Winner of the Best Book of 2009, Jazz Division, sponsored by AllAboutJazz-New York, 2009.
Selected for The Best of the Best from University Presses, ALA Conference, 2010.
Winner of the 2010 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research in Jazz, 2010.
Jade Visions is the first biography of one of the twentieth century's most influential jazz musicians, bassist Scott LaFaro. Best known for his landmark recordings with Bill Evans, LaFaro played bass a mere seven years before his life and career were tragically cut short by an automobile accident when he was only 25 years old. Told by his sister, this book uniquely combines family history with insight into LaFaro's music by well-known jazz experts and musicians Gene Lees, Don Thompson, Jeff Campbell, Phil Palombi, Chuck Ralston, Barrie Kolstein, and Robert Wooley. Those interested in Bill Evans, the history of jazz, and the lives of working musicians of the time will appreciate this exploration of LaFaro's life and music as well as the feeling they've been invited into the family circle as an intimate.

This collection is a record of one man's navigation of loss, addiction, and labor. At once a meditation on the allure of a legacy in self-destruction and a giving over to hope, Felling is an exploration in honesty. Rendered in direct language and through clear eyes, this book, as its title indicates, is concerned with tensions of agency, creation, and destruction-- upward and downward motion.

After the 1940 publication of Native Son, Richard Wright shared some of his stylistic goals in the novel. 'I wanted the reader to feel that Bigger's story was happening now, ' he writes, 'like a play upon the stage or a movie unfolding upon the screen. Action follows action, as in a prize fight.' Kelan Nee's poetry delivers the immediacy and punch that Wright demanded of literature. Nee has the head for poetry, the heart for poetry, and above all, the guts. This debut collection holds back nothing and leaves me reeling with high hopes for Nee's future in the craft.--Gregory Fraser, judge and author of Designed for Flight and Answering the Ruins

In this stunning collection of black-and-white photographs, photographer Richard Doherty takes a deep visual dive into Oak Cliff, the southwest Dallas neighborhood where he has lived for the past four decades. Using a variety of film cameras, Doherty combines vivid, sweeping panoramic images on the main business drag, Jefferson Boulevard, with intimate portraits of people in their workplaces, homes, and yards. These evocative, richly detailed images reveal the unique character of the diverse people, social landscapes, and personal spaces in this often-overlooked section of Dallas.

Doherty's photographs are a testament to his love of Oak Cliff, a place where he has made his home and raised his family. They are also a powerful reminder of the beauty and complexity of everyday life in a modern city.

In addition to Doherty's photographs, the book features a concise history of Oak Cliff by bestselling author Bill Minutaglio, as well as essays by curators John Rohrbach of the Amon Carter Museum and Christopher Blay of the Houston Museum of African American Culture. These essays provide context for the photographs and anchor them in the landscape of contemporary photography. Framing Oak Cliff: A Visual Diary of a Dallas Neighborhood is a must-have for anyone who loves photography, history, or the city of Dallas. This photographic work is a beautiful and insightful portrait of a unique and vibrant place.

The stories in Where to Carry the Sound center on characters excavating their own lives: unearthing family secrets, exploring inherited silences, and rediscovering what might have seemed lost to them. Wherever these characters find themselves--including brewing bootleg liquor in Prohibition-era Bombay, finding remnants of a new language at an archaeological dig in Andhra Pradesh, seeking mirages above the Arctic Circle, or setting up an outpost on the moon--each seeks to reconcile a past continually bleeding into the present and to forge a path of belonging to carry them into the future.

This collection of nine magical stories (including a few actual fairy tales) enchanted me. Many of the stories are set in India, and most of the narrators are women--photographers, bootleggers, archeologists, religious pilgrims, perfumers, and one lonely lunar caretaker. The writing is both lush and lean, and the images of marigolds, haunted villages, and man-killing tigers are memorable. The ends aren't always happily-ever-after but are always satisfying. Where to Carry the Sound is a delight to read.--Molly Giles, judge and author of The Home for Unwed Husbands

In western New Mexico in 1905 there rode a notorious outlaw from the Mexican border named Henry Coleman. With a Colt .45 strapped to his hip, Coleman (alias Street Hudspeth from the well-to-do Texas family) came to be either despised as a deceitful rustler and ruthless murderer or admired as a man of honor and great courage, a popular and charismatic cowman who was fast with a gun. No one seemed indifferent.

