Bücher veröffentlicht von Texas A&M University Press

Equal parts memoir, adventure tale, and call to action, Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans has become a classic of environmental literature, at once the gripping adventure story of Earle's three decades of undersea exploration, an insider's introduction to the dynamic field of marine biology, and an urgent plea for the preservation of the world's deteriorating ocean ecosystems. Featuring a gallery of color photographs and a new preface by Earle, this edition of Sea Change arrives at a uniquely pivotal time when its message is needed more than ever before.

Many books and essays have addressed the broad sweep of Texas music--its multicultural aspects, its wide array and blending of musical genres, its historical transformations, and its love/hate relationship with Nashville and other established music business centers. This book, however, focuses on an essential thread in this tapestry: the Texas singer-songwriters to whom the contributors refer as "ruthlessly poetic." All songs require good lyrics, but for these songwriters, the poetic quality and substance of the lyrics are front and center. Obvious candidates for this category would include Townes Van Zandt, Michael Martin Murphey, Guy Clark, Steve Fromholz, Terry Allen, Kris Kristofferson, Vince Bell, and David Rodriguez. In a sense, what these songwriters were doing in small, intimate live-music venues like the Jester Lounge in Houston, the Chequered Flag in Austin, and the Rubaiyat in Dallas was similar to what Bob Dylan was doing in Greenwich Village. In the language of the times, these were "folksingers." Unlike Dylan, however, these were folksingers writing songs about their own people and their own origins and singing in their own vernacular. This music, like most great poetry, is profoundly rooted. That rootedness, in fact, is reflected in the book's emphasis on place and the powerful ways it shaped and continues to shape the poetry and music of Texas singer-songwriters. From the coffeehouses and folk clubs where many of the "founders" got their start to the Texas-flavored festivals and concerts that nurtured both their fame and the rise of a new generation, the indelible stamp of origins is inseparable from the work of these troubadour-poets. Contents Introduction, by Craig Clifford and Craig D. Hillis 1 Part One. The First Generation: Folksingers, Texas Style Too Weird for Kerrville: The Darker Side of Texas Music 17 Craig Clifford Townes Van Zandt: The Anxiety, Artifice, and Audacity of Influence 27 Robert Earl Hardy Vignette--The Ballad of Willis Alan Ramsey 36 Bob Livingston Guy Clark: Old School Poet of the World 39 Tamara Saviano Kris Kristofferson: The Silver-Tongued Rhodes Scholar 49 Peter Cooper Vignette--Don Henley: Literature, Land, and Legacy 59 Kathryn Jones Steven Fromholz, Michael Martin Murphey, and Jerry Jeff Walker: Poetic in Lyric, Message, and Musical Method 61 Craig D. Hillis Vignette--Kinky Friedman: The Mel Brooks of Texas Music 83 Craig Clifford Billy Joe Shaver: Sin and Salvation Poet 85 Joe Holley One Man's Music: Vince Bell 92 Joe Nick Patoski Vignette--Ray Wylie Hubbard: Grifter, Ruffian, Messenger 101 Jenni Finlay The Great Progressive Country Scare of the 1970s 103 Craig D. Hillis (interview with Gary P. Nunn) Plenty Else to Do: Lyrical Lubbock 109 Andy Wilkinson Roots of Steel: The Poetic Grace of Women Texas Singer-Songwriters 115 Kathryn Jones From Debauched Yin to Mellow Yang: A Circular Trip through the Texas Music Festival Scene 136 Jeff Prince Vignette--Bobby Bridger: "Heal in the Wisdom," Creating a Classic 145 Craig D. Hillis (interview with Bobby Bridger) Interlude: What Do We Do with Willie? 148 --I. Willie (An Early Encounter) 148 Craig D. Hillis --II. Willie (On Everything) 151 >Part Two. The Second Generation: Garage Bands, Large Bands, and Other Permutations "Gettin' Tough" Steve Earle's America 161 Jason Mellard Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen: Cosmic Aggies 166 Jan Reid Vignette--Walt Wilkins: Spirituality and Generosity 174 Craig Clifford (interview with Tim Jones) Lucinda Williams: Poet of Places in the Heart 176 Kathryn Jones Rodney Crowell: Looking Inward, Looking Outward 185 John T. Davis Vignette--Sam Baker: Short Stories in Song 192 Robert Earl Hardy James McMurtry: Too Long in the Wasteland 193 >Part Three. Epilogue: Passing of the Torch? Drunken Poet's Dream: Hayes Carll 203 --I. Good Enough for Old Guys 203 Craig Clifford --II. Good Enough for Young Guys 207 Brian T. Atkinson Roll On: Terri Hendrix 209 Brian T. Atkinson From Riding Bulls to Dead Horses: Ryan Bingham 212 Craig Clifford (interview with Shaina Post) Bad Girl Poet: Miranda Lambert 218 Craig Clifford Challenge to Bro Country: Kacey Musgraves 221 Grady Smith Beyond the Rivers 224 > Notes 231 Selected Sources 233 Contributors 243 Index 251

