Whistle in the Piney Woods

Whistle in the Piney Woods

Author: Robert S. Maxwell

Publisher: University of North Texas Press

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 154

ISBN-13: 9781574410617

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Story of the founding of the Houston, East and West Texas Railroad, its symbiotic relationship with forests and the lumber industry and its role in the development of East Texas.


The Madman of Piney Woods

The Madman of Piney Woods

Author: Christopher Paul Curtis

Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Published: 2014-09-30

Total Pages: 291

ISBN-13: 0545633761

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In this poignant companion to Elijah of Buxton, two boys united by tragedy find friendship and adventure in the Canadian woods. Benji and Red couldn’t be more different. They aren’t friends. They don’t even live in the same town. But their fates are entwined. A chance meeting leads the boys to discover that they have more in common than meets the eye. Both of them have encountered a strange presence in the forest, watching them, tracking them. Could the Madman of Piney Woods be real? In a tale brimming with intrigue and adventure, Christopher Paul Curtis returns to the vibrant world he brought to life in Elijah of Buxton. Here is another novel that will break your heart—and expand it, too. This critically acclaimed story by National Book Award finalist Christopher Paul Curtis joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and beloved novels. Includes extra bonus content! Praise for The Madman of Piney Woods “Humor and tragedy are often intertwined, and readers will find themselves sobbing and chuckling, sometimes in the same scene.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review “A delight, featuring the author’s obvious love for his characters, his skillful use of sentiment, and his often hyperbolic humor.” —Booklist, Starred Review “Heady stuff. Funny stuff. Smart stuff. Good stuff. Better get your hands on this stuff.” —School Library Journal “So suspenseful . . . Curtis deftly makes what might have been simply heart-rending hopeful and redeeming instead . . . A thrill ride of a plot.” —TheNew York Times


Saving the Big Thicket

Saving the Big Thicket

Author: James Cozine

Publisher: University of North Texas Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 1574411756

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The Big Thicket of East Texas, which at one time covered over two million acres, served as a barrier to civilizations throughout most of historic times. This text is a classic account of the region's history and a play-by-play narrative of the prolonged fight for the Big Thicket Preserve.


Whistle Punk

Whistle Punk

Author: Alice Ross

Publisher: TCU Press

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 158

ISBN-13: 9780875651231

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An East Texan boy who has lost a brother in World War II seeks revenge on the Nazi prisoners of war working in the nearby lumber camps.


A Hanging in Nacogdoches

A Hanging in Nacogdoches

Author: Gary B. Borders

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2010-01-01

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0292783167

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This historical study examines a “legal lynching” in 1902 Texas, shedding light on race relations, political culture, and economic conditions of the time. On October 17, 1902, in Nacogdoches, Texas, a black man named James Buchanan was tried without representation, condemned, and executed for the murder of a white family—all within three hours. Two white men played pivotal roles in these events: the editor of the Nacogdoches Sentinel, Bill Haltom, a prominent Democrat who condemned lynching but defended lynch mobs; and A. J. Spradley, a Populist sheriff who managed to keep the mob from burning Buchanan alive, only to escort him to the gallows. Each man’s story illuminates part of the path toward the terrible parody of justice at the heart of A Hanging in Nacogdoches. The turn of the twentieth century was a time of dramatic change for the people of East Texas. Frightened by the Populist Party's attempts to unite poor blacks and whites in a struggle for economic justice, white Democrats defended their power base by exploiting racial tensions in a battle that ultimately resulted in complete disenfranchisement for the black population. In telling the story of a single lynching, Gary Borders dramatically illustrates the way politics and race combined to bring horrific violence to small southern towns like Nacogdoches.


No Way but to Fight

No Way but to Fight

Author: Andrew R. M. Smith

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2020-01-10

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 147731976X

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Olympic gold medalist. Two-time world heavyweight champion. Hall of Famer. Infomercial and reality TV star. George Foreman’s fighting ability is matched only by his acumen for selling. Yet the complete story of Foreman’s transition from an urban ghetto to global celebrity has never before been told. Raised in Houston’s “Bloody Fifth” Ward, battling against scarcity in housing and food, young Foreman fought sometimes for survival and other times just for fun. But when a government program rescued him from poverty and introduced him to the sport of boxing, his life changed forever. In No Way but to Fight, Andrew R. M. Smith traces Foreman’s life and career from Great Migration to Great Society, through the Cold War and Culture Wars, out of urban Houston and onto the world stage where he discovered that fame wrought new challenges. Drawing on new interviews with George Foreman and declassified government documents, as well as more than fifty domestic and international newspapers and magazines, Smith brings to life the exhilarating story of a true American icon. No Way but to Fight is an epic worthy of a champion.