In less than a decade, Coleman, who was fluent in Spanish and popular with many of the Hispanics of the area, became as famous in the western part of the state as Billy the Kid was in Lincoln County. Sheriff Elfego Baca of Socorro County, who was careful not to confront Coleman, referred to him as the last of the bad men of New Mexico. Especially spellbinding are the recollections of how Coleman came to be associated with several murders. Also intriguing is how he died so violently at the hands of a posse of cattlemen in October 1921.

From her ranch on Largo Creek, not far from where Coleman was said to have committed more than one murder, Eleanor Williams worked hard to interview anyone who had known him or had any knowledge of his daring deeds. Williams first published Coleman's story in the New Mexico Electric News, a monthly electrical co-op magazine, from 1964 to 1965. Award-winning historian Jerry Thompson edited and annotated it with additional historical context; also included is a short biography of Williams by her daughter, Helen Cress.

This is the first serious biography of a man widely considered one of Texas'--and America's--greatest songwriters. Like Jimmie Rodgers, Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, and Hank Williams, Townes Van Zandt was the embodiment of that mythic American figure, the troubled troubadour. A Deeper Blue traces Van Zandt's background as the scion of a prominent Texas family; his troubled early years and his transformation from promising pre-law student to wandering folk singer; his life on the road and the demons that pursued and were pursued by him; the women who loved and inspired him; and the brilliance and enduring beauty of his songs, which are explored in depth. The author draws on eight years' extensive research and interviews with Townes' family and closest friends and colleagues. He looks beyond the legend and paints a colorful portrait of a complex man who embraced the darkness of demons and myth as well as the light of deep compassion and humanity, all for the sake of the song.

When New Mexico became part of the United States, the territory contained 295 land grants, the largest of these being the Maxwell Land Grant. The size and boundaries of the grant were disputed, with some believing that much of the land was public domain. Settlers on this land were fought not only by the land grant owners but also by a group of corrupt politicians and lawyers-- known as the Santa Fe Ring (most notably Thomas Catron and Stephen Elkins)--who tried to use the situation for personal profit and land acquisition.

The fight escalated in late 1875 with the assassination of Reverend F. J. Tolby, an outspoken critic of the Santa Fe Ring. In a confession one of the assassins stated that men connected to the ring had paid to have Tolby killed. Outrage, civil unrest, and more murders followed. The town of Cimarron alone was the scene of a lynching, a barroom gunfight in the St. James Hotel involving legendary gunman Clay Allison, and a nighttime murder of a prisoner. For a time the troubles in New Mexico were ignored by the federal government. But in 1878 the murder of John Tunstall set off a wave of violence known as the Lincoln County War. Following that, a letter came to light that appeared to show that the governor of the territory, Samuel B. Axtell, planned a mass execution of critics of the Santa Fe Ring, who he considered to be agitators in the Colfax County troubles.

Finally, officials in Washington took notice and sent Frank W. Angel with orders to investigate the violence, murders, and corruption that plagued the territory. Following his investigation, Angel concluded, It is seldom that history states more corruption, fraud, mismanagement, plots and murders, than New Mexico, has been the theatre under the administration of Governor Axtell. The actions taken as a result of Angel's investigation wouldn't end the violence in New Mexico, but they did lead to the end of the Colfax County War.

Tombstone, Arizona, is forever associated with Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Doc Holliday, and the legendary OK Corral gunfight that made it a cultural symbol of the Old West. The town's most iconic and storied original building is the Bird Cage Theater--a stunning example of late nineteenth-century variety theaters that were a staple in entertainment around the globe. The modest interior that was once filled with orchestra music, cigar smoke, laughter and whistles, and cheers and jeers is now an empty canvas for the echoes of the past.

Every year tens of thousands of tourists are welcomed through its doors to experience an atmosphere that begs wonder and imagination. Private and public tours of its interior have inspired questions, evolving lore, and conflicting stories. In recent decades its history has been fabricated from modern myth, romantic fiction, and pure fantasy. Now, for the first time, historical researcher and author Michael Paul Mihaljevich has pieced together the real story of the Bird Cage.

