Jackrabbit Jewel and Conejo Grande find themselves immersed in a new adventure along the Butterfield Overland Mail route. This mail route covered a distance of 2,800 miles, beginning in St. Louis, Missouri, and ending in San Francisco, California. As in the previous adventure of Jackrabbit Jewel in Jackrabbit Jewel and the Longhorn Cattle Drive, this story blends the history of the southwestern United States with Texas Tall Tale.

The president of the Overland Mail Company, John Butterfield, sends Jackrabbit Jewel an urgent message. Due to a lack of stagecoach drivers, he needs Jewel to drive the stagecoach from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to San Francisco. In addition, he needs Conejo Grande to pull the stagecoach. In addition to the bundles of U.S. mail, they are transporting three passengers to California. The trip is fraught with danger during every stage of their journey, but Jewel has keen frontier knowledge and the help of Conejo Grande and her passengers.

In her introduction to Jenny Browne's New and Selected Poems, Naomi Shihab Nye writes, The poems are switchboards of care extending in so many directions, beamed up to high, but always with the subtlety of idiosyncratic awareness--it's fascinating to fathom how she gets from one place to another. A startle, a dazzle of impulses enlivening the spirit . . . . Browne's poems ask personal questions: How did we get here? Where are we going? Can we walk there together? From love letters to strangers to extended meditations on slow-moving rivers, these poems surprise in their fidelity to the strangeness of being alive. In the new poems included here, this heightened awareness is set against the landscape of a planet undergoing global climate change, quickly becoming inhospitable. Resisting the poles of paralysis and apocalypse, Browne travels through extreme and unfamiliar landscapes, considering the unthinkable, negotiating the past, and ultimately reimagining the future and our human place in it.

In the 1950s, West Texas suffered the longest drought in the memory of most men then living. By that time, Charlie Flagg, the central character of this novel, was one of a dying breed of men who wrested their living from the harsh land of West Texas. The struggle made them fiercely independent, a trait personified in Charlie's persistence throughout the seven dry years, his refusal to accept defeat, his opposition to federal aid programs and their inevitable bureaucratic regulations, his determination to stay on the land he loves and respects even as he suffers with that land. Charlie is by no means the typical cowboy hero. Self-sufficient, courageous, with a strong sense of right and wrong, he is also old and overweight, a thoroughly believable human being who has trouble communicating with the wife who loyally struggles to keep life in its pattern, the son who has no feel for the land but yearns for the rodeo circuit, the Mexican family who has worked for him for years and whose help he can no longer afford. Although Charlie never loses his dignity and never quits, he does not win out in the end. When the drought breaks, it has lasted too long and he is too old.

There is no surprise ending to this story, no magical solution to the harsh realities of life in West Texas. The reading of this novel lies not in what happens next but in the unfolding depth of a strong character and the clear picture of a time and a place.

Dave Parsons exquisitely captures the essence of what it was like for many to come of age in Austin, Texas, in the 1960s. He writes entertainingly about his antics, running buddies, neighbors, drinking, carousing, road trips, girlfriends, wives, fistfights, athletics, singing, adventures and misadventures, failures and successes, and, yes, tragedies. He weaves his original poems meaningfully with his story-telling prose. Importantly, his moments of serious reflection, as exemplified by the Good Friday section, are at once poignant and powerful - a perfect melding of prose and poetry. Dave's memoir doesn't stop with the 1960s. He continues to share his life with you as settles down (well, almost) into his later years. You should find the entirety of his memories fascinating, as I did.

--NEAL SPELCE, award-winning journalist and prize-winning author who chronicled Austin's evolution for decades

This lieutenant gets up there and says, 'American soldiers don't huddle and put their hands in their pockets on a cold day. They stand at attention.' . . . [there was a] buzz . . . in Spanish . . . 'Hey, they called us Americans!'--Armando Flores, Army Air Corps.
Many Catholic families blessed their children before they left home. After the Blessing tells the stories of many young Mexican Americans who left home to fight for their country. During the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), many families fled Mexico to prevent their underage sons from being forced to fight. Ironically, the offspring of these immigrants often ended up across the ocean in a much larger war. Despite the bias and mistreatment most Mexican Americans faced in the US, some 500,000 fought bravely for their country during World War II. Their stories range from hair-raising accounts of the Battle of the Bulge to gut-wrenching testimony about cannibalism in the Pacific. In After the Blessing Mexican Americans reveal their experiences in combat during WWII--stories that have rarely been told.