"As historian Gunnar Tote Nerheim states in his introduction, "Norway is a foreign country to Texans, and Texas is a foreign country to Norwegians. Neither in Norway nor Texas has there been any awareness that so many Norwegians settled in antebellum Texas." Norsemen Deep in the Heart of Texas brings Norwegian settlement in Texas to light and in doing so offers the first-ever comprehensive history of Norwegians in Texas. Fluent in both English and Norwegian, Nerheim has done what no other historian has done by combining primary and secondary sources from both languages and both countries. A well-established European scholar, Nerheim examines these never-before-referenced sources, telling the story of Norwegian immigration to Texas, explaining the contexts of Norwegians immigration to Texas in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and uncovering its significance to the histories of both countries. The larger historical context reveals that immigration to Texas operated as part of dynamic circumstances on both sides of the Atlantic, including slavery and the Civil War. Drawn from the perspectives of both regions, the history of Norwegian settlement in Texas provide new insights into European immigration. Readers interested in Texas, Norwegian, and trans-Atlantic history, as well as nineteenth-century immigration, will find new horizons in "Norsemen Deep in the Heart of Texas.""--

In 1821, although Spain claimed what is now Texas, American Indian groups occupied it. Less than forty years later, they had been largely displaced, and their subsistence economy, supplemented by raiding and trade, had been replaced by an Anglo-Texan agricultural economy linked to a rapidly expanding and industrializing capitalist system. For the Karankawas and the Tonkawas, the period from 1821 to 1859 was particularly devastating. Once thriving communities, the Karankawas survived only as scattered individuals after a small remnant on the banks of the Rio Grande was massacred, and the few remaining Tonkawas had been pushed across the Red River into Indian Territory. Kelly Himmel has written an account of this conquest that gives new understanding of the processes. He explores geopolitical and economic factors, as well as the role of individual and collective human actors and the effects of cultural orientations of the conquered and conquering groups toward each other. Among his findings is the importance of geopolitical location. During the early Spanish period, the coastal Karankawas offered a buffer against French, English, and Anglo-American intrusion into Texas. Later, during the early days of Anglo-American settlement, the Tonkawas provided a barrier against the Wichitas and Comanches. For both groups, when the threat to their European-origin allies ended, so did the alliances. In considering the social construction of the "other," he describes how early trade patterns predisposed Anglo-Texans to characterize Karankawas as cannibals, while viewing the Tonkawas, for whom much stronger evidence of cannibalism exists, as harmless beggars and petty thieves. Through the detailed analysis of factors such as these, Himmel not only portrays a period in the history of these two peoples that has been largely unstudied, but also offers lucid explanations of the framework of Anglo-Texan conquest. Historians, sociologists, and anthropologists will find new insight and information in this valuable addition to the literature on Texas Indians and Texas history.

Mountains rise like islands from deserts and grasslands along the US-Mexican border. The stunningly varied borderlands offer a laboratory for studying historical trends and ecological cycles. This work describes the stability and changes in the Borderlands' climate, landforms, and natural communities and in its distinctive plants and vertebrates.