Name: Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch
Brand: Jayme Lynn Blaschke
SKU: 9781467153935
Price: 23.99 USD
Availability: InStock

Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch

9781467153935

$23.99

Thanks to the classic Dolly Parton film The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and ZZ Top’s ode “La Grange,” many people think they know the story of the infamous Chicken Ranch. The reality is more complex, lying somewhere between heartbreaking and absurd. For more than a century, dirt farmers and big-cigar politicians alike rubbed shoulders at the Chicken Ranch, operated openly under the sheriff’s watchful eye. Madam Edna Milton and her girls ran a tight, discreet ship that the God-fearing people of La Grange tolerated if not outright embraced. That is, until a secret conspiracy enlisted an opportunistic reporter to bring it all crashing down on primetime television. Drawn from exclusive interviews and expanded with newly uncovered information, Jayme Lynn Blaschke’s revelatory exposition of the Ranch illuminates the truth and lies surrounding this iconic brothel.

Atascosa County

9781467108836

$24.99

A rural area in Texas, Atascosa County is located directly south of San Antonio. The old roads traveled through this land were en route to missions, forts, and places of importance to natives, explorers, settlers, wildlife, and battle-tested armies. Atascosa County was created in 1856 by the Texas Legislature, and since the land grants were distributed in the late 1800s, the population has increased substantially as settlers dealt with Indian raids, drought, and the hardships of farming and ranching. As the rest of America embraced the machine age and technical wonders, Atascosa County has evolved along in stride. Initially, wagons, plows, and mules toiled for rural Atascosa County; today, vehicles, tractors, and modern machinery keep the county moving forward. Coined “The Birthplace of the Cowboy” by historian Dr. Ben Parker, the land continues to be dominated by the cattle industry. In modern history, country stars such as Willie Nelson and George Strait have blazed a path through Atascosa County with deep ties and humble beginnings.

Martin Gonzales is the chairman of the Atascosa County Historical Commission. He and his fellow volunteers have carried on the great work of appointed commissions of the past by recognizing and continuing to study local history. This publication was made possible with contributions from Atascosa County citizens who gladly answered the call for historical pictures and the stories that went with them.

Lady Undertakers of Old Texas

9781467154277

$24.99

Author Kathy Benjamin accompanies the pioneering women of the Lone Star State's funeral business.

The intimate task of caring for the dead had long fallen under women's sphere of responsibilities. But after the Civil War, the sudden popularity of embalming offered new financial opportunities to men who set up as undertakers, pushing women out of their traditional role. In Texas, from the 1880s to the 1930s, women slowly regained their place by the bier. Many worked while pregnant or raising children. Most shouldered the additional weight of personal tragedies and persistent sexism. All brought comfort to the bereaved in the isolation of the Texas frontier, kept its cities free of deadly disease and revolutionized an industry that was just coming into its own.

African Americans of Round Top

9781467160742

$24.99

Round Top's African American pioneers came into Texas in 1825 when Stephen F. Austin brought in 300 Anglo-Americans, and the people they enslaved, for the purpose of colonizing the area. Soon afterward, more slaves were bought in from other slaveholding states. After the Civil War ended, the descendants of these original Round Top pioneers began building their own community. Many earned money by toiling away in the cotton fields for the very men who had once enslaved them. Others earned money working as cowboys, washerwomen, barbers, or blacksmiths. In 1867, the group founded the Concord Missionary Baptist Church as a communal space for them to come together and pool their resources to buy their own land, build their own homes, and hire teachers, which led to the creation of the Concord Missionary Baptist Church Colored School. For generations, this school successfully educated freedmen, their children, and their descendants before finally closing its doors due to desegregation. Despite many challenges, they overcame obstacles that grew into a prosperous community.

John F. Kennedy Sites in Dallas-Fort Worth

9781467130332

$24.99

November 22, 1963, is a date that will forever live in the minds and hearts of those who were witness to or touched by the assassination of Pres. John F. Kennedy in Dealey Plaza. Surprisingly, the majority of sites associated with events surrounding that day still stand along the streets and in the neighborhoods of the greater Dallas-Fort Worth region. From Fort Worth's Hotel Texas to the Texas Theater and the Old Municipal Building in Dallas, John F. Kennedy Sites in Dallas-Fort Worth explores and documents the buildings, neighborhoods, and places with a direct connection to the assassination and its figures, both major and minor, in one of the darkest chapters in American and Texan history.

John F. Kennedy Sites in Dallas-Fort Worth

Route 66 in Texas

9781467130042

$24.99

Route 66 stretches across 178 miles and through seven counties in the Texas Panhandle. To a traveler on Interstate 40, the road may seem like an endless expanse, with the horizon interrupted only by the occasional grain elevator. But there is history, scenery, and adventure waiting on Route 66, which follows the trail of the Native Americans, conquistadors, cattle and oil barons, cowboys, and Dust Bowl refugees. With such sites as the blazing neon sign at Shamrock's U-Drop Inn and the quiet ruins of Glenrio, Route 66 in Texas is still "The Main Street of America." The traveler who leaves the franchised blandness of the interstate will see motels with Western and Native American imagery, good old-fashioned tourist traps, some bizarre sculptures (such as cars stuck in the ground at Cadillac Ranch), and beautiful Art Deco structures. These images and stories tell of mom-and-pop establishments that still thrive today and those that are crumbling in the swirling dust and tumbleweeds of the notorious Jericho Gap.

