New York: Macmillan,
2000.
Fehrenbach, T. R. Seven Keys to Texas, rev. ed. El Paso: Texas Western Press, 1999.
Selected Sources-3
Flores, Richard R. Remembering the Alamo: Memory, Modernity, and the Master Symbol.
Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002.
Fox, Loren. Enron: The Rise and Fall. Hoboken, N.J.: Tiley, 2002.
González, Juan. A History of Latinos in America. New York: Viking, 2000.
Gonzalez, Manuel. Mexicanos: A History of Mexicans in the United States. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1999.
Graham, Don. Kings of Texas: The 150-Year Saga of an American Empire. Hoboken, N.J.: John
Wiley & Sons, 2003.
Haley, James L. Passionate Nation: The Epic History of Texas. New York: Free Press, 2006.
Haynes, Sam W., and Cary D. Wintz, eds. Major Problems in Texas History: Documents and
Essays. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002.
Heber, Benjamin Johnson. Revolution in Texas: How Its Bloody Suppression Turned Mexicans
into Americans. New Haven: Conn.: Yale University Press, 2003. About the Plan de San
Diego.
Hines, Barbara. "So Near Yet So Far Away: The Effect of September 11th on Mexican
Immigrants in the United States." Texas Hispanic Journal of Law and Policy 7 (Spring 2002):
37-46.
Holladay, Ted. Groundwater Management Issues in Texas. Focus Report No. 79-4. Austin:
House Research Organization, Texas House of Representatives, 6 June 2006.
Hudgins, Karen. “Cotton Country.” Fiscal Notes (November 2003): 1, 2-11. On the importance
of cotton production for the Texas economy.
Janes, Daryl. “Politics and Purse Strings: Why the Census Counts.” Fiscal Notes (March 2000):
3-4.
Jones, Allan. Texas Roots: Agricultural and Rural Life Before the Civil War. College Station:
Texas A&M University Press, 2005.
Jordan, Terry G., with John L. Bean, Jr., and William M. Holmes. Texas: A Geography. Boulder,
Colo.: Westview Press, 1984.
Kaplowitz, Craig A. LULAC, Mexicans, and National Policy. College Station: Texas A&M
University Press, 2005.
Selected Sources-4
Kearney, Milo, and Manuel Medrano. Medieval Culture and the Mexican American
Borderlands. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2001. Traces important Hispanic
and Anglo influences: linguistic, political and legal, economic and social, religious, and
creative.
Kesavan, Vasan, and Michael Stokes Paulsen. “Let’s Mess with Texas.” Texas Law Review 28
(2004): 1587-1620. On the possibility of dividing Texas into five states.
Kessell, John L. Spain in the Southwest: A Narrative History of Colonial New Mexico, Arizona,
Texas, and California. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002.
LaVere, David. The Texas Indians. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2004.
Leber, Sandra Kill. "Biotechnology: Curse or Cure?" State Government News (January 2000):
23-26.
Linsley, Judith Walker, Ellen Walker Reinstra, and Jo Ann Stiles. Giant Under a Hill: A History
of the Spindletop Oil Discovery at Beaumont, Texas, in 1901. Austin: Texas State Historical
Association, 2002.
Madis, Franklin. The Taking of Texas: A Documentary History. Austin: Eakin Press, 2002.
Martinez, Oscar. Mexican Origin People in the United States: A Topical History. Tucson:
University of Arizona Press, 2001. Emphasis on the post-World War II period.
McGowen, Stanley S. “Battle or Massacre? The Incident on the Nueces, August 10, 1862.”
Southwestern Historical Quarterly 104 (July 2000): 65-86. A Civil War episode that has
contributed to Republican voting strength in the Hill Country counties.
McLean, Bethany, and Peter Elkind. The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and
Scandalous Fall of Enron. New York: Penguin, 2003.
Menchaca, Martha. Recovering History, Constructing Race: The Indian, Black, and White Roots
of Mexican Americans. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002.
Mexican Americans in Texas History: Selected Essays. Edited by Emilio Zamora, Cynthia
Orozco, and Rodolfo Rocha. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000.
Monday, Jane Clements, and Betty Bailey Colley. Voices from the Wild Horse Desert: The
Vaquero Families of the King and Kenedy Ranches. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997.
Montejano, David. Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas: 1836–1986. Austin: University
of Texas Press, 1987.
Murdoch, Steve H., et al. The New Texas Challenge: Population Change and the Future of
Texas. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2003.
Selected Sources-5
Noff, Albert A. The Alamo and the Texas War for Independence: Heroes, Myths, and History, 2d
ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2001.
Olien, Roger M., and Diana Davids Olien. Oil in Texas: The Gusher Age, 1895-1945. Austin:
University of Texas Press, 2002.
Olmsted, Frederick Law. A Journey Through Texas: Or a Saddle Trip on the Southwestern
Frontier. Edited by Randlph B. Campbell. Dallas: DeGolyer Library and William P. Clements
Center for Southwestern Studies, 2004.
Orrenius, Pia M. “Illegal Immigration and Enforcement Along the U.S.–Mexico Border: An
Overview.” Economic and Financial Review (First Quarter 2001): 2–11.
Perlman, Judith. Citizen’s Primer for Conservation Activism: How to Fight Development in Your
Community. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2004.
Perryman, M. Ray. Survive and Conquer: Texas in the 80s: Power, Money, Tragedy, Hope!
Dallas: Taylor Publishing, 1990.
The Portable Handbook of Texas. Edited by Roy R. Barkley and Mark F. Odintz. Austin: Texas
State Historical Association, 2000. A one-volume consolidation of The New Handbook of
Texas in six volumes.
Preston, Julia, and Samuel Dillon. Opening Mexico: The Making of a Democracy. New York:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004.