Wards of the League is a long-lost tale from pro football's buried past. Very few people even know that the 1952 Dallas Texans ever existed and played in the National Football League. Before the Dallas Cowboys became America's Team, these Texans were nobody's team. The NFL's first venture into the football-crazed hotbed known as the Lone Star State began with enthusiasm but ended in a doomed collapse before the season was even over. The Texans' rapid rise and fall are chronicled in this book for the first time. The story of the failed team in a place that now boasts of having the most valuable sports franchise in the world today is truly a tale of being in the right place but at the wrong time.

Set in Texas during the 1870s and in the 1930s at the height of the Dust Bowl, Dust Covered Lies tells the story of Frances Abbott, or Frannie, an orphaned immigrant who faces a terrible choice that will haunt her the rest of her life. Frannie is a teenage champion markswoman when she and her autistic and artistically gifted brother, Juan Esteban, set off on a scientific hunting expedition on the Colorado River led by a dangerous con man who claims to be a French zoologist.

When a murder is committed and Juan Esteban's life is in danger, Frannie lies to protect him. Determined to take her secret to the grave, Frannie and her brother flee to the dust-covered Texas panhandle to escape the one person who could reveal the truth about their past.

Hispanic Roots of the Hollywood Western explores how the Spanish history of the American Southwest influenced a movie genre that became a worldwide phenomenon: the Western. Numerous aspects of the Hispanic heritage of the Old West appear in Westerns, including Spanish-language place names, Spanish architecture, and Hispanic characters. This book explores these elements through the lens of two archetypal Western protagonists: the Cisco Kid and Zorro. These two characters starred in books, radio shows, and movies throughout the twentieth century, eventually becoming a natural part of American popular culture. They sometimes acted as heroes, sometimes as antiheroes, but in both cases, they helped to create a joyful and positive image in the American collective unconscious of what it meant to be Hispanic in the Wild West. These representations are part of the American cinematographic legacy; to forget them would be to lose a part of our collective identity.

Exploring the Hispanic origins of early Westerns is also key to understanding Westerns that came later, such as Sergio Leone's films and Clint Eastwood in his poncho. The role played by Spain itself continued to be significant, as multiple locations (including Madrid, Barcelona, and Almería) were converted into shooting locations for Westerns throughout the 1950s-1970s. Some of these films were internationally recognized as universal masterpieces of cinematography, like the Dollars Trilogy.

This book is essential not only for anyone interested in the origins and development of Westerns but also for those who are interested in what meant to be Hispanic in the western United States in past centuries and what it means to be American today.

In contemporary American politics, where absurdity often overshadows reality, Worse Than You Think emerges as a refreshingly candid and witty account of what happens when ordinary individuals, fueled by a blend of idealism and frustration, leap into the political arena. This narrative dives into the real-life journey of a high school teacher, Edward Todd Allen, who took the bold step of running for Congress in 2018. Along for the ride was his best friend and fellow educator, Heath Hamrick, who had a simple job: make everything work out in the end.

Todd and Heath embark on a quest to fix the crazy circus of our partisan divide, only to find themselves in a series of comical and eye-opening situations, encountering bizarre characters that could only arise deep in the heart of American politics. Worse Than You Think offers laughter, surprises, and perhaps a spark of inspiration to those contemplating their role in democracy. Whether you're seeking validation for your political cynicism, a guide on what not to do in a political campaign, or just a good laugh, this book promises to be an engaging read.

Dennis Franchione, known as Coach Fran, is one of the winningest coaches in college football history. He successfully turned around football programs at every stop during his head coaching career. From his first job as a head coach of a high school near his hometown to a Sun Bowl victory at TCU and stints at Alabama and Texas A&M, this book takes readers behind the scenes of what it was like to run the show on the field, as well as the tragedies he faced throughout his life and how he overcame them. Readers will join former players and coaches on the sidelines as they relive some of the greatest games in college football in that era and get to hear some of the greatest football stories never told. Coach Fran shares the good, the bad, and the ugly of the most beloved game in the country. From his own personal tragedies to the bright lights of college football, Coach Fran's story is one of hope and the ability to do anything in life if you have the determination and drive to make it happen.

