List Price: $39.95
Texas: A Historical Atlas
Illustrations: 175 color maps, 81 B&W and color photos, 45 charts
Published: 2010
Hardcover ISBN: 9780806138732
448 pages, 9" x 12"
Subject: History of the United States
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An unsurpassed visual exploration of the Lone Star State
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For twenty years the Historical Atlas of Texas stood as a trusted resource for students and aficionados of the state. Now this key reference has been thoroughly updated and expanded—and even rechristened. Texas: A Historical Atlas more accurately reflects the Lone Star State at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Its 86 entries feature 175 newly designed maps—more than twice the number in the original volume—illustrating the most significant aspects of the state’s history, geography, and current affairs.
The heart of the book is its wealth of historical information. Sections devoted to indigenous peoples of Texas and its exploration and settlement offer more than 45 entries with visual depictions of everything from the routes of Spanish explorers to empresario grants to cattle trails. In another 31 articles, coverage of modern and contemporary Texas takes in hurricanes and highways, power plants and population trends.
Practically everything about this atlas is new. All of the essays have been updated to reflect recent scholarship, while more than 30 appear for the first time, addressing such subjects as the Texas Declaration of Independence, early roads, slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction, Texas-Oklahoma boundary disputes, and the tideland oil controversy. A dozen new entries for “Contemporary Texas” alone chart aspects of industry, agriculture, and minority demographics. Nearly all of the expanded essays are accompanied by multiple maps—everyone in full color.
The most comprehensive, state-of-the-art work of its kind, Texas: A Historical Atlas is more than just a reference. It is a striking visual introduction to the Lone Star State.
Ray Stephens
Dr. A. Ray Stephens, Professor of History (retired) at the University of North Texas, won the Angie Debo Prize for his book, Texas: A Historical Atlas, from the Inasmuch Foundation of Oklahoma City in recognition of exceptional scholarship and writing on the history of the Southwest. After receiving the Ph.D. degree in history from the University of Texas at Austin, he taught at Texas A&M University and at the University of North Texas. In addition to his teaching duties in the Department of History at the University of North Texas, he was the director of the Texas History Institute. He served as the major professor for six doctoral dissertations and twenty-five master’s theses on Texas history and history of the American West.
Stephens is the author of the Historical Atlas of Texas (with William M. Holmes as cartographer), The Taft Ranch: A Texas Principality, Texas and the World: Connecting Events in Texas to the World, Handbook for the Research and Writing of Local Business History, and a number of book chapters and journal articles on Texas history. He has presented many papers at history conferences that dealt with his research in Texas history.
Stephens served as a member of the Executive Council of the Texas State Historical Association, president of the East Texas Historical Association, and on various committees of the Western History Association, Texas State Historical Association, and East Texas Historical Association. He is co-founder and co-editor of H-Texas, an online discussion group on Texas history and culture for H-Net.
In addition to serving on university committees and as an advisor to student organizations, Stephens was involved in civic activities. He believes that academic personnel should be an integral part of the community in which they live. He has held elective offices as a member of the Denton City Council and as the mayor of the City of Denton, and appointments to civic and municipal boards, commissions, and committees. Stephens was honored as the Elected Official of the Year by the Municipal Library Directors Association of the Texas Municipal League.
Carol Zuber-Mallison
Carol Zuber-Mallison is an award-winning freelance artist specializing in maps and informational graphics. For 14 years she was an editor and artist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Dallas Morning News. She is also cartographer for the Texas Almanac.
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Q. What is the importance of a historical atlas to the study of Texas history and culture?
A. The relationship of history and geography cannot be separated. One must be aware of the natural features in order to understand and appreciate the activities of inhabitants. Early European and American explorations, pioneer settlements, and later developments into a modern society can best be understood by studying maps and other illustrations that depict information presented in the text. Graphic illustrations of activities, together with interpretations in the essays, are essential to an understanding of the land and its people through time periods.
Q. How did you select the topics to be discussed?
A. I began with an examination of the surface terrain, geological features, weather, and vegetation to set the stage for a study of Texans from the time of the first inhabitants to the present generation. The study then portrayed the goings and comings of Texans in a chronological manner within topics. Texans have been fortunate to inherit outstanding bounties of nature together with a favorable climate in which to pursue their dreams. Personal contest for control of territory and resources is as old as time itself. Of interest to me is the interpretation of those interactions with an explanation of how individual endeavor and technological advancement affected the outcome.
Q. After completing this study, what major conclusions have you drawn that relate to the history of Texas?
A. Overall, this study is a portrait of the people of Texas who experienced challenging economic conditions, varying political leadership, and an evolving social structure. Many of those who sought homes in Texas succeeded while others returned to their previous homes or moved ever westward. The determination for success of those who remained, their optimistic attitudes to prevail against adversity, and their strong faith in the future helped them to withstand hard times as they provided an adequate economic base for themselves and their families. Contemporary Texas is the result of their individualism, community spirit, adherence to democratic principles, access to capital funds, and public-private relationship with the federal government. The latter is exemplified by military protection while Texans decided on annexation to the American Union, frontier explorations for and development of communication routes, navigation aides in addition to river and harbor improvements, frontier military installations to guard against depredations and border banditry, economic development brought about by a widespread proliferation of military bases and defense factories in modern times, and financial aid to industry, business, agriculture, and local and state government through applicable tax breaks, subsidies, incentives, contracts, and grants.
Q. What about the diversity of the Texas population?
A. The “Texan” tree has many branches. Initially, the Texan was an American Indian who lived in communities, some stationary and some mobile, scattered across a broad landscape that supported varying societies, depending on climate and availability of food. European explorers and missionaries came and were followed by settlers from Mexico and the United States, who in time were joined by European and Asian immigrants. As the overall population grew by natural increase and immigration, Texas became an urban state with citizens from around the world who now call Texas their home. Population centers developed with the increase in capital and jobs, particularly along Interstate Highway 35 and in the southeastern region. This work explains how developments occurred.
Q. What documents did you select to be placed in the appendix?
A. I selected documents that illustrate the formative period when Texas was defining its nature from turbulent frontier times to the making of a state in the mainstream of American history.
