Alexander Watkins Terrell
Alexander Watkins Terrell

Author: Lewis L. Gould

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2010-01-01

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0292797281

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Alexander Terrell's career placed him at the center of some of the most pivotal events in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century history, ranging from the Civil War to Emperor Maximilian's reign over Mexico and an Armenian genocide under the Ottoman Empire. Alexander Watkins Terrell at last provides the first complete biographical portrait of this complex figure. Born in Virginia in 1827, Terrell moved to Texas in 1852, rising to the rank of Confederate brigadier general when the Civil War erupted. Afterwards, he briefly served in Maximilian's army before returning to Texas, where he was elected to four terms in the state Senate and three terms in the House. President Grover Cleveland appointed him minister to the Ottoman Empire, dispatching him to Turkey and the Middle East for four years while the issues surrounding the existence of Christians in a Muslim empire stoked violent confrontations there. His other accomplishments included writing legislation that created the Texas Railroad Commission and what became the Permanent University Fund (the cornerstone of the University of Texas's multibillion-dollar endowment). In this balanced exploration of Terrell's life, Gould also examines Terrell's views on race, the impact of the charges of cowardice in the Civil War that dogged him, and his spiritual searching beyond the established religions of his time. In his rich and varied life, Alexander Watkins Terrell experienced aspects of nineteenth-century Texas and American history whose effects have continued down to the present day.

Broken Trusts
Broken Trusts

Author: Jonathan W. Singer

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 9781585441600

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Nineteenth-century editorial cartoons often pictured government and industry hand-in-hand. Yet as early as 1889 Texas had enacted an antitrust law to curb the power of monopolies, and in the first years of the industry that would bring untold riches to the state, the attorney general used that law against oil trusts to a surprising extent. Ironically, for most of the first twenty-five years following the enactment of the Sherman Antitrust Act, federal enforcement efforts were extremely limited, leaving the field to the states. Texas was one of several states that had strong antitrust laws and whose attorneys general prosecuted antitrust violations with vigor. Political ambition was a factor in the decisions to investigate and prosecute cases against a highly visible target, the petroleum industry, but there was also a genuine belief in the goals of antitrust policy and in the efficacy of enforcement of the laws. In Broken Trusts, Jonathan Singer offers the definitive study of the formative period of antitrust enforcement in Texas. His analysis of the state attorney general’s use of antitrust law against the oil industry in this time of transition from agricultural to industrial society provides insights into the litigation process, the gap between the rhetoric of trust-busting and the reality of antitrust enforcement, and also the changing roles of state government in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The experience of Texas undermines the view that federal action has always dominated antitrust enforcement efforts and that antitrust litigation against Standard Oil was ineffectual. Rather, the results of the Texas attorney general’s litigations suggest that some states took their role in the dual enforcement scheme seriously and that the measure of success of antitrust enforcement goes beyond the amount of monetary penalties collected and the number of companies permanently ousted from a state. This volume will be valuable to those interested in the effects of the Sherman Antitrust Act, as well as those concerned with the evolution of the Texas attorney general’s office.

Fundamentalism in the Modern World Vol 2
Fundamentalism in the Modern World Vol 2

Author: Ulrika Martensson

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2011-06-30

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 0857719858

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How does religious fundamentalism operate in modern global society? This two-volume series analyses the dynamics of fundamentalism and its relationship to the modern state, the public sphere and globalisation. This second volume explores the links between fundamentalism and communication: the rise of fundamentalism as a mass media phenomenon, fundamentalist communication in the public sphere, national cultural identities and the rise of a 'global society'. Expert scholars in the field address specific contemporary and past fundamentalist movements that have emerged from within mainstream Islam, Christianity, Baha'ism, Hinduism, Judaism and Buddhism. This is an important study of an increasingly significant and virulent aspect of modern society, and will be essential reading in the fields of Religion, Politics, Communications and Media Studies.