It began in the months leading up to the OK Corral gunfight in 1881, when property owner William J. Hutchinson engaged in a violent three-way property war between lot-owning citizens, a corrupt townsite company, and greedy mine owner Ed Field just to erect the building. After its construction was completed, Hutchinson kicked off a ten-year performance run that saw more than 250 world-traveling entertainers bring their array of acts to the people of Tombstone in scenes of classic western romance. When mines faltered and the local economy edged toward death, it was the Bird Cage that became the key player in the twentieth-century revival that established Tombstone as a tourist mecca and rescued it from near desertion.

Artie Shaw took his clarinet to war, abandoning civilian celebrity to lead World War II's most colorful navy band on an island-hopping odyssey that raised military morale but brought him into dark waters.

Nightmare in the Pacific: The World War II Saga of Artie Shaw and His Navy Band recounts the offbeat wartime adventures of the bandleader and the musicians he recruited for the hard-swinging outfit popularly dubbed Shaw's Rangers. This team of all-stars, seasoned pros, and promising up-and-comers were unmatched musically though never exactly squared away.

The group's eleven-month overseas deployment started with an extended stay as a house band at a Pearl Harbor club for enlisted men. The cushy gig turned serious when Shaw's Rangers shipped out on a battleship for the far reaches of New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, and, most fatefully, Guadalcanal. It was there that the musicians would come under fire and Shaw's own indomitable will would crack. But then, in an unexpected and poignant coda, the band that Artie Shaw conjured into existence would reach its musical peak once he was out of the picture.

Tapping a trove of navy personnel files, medical records, court documents and archival materials, as well as contemporary accounts, Nightmare in the Pacific combines musical and military history into one unique saga.

Two outstanding Texas trial lawyers--one now an equally respected district judge--have written On the Jury Trial, a must havereference for any trial lawyer aspiring to excellence or seeking to maintain it. Topics include voir dire, opening statement, preparing witnesses, cross examination, using exhibits, closing argument, jury research, and more, with excellent examples and do's and don'ts provided throughout. Think of this book as the senior law partner's memo to associates on how to really try a case. Looking for fly-on-the-wall insight into world-class trial preparation and strategy? Here it is. A behind-the-scenes tour of the inner workings of the judicial process? This book has you covered. Its combination of advice, illustration, and commentary is every bit as valuable as it is unique. Every litigator should have this book on the shelf, no matter the state in which they practice. THOMAS M. MELSHEIMER has tried cases for more than thirty years. He has been namedTrial Lawyer of the Year by the Texas Chapters of the American Board of Trial Advocates and by the Dallas Bar Association. Before being elected to the 192nd District Court in Dallas County in 2006, JUDGE CRAIG SMITH was an accomplished Texas trial lawyer for more than twenty-five years. As a judge, he was recognized as Trial Judge of the Year by the Dallas Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates.

Winner of the Best Book Award from the Wild West History Association

True West Magazine Editors' and Readers' Choice award for Best Author and Historical Non-Fiction Book of the Year

Wyatt Earp is one of the most legendary figures of the nineteenth-century American West, notable for his role in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. He was a product of his time, often walking both sides of the street, sometimes on the side of law and order and sometimes as the law-breaker. Some see him as the Lion of Tombstone, a hero lawman of the Wild West, whereas others see him as yet another outlaw, a pimp, and failed lawman.

Roy B. Young, Gary L. Roberts, and Casey Tefertiller, all notable experts on Earp and the Wild West, present in A Wyatt Earp Anthology an authoritative account of his life, successes, and failures. The editors have curated an anthology of the very best work on Earp--more than sixty articles and excerpts from books--from a wide array of authors, selecting only the best written and factually documented pieces and omitting those full of suppositions or false material. Nearly all of the selections come from the last twenty years, when a more critical eye was turned to sources of Earp history. Many articles derive from the five stellar western publications dedicated to preserving the history of the American West: True West, Wild West, WOLA Journal, NOLA Quarterly, and the Journal of the Wild West History Association.

