Texas is as well known for its diversity of landscape and culture as it is for its enormity. But West Texas, despite being popularized in film and song, has largely been ignored by historians as a distinct and cultural geographic space. In West Texas: A History of the Giant Side of the State, Paul H. Carlson and Bruce A. Glasrud rectify that oversight. This volume assembles a diverse set of essays covering the grand sweep of West Texas history from the ancient to the contemporary. In four parts—comprehending the place, people, politics and economic life, and society and culture—Carlson and Glasrud and their contributors survey the confluence of life and landscape shaping the West Texas of today. Early chapters define the region. The “giant side of Texas” is a nineteenth-century geographical description of a vast area that includes the Panhandle, Llano Estacado, Permian Basin, and Big Bend–Trans-Pecos country. It is an arid, windblown environment that connects intimately with the history of Texas culture. Carlson and Glasrud take a nonlinear approach to exploring the many cultural influences on West Texas, including the Tejanos, the oil and gas economy, and the major cities. Readers can sample topics in whichever order they please, whether they are interested in learning about ranching, recreation, or turn-of-the-century education. Throughout, familiar western themes arise: the urban growth of El Paso is contrasted with the mid-century decline of small towns and the social shifting that followed. Well-known Texas scholars explore popular perceptions of West Texas as sparsely populated and rife with social contradiction and rugged individualism. West Texas comes into yet clearer view through essays on West Texas women, poets, Native peoples, and musicians. Gathered here is a long overdue consideration of the landscape, culture, and everyday lives of one of America’s most iconic and understudied regions.

Nowhere else has quite the allure that west Texas cities, plains, and ranchlands have; this book is your guide to it all. West Texas is where deep blue mesas at the Big Bend and the plunging, layered walls of Palo Duro Canyon inspire awe; where off-the-beaten-path towns serve fine cuisine; where you can find a Picasso original hanging in a jailhouse museum; where views go on forever and millions of stars come out at night. Nowhere else has quite the allure that these cities, plains, and ranchlands have; this book is your guide to it all. Distinctive for their accuracy, simplicity, and conversational tone, the diverse travel guides in our Explorer's Great Destinations series meet the conflicting demands of the modern traveler. They're packed full of up-to-date information to help plan the perfect getaway. And they're compact and light enough to come along for the ride. A tool you'll turn to before, during, and after your trip, these guides include chapters on lodging, dining, transportation, history, shopping, recreation, and more; a section packed with practical information, such as lists of banks, hospitals, post offices, laundromats, numbers for police, fire, and rescue, and other relevant information; maps of regions and locales, and more.

An American original, the great Johnny D. Boggs weaves a Texas-sized tale of an 1880s badlands--under the grasp of a lawman gone rogue. . . In For Justice In For The Kill Between the Pecos River and Rio Grande a vast, harsh land was ruled by Texas Rangers Captain Hector Savage. Savage's motive wasn't duty, it was money; he's turned this desolate place into a bloodied, terrorized kingdom. Now, a protégé of Savage, Sergeant Dave Chance, has come with a prisoner--a big-talking murderer in his own right--shackled at his side. A decent, honest Ranger, Chance cannot stand idly by while Savage runs roughshod over the territory. Now, to save a traumatized people, he must turn his prisoner loose and give him a gun. Only their combined firepower can penetrate Savage's fortress and kill him. That is, if they don't kill each other first. . . "Johnny Boggs has produced another instant page-turner. . .don't put down the book until you finish it." --Tony Hillerman on Killstraight "Johnny D. Boggs tells a crisply powerful story that rings true more than two centuries after the bloody business was done." --The Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier on The Despoilers "Boggs is unparalleled in evoking the gritty reality of the Old West." --The Shootist

The Parkers have a problem! Always a rebel, Jodie returns to the ranch after four years at university and one traveling Europe with an even more independent spirit. To her mind, she’s now a fully adult woman who can do as she wishes and make her own choices. Even stand up to her great-aunt Mae and win! Only she’s not taking into account the sudden reappearance of her old boyfriend, Rio—in serious trouble with the law and a desperate need for her help. Or Tate Connelly, the Briggs County Sheriff, she’s been attracted to since she was twelve. Or how much she truly loves her Aunt Mae and her family who’ve always done all they can to protect her from danger...and from herself. Jodie, the rebel, still has much to learn.

Clint Adams is just passing through Lubbock— and he just wants to wash the trail dust out of his throat at the local saloon. But before he gets the chance, he's caught smack-dab in the middle of a vicious bushwhacking! One of the biggest ranchers in West Texas is stringing barbed wire around his spread, and that makes for some serious enemies. And now that Clint's looking out for him, half the guns in the county are drawing a bead on the Gunsmith...

Traces the full panorama of Texas history, from its earliest Indian inhabitants to the present day, emphasizing the twentieth-century evolution from a rural to an urban society

Authors Louise S. O'Connor and Cecilia Thompson present a simple encyclopedic study of the Trans-Pecos area of Texas with emphasis on Presidio County VICTORIA, Texas — In their quest to complete their study and to share a better knowledge and understanding of a part of Texas that is still somewhat a frontier, authors Louise S. O'Connor and Cecilia Thompson reveal the first volume of their book "Marfa and Presidio County, Texas: A Social, Economic, and Cultural Study 1937 to 2008 Volume One, 1937 - 1989." In a book that offers a closer look at the past and the present, readers will see how a place known as a tourist area and a center of contemporary art came to be. It returns to the pre-historic era of Far West Texas and bring readers up to the present with yearly reports on the region as well as extensive formal research and personal interviews with present day people who live in Presidio County. A case study worth reading, this book is an eye-opener for a better understanding of how this small yet historically rich land is what it is now. Packed with the economic, social, and cultural history of Presidio County; this book gives readers, both lay and the historians, a clear and complete picture of the events that lead to the preservation, industrialization, and the improvement of one of the frontiers of the United States of America.