Proctor, Ben, and Archie P. McDonald, eds. The Texas Heritage, 4th ed. Wheeling, Ill.: Harlan
Davidson, 2003.
Quezada, J. Gilberto. Border Boss: Manuel B. Bravo and Zapata County. College Station: Texas
A&M University Press, 1999.
Quiroz, Anthony. Claiming Citizenship: Mexican Americans in Victoria, Texas. College Station:
Texas A&M University Press, 2005.
A Revolution Remembered: The Memoirs of Juan N. Seguín. Edited by Jesús F. de la Teja.
Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002.
Reid, Jan. The Bullet Meant for Me. New York: Broadway Books, 2002. A Texas author’s
account of his near-fatal shooting in Mexico City and the long, agonizing road to recovery.
Reid, Jan. Close Calls: Jan Reid’s Texas. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2000.
A good take on Texas—and Mexico, too—by a long-time Texas Monthly writer.
Reid, Jan. Rio Grande. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2004. Historical panorama of an
international river.
Selected Sources-6
Richardson, Chad. Batos, Bolillos, Pochos, and Pelados: Class and Culture on the South Texas
Border. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1999.
Richardson, Rupert, Adrian N. Anderson, Cary D. Wintz, and Ernest Wallace. Texas: The Lone
Star State, 9th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2004.
Robbins, Paul, and Andrew Wheat, eds. The State of the Lone Star State: How Life in Texas
Measures Up. Austin: Texans for Public Justice, 2000.
Rodriguez, Richard. “What Is a Hispanic?” Texas Journal of Ideas, History and Culture 22
(Summer 2000): 32-41.
Rural Texas in Transition. Austin: Office of the Comptroller of Public Accounts, February 2001.
Sanger, Mary, and Cyrus Reed, comps. Texas Environmental Almanac, 2d ed. Austin: University
Press, 2000.
Schorr, Richard L. “Contemporary Indian Reservations in Texas: Tribal Paths to the Present.”
Public Affairs Comment (Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at
Austin) 39, no. 3 (1993): 1-9.
Schulze, Jeffrey M. "The Rediscovery of the Tiguas: Federal Recognition and Indianess in the
Twentieth Century." Southwestern Historical Quarterly 105 (July 2001): 15-39.
Shields, Clint. “H2owes.” Fiscal Notes (October 2003): 1, 12-13. How Mexico’s long-lasting
Rio Grande water debt costs Texas jobs and dollars.
Shields, Clint. “Power in the Gulf.” Fiscal Notes (June 2006): 1, 10. Plans for offshore windgenerated electricity.
Sitton, Thad, and James H. Conrad. Freedom Colonies: Independent Black Texans in the Time of
Jim Crow. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005. Concerning the free blacks’ farm
communities in Texas.
Starr, Pamela K. “Fox’s Mexico: Same as It Ever Was?” Current History 101 (February 2002):
58-65.
Swartz, Mimi. “Good-bye to All That.” Texas Monthly (June 2001): 104, 130–132. Austin’s dotcom bust.
Swartz, Mimi. Power Failure: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Enron. New York: Doubleday,
2003.
“Texas Timber Grows Up.” Fiscal Notes (October 1999): 1, 12–13. About the industry that is the
mainstay of the East Texas economy.
Selected Sources-7
Tijerina, Andres. Tejano Empire: Life on the South Texas Ranchos. College Station: Texas A&M
University Press, 1998.
Tijerina, Andrés. Tejanos and Texas Under the Mexican Flag, 1821–1836. College Station:
Texas A&M University Press, 1994.
Underwood, Rodman L. Death on the Nueces: German Texans, Treue der Union. Austin: Eakin
Press, 2000. The story behind the Union monument at Comfort, Texas.
Vila, Pablo. Crossing Borders: Reinforcing Borders, Social Categories, Metaphors, and
Narrative Identites on the U.S.–Mexico Frontier. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000.
Walther, Ann. Texas at a Watershed: Planning Now for Future Needs. Focus Report No. 75-13.
Austin: House Research Organization, Texas House of Representatives, 15 April 1997.
Waugh, Wiliam I, Jr. “The Political Costs of Failure in the Katrina and Rita Disasters.” Annals of
the Ameican Academy of Political and Social Science, no. 604 (March 2006): 10-25.
Weintraub, Sidney. “Scoring Free Trade: A Critique of the Crisis.” Current History 103
(February 2004): 56-60.
“Where We Rank?” Texas Monthly (May 2005): 170-171. How Texas compares with the other
49 states.
Willett, Donald, and Stephen Curley, ed. Invisible Texans: Women and Minorities in Texas
History. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004.
Williams, David A. Bricks Without Straw: A Comprehensive History of African Americans in
Texas. Austin: Eakin Press, 1997.
Wittliff, Bill, John Graves, and William D. Wittliff. Vaquero: Genesis of the Texas Cowboy.
Austin: University of Texas Press, 2004.
Worcester, Don. The Texas Longhorn: Relic of the Past, Asset for the Future. College Station:
Texas A&M University Press, 1987.
Wright, Bruce. “Can I Get a Teacher?” Fiscal Notes (January 2006): 6-7. About the problem of
teacher turnover in Texas.
Wright, Bruce. “Dollars Cross Borders.” Fiscal Notes (November 2005): 6-7. Legal and
undocumented aliens remit annually more than $3 billion to Latin American countries.
Wright, Bruce. “The Next Big Thing Is Very, Very Small.” Fiscal Notes (April 2000): 7–9.
About nanotechnology in Texas and its possibilities.
Selected Sources-8
Zamora, Emilio, Cynthia Orozco, and Rodolfo Rocha, eds. Mexican Americans in Texas History:
Selected Essays. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000.
Selected Sources-9