Earp's life is presented in chronological fashion, from his early years to Dodge City, Kansas; triumph and tragedy in Tombstone; and his later years throughout the West. Important figures in Earp's life, such as Bat Masterson, the Clantons, the McLaurys, Doc Holliday, and John Ringo, are also covered. Wyatt Earp's image in film and the myths surrounding his life, as well as controversies over interpretations and presentations of his life by various writers, also receive their due. Finally, an extensive epilogue by Gary L. Roberts explores Earp and frontier violence.

Readers of the Old West will appreciate this well-balanced, comprehensive account of the life, legend, and legacy of the incomparable Wyatt Earp.

This is an intimate glimpse into the turbulent life of Texas music legend Blaze Foley (1949-1989), seen through the eyes of Sybil Rosen, the woman for whom he wrote his most widely known song, If I Could Only Fly. It captures the exuberance of their fleeting idyll in a tree house in the Georgia woods during the countercultural 1970s. Rosen offers a firsthand witnessing of Foley's transformation from a reticent hippie musician to the enigmatic singer/songwriter in the Austin, Texas, music scene. His songs have been covered by Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Lyle Lovett, and John Prine.

Thumbs up!--Merle Haggard

There are no books that compete with Rosen's, and it's quite unlikely that any ever will. Rosen's time with him (and her deft telling of that time) reveals so much about the man and the music.--Peter Cooper, The Tennessean

Poetic and gripping, this beautifully written book ends up being about Blaze, the author, the times, and the creative journey. An impressive work in every way!--Louis Black, editor, Austin Chronicle and executive producer of Be Here to Love Me: A Film about Townes Van Zandt

Romantic without being cloying, Living in the Woods in a Tree is perhaps the most complete vision of the Duct Tape Messiah as we're likely to get, and Rosen portrays a complex, confounding subject with a simplicity and seductiveness that's all too rare.--Jim Caligiuri, Austin Chronicle

Though [Foley's] recorded output is scarce, his influence remains large.--New York Post

Number 2: North Texas Lives of Musicians Series

SYBIL ROSEN was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, and holds a BFA from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. She recently published a collection of Blaze Foley-inspired short stories called Riding the Dog, which won the Gold Medal for Fiction/Short Story in the Readers' Favorite International Book Award Contest. A screenwriter and playwright, she has won many awards. A short documentary for which she wrote the narration was nominated for an Academy Award in that category, and while she wrote for the TV show Guiding Light, it won an Emmy for best writing. She currently lives in Whitesburg, Georgia.

Robert E. Howard (1906-1936) is most widely known today as the creator of Conan the Cimmerian, more popularly referred to as Conan the Barbarian. However, he also wrote across a wide array of genres for the pulp magazines of the 1920s and 1930s, including Westerns, sports stories (boxing), adventures, supernatural horror, and even humor. Howard also created many other popular characters such as King Kull, Bran Mak Morn, Solomon Kane, Steve Costigan, and Breckenridge Elkins. More importantly, he created two specific subgenres of fiction: sword and sorcery (sometimes referred to as heroic fantasy) and weird Westerns.

Born and raised in Texas, Robert E. Howard began his writing career after his family settled in the small Central Texas town of Cross Plains. His first professional sale came from the pulp magazine Weird Tales in 1925, and over the next eleven years he wrote hundreds of stories and an equal number of poems. With this prolific body of stories, he was among the most lauded pulp authors of that era. It has been said, and rightly so, that the secret to his success was that there was a bit of Howard in every one of his characters, and because Howard was a Texan, even Conan shows elements of the Texan in his persona.

Robert E. Howard: The Life and Times of a Texas Author details the many trials and tribulations he faced as he became--and remained--a full-time writer while dealing with an aging father and caring for a mother who was dying of tuberculosis. The book both chronicles his personal life and demonstrates how the one driving force in Robert E. Howard's life--forming the foundation for all of his characters and stories--was his personal pursuit of freedom. He lived for his freedom, he wrote as a means to attain that freedom, and, while it may sound strange, he also died tragically by his own hand in that very same pursuit at the young age of 30.