This collection of Guerrero's new and selected work documents the struggle to both honor and disrupt cultural, social, and familial traditions and histories. Hers is an honest and fearless examination of racism, sexism, domestic abuse, illness, and loss.

Feminist writer, mother, and educator, Guerrero has been described by the San Antonio Current as a badass of poetic proportions. In her poems, bodies sway above the cotton like sheets on a line, women turn into roosters, grief is carried like a newborn, snake venom is made in the marrow of the atlas bone, and the greatest revolution is to sing graveside, to whisper intention into bowls of beans, to dance / without fear or fight. With her unfailingly bold imagery and sharp eye, this collection of Guerrero's work is a carefully constructed artifact by a poet who works and thinks with her hands.

This volume is the fourteenth in the TCU Press Texas Poet Laureate series.

Following the border formed by the Rio Grande and moving cross-country to the Pacific Ocean, Frontera is a lavishly illustrated book that offers a comprehensive examination of the nearly two thousand-mile border shared by the United States and Mexico. The region has a reputation for being a dangerous place, with US Border Patrol and Mexican authorities playing cat and mouse with smugglers and undocumented migrants, and with drug cartels inflicting unspeakable violence on the region. Frontera takes an unblinking look at those dangers, but it goes beyond stereotypes and offers the reader vivid portraits of the beauty and complexity of the area--its history, its contemporary attractions, its rich cultural life. Moving through thirty-eight municipalities on the Mexican side and twenty-four counties in the US, Frontera includes maps, key cities, points of interest, border crossings, festivals, local cuisines, and more, along with analyses of local politics and security issues. Despite its troubles, the US-Mexico border is a beautiful place, the home of welcoming and warm people. It is a land of contrasts--austere landscapes and lush oases, thunderstorms and rainbows in the desert, robust industry and ghost towns, great wealth and aching poverty. Frontera is both a feast for the eyes and an encyclopedic reference that offers readers a clear-eyed perspective on a subject of critical importance to the United States and its southern neighbor.

Explore the rich tapestry of Czech food with award-winning chef Denise Mazal Resnerova's enchanting cookbook, The Aroma of Czech Cuisine. From the heart of Prague to the charming streets of Boerne, Texas, Resnerova offers us the quintessence of Staročeská kuchyně--the recipes of grandmothers, passed down through generations. These recipes, developed to perfection by Resnerova, are an integral part of the Texas Hill Country and have been savored at Little Gretel, her renowned Czech eatery in Boerne, Texas.

With The Aroma of Czech Cuisine, Denise Mazal Resnerova embarks on a culinary journey infused with notes and mini stories that unveil the essence of Czech culture and its enduring influence in the United States. The book delves into folklore, uncovers recipe origins, and traces the historical threads that bind Czech cuisine to its cultural heritage.

Whether you are a seasoned chef or a curious food enthusiast, The Aroma of Czech Cuisine promises to open the door to local Czech culture and transport you to the heart of Czech gastronomy, where every dish is a celebration of flavor, heritage, and the enduring spirit of the Czech people.

Conversations in Medical Spanish offers a dialogue-based approach to studying vocabulary and conversational skills for medical settings. Students engage in interactive and realistic medical conversations covering topics like clinical visit introductions, presenting illnesses, chief complaints, physical therapy, and mental health. Each chapter includes sight translation, cultural readings, and improvisational role-play activities. The dialogues and activities are designed with a learner-centered approach, utilizing various language-learning methods to enhance students' professionalism and readiness for effective communication, research, and language practice in the community.

Nothing could prepare Curby Alexander for the trials and triumphs that awaited in his first year as a teacher. Through the pages of Chalk Dust, readers will witness the evolution of a fourth-grade teacher as he grapples with feelings of incompetence and vulnerability.

From the haunting echo of footsteps in his empty classroom to the quiet battles fought against loneliness and self-doubt, Alexander's story is a candid exploration of the highs and lows of teaching. But within the struggle, there emerge small yet powerful victories--moments of growth, hope, and unexpected laughter. Every heartwarming achievement, every agonizing setback, is laid bare as Alexander learns to navigate the emotional and intellectual complexities of the teaching profession.