Nameless Towns

Nameless Towns

Author: Thad Sitton

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2010-01-01

Total Pages: 394

ISBN-13: 0292777809

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A comprehensive history of the sawmill towns of East Texas in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Sawmill communities were once the thriving centers of East Texas life. Many sprang up almost overnight in a pine forest clearing, and many disappeared just as quickly after the company “cut out” its last trees. But during their heyday, these company towns made Texas the nation’s third-largest lumber producer and created a colorful way of life that lingers in the memories of the remaining former residents and their children and grandchildren. Drawing on oral history, company records, and other archival sources, Sitton and Conrad recreate the lifeways of the sawmill communities. They describe the companies that ran the mills and the different kinds of jobs involved in logging and milling. They depict the usually rough-hewn towns, with their central mill, unpainted houses, company store, and schools, churches, and community centers. And they characterize the lives of the people, from the hard, awesomely dangerous mill work to the dances, picnics, and other recreations that offered welcome diversions. Winner, T. H. Fehrenbach Award, Texas Historical Commission “After completing the book, I truly understood life in the sawmill communities, intellectually and emotionally. It was very satisfying. Conrad and Sitton write in such a manner to make one feel the hard life, smell the sawdust, and share the danger of the mills. The book is compelling and stimulating.” —Robert L. Schaadt, Director-Archivist, Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center


William Marsh Rice and His Institute

William Marsh Rice and His Institute

Author: Randal L. Hall

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Published: 2012-01-31

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 160344663X

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In 1891 William Marsh Rice made a generous bequest in order to found the distinguished Houston institution that bears his name. Ironically, this very bequest helped to bring about his murder, an act of treachery perpetrated by a conniving attorney and Rice’s naïve, malleable manservant. This captivating tale—full of intrigue, legal twists and turns, and sensational revelations—an important part of the full biography of Rice himself, received its first careful historical investigation by Andrew Forest Muir, a longtime professor of history at Rice University who, beginning in 1957, performed the fundamental research that forms the basis for this biography. At the time of Muir’s death in 1969, the work remained incomplete. Subsequently, at the request of the Rice Historical Society, Sylvia Stallings Morris shaped the fruits of Muir’s labor into the first edition of this book, which was published in 1972. The new edition of William Marsh Rice and His Institute, edited by Randal L. Hall, returns this fine biography to print in connection with the celebration of the centennial of the opening of Rice University. Incorporating new and important sources unearthed since the publication of the original book, this revised edition retains all the flavor and meticulous care of the earlier work, especially the “finely crafted storytelling of Sylvia Stallings Morris Lowe and Andrew Forest Muir,” as characterized by Hall. Rice University students, faculty, staff, and alumni; scholars and students of Houston, Texas, and regional history; and those interested in the history of American higher education will all welcome William Marsh Rice and His Institute: The Centennial Edition.


Sunset Limited

Sunset Limited

Author: Richard J. Orsi

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2005-05-16

Total Pages: 640

ISBN-13: 0520940865

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The only major U.S. railroad to be operated by westerners and the only railroad built from west to east, the Southern Pacific acquired a unique history and character. It also acquired a reputation, especially in California, as a railroad that people loved to hate. This magisterial history tells the full story of the Southern Pacific for the first time, shattering myths about the company that have prevailed to this day. A landmark account, Sunset Limited explores the railroad's development and influence—especially as it affected land settlement, agriculture, water policy, and the environment—and offers a new perspective on the tremendous, often surprising, role the company played in shaping the American West. Based on his unprecedented and extensive research into the company's historical archives, Richard Orsi finds that, contrary to conventional understanding, the Southern Pacific Company identified its corporate well-being with population growth and social and economic development in the railroad's hinterland. As he traces the complex and shifting intersections between corporate and public interest, Orsi documents the railroad's little-known promotion of land distribution, small-scale farming, scientific agriculture, and less wasteful environmental practices and policies—including water conservation and wilderness and recreational parklands preservation. Meticulously researched, lucidly written, and judiciously balanced, Sunset Limited opens a new window onto the American West in a crucial phase of its development and will forever change our perceptions of one of the largest and most important western corporations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.