When Ella Szabó fled her homeland during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, she never dreamed that someday she would become a member of the US Olympic swimming team, an accomplished baker in America, and the author of a cookbook about Hungarian desserts. But a chance encounter with a fellow Hungarian in Connecticut led to Ella's becoming the custodian of a collection of heirloom recipes that form the core of this book.
More than fifty recipes tell you how to bake Hungarian tortes, cookies, pastries, and cakes, from elegant old-world pastry-shop classics like Linzer Torte and Esterhazy Torte to easy homestyle desserts, many of them from recipes that have never been published before. Try your hand at delicate nut-flour tortes made from walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts: Almond Meringue Torte with Coffee-Cream Filling, Walnut Wedding Torte with Hazelnut Filling, and Chocolate Roulade with Hazelnut Cream. Enjoy easy-to-make Hungarian Almond Biscotti, Orange Kugelhopf, and Cherry Sponge Cake. And delight in devouring Walnut-Apricot-Lemon Bars, traditional Hungarian Cheese Biscuits, and Beigli, a festive Hungarian pastry roll filled with walnuts or poppy seeds, always eaten at Christmas. You'll also find a complete section on ingredients, equipment, and techniques, as well as several historical and contemporary photographs. And a bonus: most of the recipes for nut-flour tortes are naturally gluten-free.

This book brings alive what one man feels about his childhood home. The place is West Texas, seen across a long vista in which today's events and people merge with the author's boyhood and young manhood. It is a harsh, remote country, where the weather is always very close and the horizon far away. The Brazos country of long-ago Fourth of July fishing expeditions; the grass-grown remains of a way station of the Butterfield Stage Line; the streets of Abilene; the sparse grazing lands under infinite skies-all are made resonant by a native son's affection and understanding. It is a way of life-resilient and persnickety-that is almost gone. Above all, it is people: the author's grandmother, who had a mortal fear of bridges and whose premonitions of unnamed calamities (that as often as not happened), both alarmed and pleased the young boy; Uncle Aubrey, who married late; the blacksmith they awakened in the dead of night to repair the family Maxwell; the familiar neighbors; the rare and deliciously mysterious strangers. With humor and strong, unsentimental feeling, A. C. Greene conserves for us the priceless eccentricities of place and person that are being flattened out-almost literally bulldozed away-by the impatient, insatiable onrush of the twentieth century. His West Texas is a very personal country, but what he seeks to share will be familiar to all who take pleasure in the memories that tie them to their own special region of America. . . . a book that has strength, character, and personality.-The New Yorker Greene is at his best when he describes the peculiar, idiosyncratic, and proud people that this frontier world has produced.-Lone Star Book Review . . . paints a vivid, colorful, and . . . sad picture of the hard life of the people.-Lone Star Book Review . . . well-written volume, hauntingly evocative. -The Pacific Historian Greene's evocation . . . is personal, humorous, loving and frequently poetic. One could go a long way toward understanding West Texas by reading this book and nothing else.-Books of the Southwest East Texans often glow with appreciation for their section, and wonder why anyone would want to live 'out there.' They may still feel that way after seeing West Texas through the memory of Greene, but they will have looked on the other side of the trees and be better for it.-East Texas Historical Association

This book celebrates the many types of fiestas found in the border community of Laredo, Texas. Told from an insider's perspective and blending memoir, ethnography, and a folkloristic analysis, the author explores the meaning of the celebrations for the community.

Norma E. Cantú focuses on three fiestas. Los Matachines, as a grassroots, faith-based celebration, incorporates elements drawing on indigenous religiosity from various Indigenous groups in Mexico as well as from the material conditions of the community where the dancers live and work. The quinceañera has transformed from a small family celebration to a number of larger, more public iterations, including a multifaceted grand event. The George Washington's Birthday celebration has perplexed many scholars and outsiders, but it remains a steadfast celebration that brings together diverse sectors of the community.

Entering West Point from central Oklahoma, Raymond O. Barton's prowess on the football field and wrestling team earned him the nickname Tubby, an appellation used by his friends and fellow officers for the rest of his life. Based on personal letters and documents, this biography explores Barton's military career from his days as a cadet through thirty-seven years of military service, culminating with his command in World War II of the 4th Infantry Division during the US Army's campaign in France. From the inside readers have a picture of officership during the intense days of training and expansion on the eve of World War II. Finally, thanks to the discovery of his war diary, we have a close-up view of his senior leadership as he trained in England for the landing on Utah Beach on June 6, 1944.