As the final bell rings and the chalk dust settles, Alexander's experiences working with students and their parents become subtle reminders of the value of lifelong learning, and the enduring strength of human connection. Chalk Dust is more than just a memoir; it's a testament to the indomitable spirit of educators and an invitation for readers to reflect on their own paths, and the immeasurable impact they can have on the lives of others.

Thane Baker grew up in the Kansas Dust Bowl. An Olympic medal winner from his small town gave seven-year-old Thane hopes for his own Olympic glory. Yet a work injury at age fourteen shoved steel behind his kneecap and ended his dreams. When new on his college campus, a coach allowed Thane to walk onto the track team. Three years later, Thane earned an unexpected berth on the 1952 United States Olympic Track and Field Team and traveled to New York City, Helsinki, Finland, and other European cities for competitions. Friendships grew between the American athletes in their six weeks together. Together, they faced hurdles of financial insecurity, racial inequality, chilly winds, and inadequate diets as they confronted the Soviet Union for the first time. Despite the obstacles, Thane, wearing borrowed socks and borrowed shoes, returned to his small town with an Olympic medal, forever changed by his experiences.

Return with us to yesteryear, when cowboys were cowboys and gunslingers lurked around every corner. Today that colorful period continues to resonate in the collective imagination of red-blooded Americans everywhere--and now we have True West, which illustrates, in hundreds of full-color illustrations, how America's mass media stamped that vision so indelibly on our collective unconscious over the past century, into today.

Boasting hundreds of rare and colorful movie posters, pulp magazines, television memorabilia, advertisements, paperback books, record album jackets, toys, and clothing, True West covers such hugely popular television series as Gunsmoke, The Lone Ranger, and Bonanza, along with classic Western novels, including Shane, The Searchers, Welcome to Hard Times and that epic of all epics, Lonesome Dove.

True West bows to the icons who ruled the silver screen--Tom Mix, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, John Wayne, and Clint Eastwood, to name a few, while offering up such indelible movie triumphs as Red River, The Searchers, Hud, The Wild Bunch, and Unforgiven.

It also showcases the great Western comic books and comic strips--Colt, Red Ryder, Straight Arrow, and Jonah Hex--along with all those nifty toys and other ephemera that helped link kids to celluloid heroes like Hopalong Cassidy, Roy and Dale, and the ubiquitous Gene Autry. And what would the Wild West be without an accompanying soundtrack? True West reproduces the sublime album covers and sheet music that served up classic odes like Streets of Laredo and Cool Water, narrative ballads like El Paso (with Marty Robbins bedecked in his black gunfighter togs on the cover ), and High Noon.

First published in 1974, The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock grew out of a magazine article coauthored by Jan Reid. His first book was a sensation in Texas. It portrayed an Austin-based live music explosion variously described as progressive country, cosmic cowboys, and outlaw country. The book has been hailed as a model of how to write about popular music and the life of performing musicians. Written in nine months, Reid's account focuses on predecessors of the 1960s and the swarm of newborn venues, the most enduring one the justly famed Armadillo World Headquarters; profiles of singer-songwriters that included Jerry Jeff Walker, Michael Martin Murphey, Steven Fromholz, B.W. Stevenson, Willis Alan Ramsey, Bobby Bridger, Rusty Wier, Kinky Friedman, and the one who became an international star and one of America's most treasured performers, Willie Nelson; and the rowdy heat-stricken debut of Willie's Fourth of July Picnics.

Though Reid has resisted the writerly trend of specialization in his career, his debut brought him back to popular music and musicians' lives in Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, Texas Tornado: The Music and Times of Doug Sahm, and now a related novel, The Song Leader. The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock is a landmark of popular culture in Texas and the Southwest. Readers will be glad to once more have it back.

When Hannah, a seventy-three-year-old widow, finds the semiconscious body of a fourteen-year-old Mexican national in a ditch along a remote central Texas road, she has no idea someone is watching. Not until the girl's brutal attacker arrives at Hannah's door in the middle of the night, threatening not just the girl's but Hannah's very survival. Ultimately the question of justice for a victim of human trafficking and the woman who helps her lies in the hands of a biracial border patrol officer and an unconventional small-town sheriff.

The I-10 corridor of Texas connects saints, demons, and victims as the ultimate question of life and death is decided by two strangers fate has bound together. They must make a hard choice in order to survive: either follow the law or follow their consciences.