Through 204 days of continuous combat, Barton led the 4th Infantry Division as it fought through German defenses on its way into Cherbourg. His division led the VII Corps' breakthrough on Operation COBRA and then held the north shoulder during the German counterattack at Mortain. Now assigned to the V Corps, the 4th Infantry Division liberated Paris alongside the French 2nd Armored Division. On September 12 he became the first American general to cross the border into Nazi Germany. In November he moved his command to the Hürtgen Forest and for two weeks fought through some of the most inhospitable terrain in Europe. In December Barton's exhausted soldiers moved to Luxembourg to a more restful portion of the front lines, only to face the southern flank of the German Ardennes Offensive. By the time the Ivy Division stopped the enemy outside of Luxembourg, Barton was exhausted and physically unable to continue in command. He returned home to live the rest of his life as a distinguished citizen of Augusta, Georgia.

In The Business of Sustainability in Fashion, Iva Jestratijevic has written a book that should be on the reading list of every fashion student, educator, and consumer of fashion. It is unique in its focus on critical and creative thinking surrounding corporate and consumer sustainability while succinctly illustrating how interdependent the challenges of being sustainable are.

As the world becomes more aware of the urgency of climate change, landfill overuse, and protecting precious resources, this book can be used as a primer for understanding the problems and exploring solutions. Those who are interested in doing something will benefit from reading this book, which takes a complex issue and breaks it down into understandable pieces.

For educators this is especially important because it provides both the insights and the roadmap needed to guide students through the complexity of being sustainable. Using examples from fashion businesses, this book also covers the key theories underlying the concept of sustainability and their application in fashion sourcing, manufacturing, marketing, and retailing.

On November 22, 1963, the author of Behind the Scenes was a young Dallas Times Herald reporter who sprinted from his newspaper desk to Dealey Plaza minutes after shots were fired at President John F. Kennedy. Thus began Darwin Payne's close involvement in covering one shocking event after another on this history-making weekend.
Eyewitnesses he found at Dealey Plaza included Abraham Zapruder, who insisted from the first moments that the president could not have survived the serious wounds he had seen so clearly through his camera viewfinder. Payne interviewed detectives outside the School Book Depository that early afternoon as they brought down evidence of the shooter's location, as well as his rifle, and he was among several journalists taken to the assassin's sixth-floor window from where fatal shots had been fired.
Before the day ended, Payne was in the Oak Cliff rooming house where the suspect had been living briefly apart from his Russian wife, Marina. Payne learned that the alleged assassin, now in police custody after being charged with the murder of officer J. D. Tippit, was known as O. H. Lee instead of Lee Harvey Oswald.
On Payne's regular Saturday night police-beat duty, he was among the growing number of assertive journalists from throughout the nation who saw and heard Oswald being led to and from his jail cell to the homicide office for interrogation. As detectives pushed their way with him through the crowd of reporters, he responded to their questions with defiant claims of innocence. The mind-boggling weekend was still not over, for the next morning nightclub owner Jack Ruby shot and killed Oswald.

This anthology collects the nine winners of the 2023 Best American Newspaper Narrative Writing Contest at UNT's Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference. First place winner: Jennifer Berry Hawes for Captive No More: One SC Man's Journey to Freedom after Years in Modern-Day Slavery, about how a white restaurant manager held an intellectually disabled Black man in slavery-like conditions for almost six years (Post and Courier, Charleston, SC). Second place: Andrea Ball and Will Carless for American Flashpoint: A Drag Show, a Protest and a Line of Guns (USA Today). Third place: Thomas Curwen for A World Gone Mad (Los Angeles Times).

Runners-up include Andrew Ford, Blood and Money (Arizona Republic); Dan Woike, Darvin Ham Survived the Streets, a Stray Bullet and Intense Grief to Coach the Lakers (Los Angeles Times); William Wan, Is This What a Good Mother Looks Like? (The Washington Post); Annie Gowen, A Jan. 6 Pastor Divides His Tennessee Community with Increasingly Extremist Views (The Washington Post); and Edgar Sandoval, Uvalde Stories (New York Times); and Lane DeGregory, To End His Wife's Suffering, He Shot Her. Was It Mercy or Murder? (Tampa Bay Times).