The 1910 Slocum Massacre: An Act of Genocide in East Texas

9781626193529

$21.99

In late July 1910, a shocking number of African Americans in Texas were slaughtered by white mobs in the Slocum area of Anderson County and the Percilla-Augusta region of neighboring Houston County. The number of dead surpassed the casualties of the Rosewood Massacre in Florida and rivaled those of the Tulsa Riots in Oklahoma, but the incident--one of the largest mass murders of blacks in American history--is now largely forgotten. Investigate the facts behind this harrowing act of genocide in E.R. Bills's compelling inquiry into the Slocum Massacre.

The 1910 Slocum Massacre: An Act of Genocide in East Texas

The Deadly 1940 Alamo Train Crash

9781467155106

$24.99

On March 14, 1940, a train heading west along Highway 83 from Donna to Alamo struck a truck driver turning north from the highway onto Tower Road. The horrific crash killed twenty-nine of about forty-five farmworkers who were on the truck. A one-day investigation faulted the truck driver and led to meager court settlements for the devastated families. In the wake of these events, several of the victims' children and grandchildren became lawyers and some of the first Mexican American judges in South Texas. Juan Carmona and Taylor Seaver De La Fuente revisit the deadliest traffic accident in Texas history, while seeking to preserve the stories of Mexican and Mexican American farmworkers and their relatives whose backbreaking contributions continue to feed our country to this day.

The Downfall of Galveston's May Walker Burleson

9781467139663

$24.99

Jennie May Walker Burleson was envied for having everything a woman of her time could want--the privileged upbringing, the dazzling good looks, the dashing war hero husband. She was admired for demonstrating that a woman could want more, from the front of the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession to the bottom of a Mesoamerican archaeological dig. But as she stood over the body of her husband's second wife, gun in hand, society's envy and admiration quickly hardened into pity and scorn. T. Felder Dorn examines the complicated trajectory of her life as socialite, suffragist and shooter.

The Downfall of Galveston's May Walker Burleson

The Battleship Texas

9781467123938

$24.99

The USS Texas was built when dreadnought battleships were kings of the seas. It was the world's most powerful battleship when first commissioned in 1914, and for over a century it fought many battles. Some took place while the Texas served as a warship in the US Navy in World Wars I and II. Since becoming a museum ship and war memorial in 1948, it has fought a longer and more difficult struggle as it combats the ravages of time for its very survival. Throughout its existence, the Texas has made history, leaving a wealth of fascinating stories in its wake.

Dallas Landmarks

9780738558738

$7.99

Dallas boasts a rich history.

Texas Gunslingers

9781467132718

$24.99

Images of America: Texas Gunslingers presents the concept of Texas as the Gunfighter Capital of the West. Indeed, after the cowboy--a Texas creation--the most colorful and romanticized frontier figure is the gunfighter. Nothing is more dramatic than life and death conflict, and the image of men in big hats and boots brandishing six-shooters and Winchesters has been portrayed in countless Western novels, movies, and television shows. Texas made an enormous contribution to gunfighter lore. Texas Rangers were responsible for the evolution of Sam Colt's revolving pistol, key weapon of gunfighters. More shoot-outs occurred in Texas than in any other state or territory. More gunfighters were from Texas, including kill-crazy Wes Hardin and Killin' Jim Miller, the West's premier assassin. There were more blood feuds in Texas than in any other state. Frequently, gunplay erupted in towns such as Tascosa, El Paso, Fort Worth, and Lampasas, where four lawmen were killed in an 1873 saloon battle.

The Sisters of the Holy Spirit and Mary Immaculate

9781467129244

$24.99

For 125 years, the Sisters of the Holy Spirit and Mary Immaculate served the poor and, in particular, people of color. They are the first order of sisters founded in Texas. Their foundress, Margaret Mary Healy Murphy, built the first Catholic African American school and church in San Antonio, the second in the state of Texas. The sisters carried their mission and work beyond the Lone Star State's borders and included most of the South and a few metropolitan areas of the North. They crossed the Rio Grande and had several missions in Mexico and traversed a new continent when they opened a learning center in Zambia. The sisters were primarily known as educators and, in later years, worked in religious education and pastoral ministry. They have also operated orphanages and nursing homes and served in hospitals, homeless shelters, incarceration facilities, and immigration residences. The school they built over 100 years ago, now known as the Healy Murphy Center, serves the community as an alternative high school, and the sisters still teach there.

Downtown San Antonio

9780738584911

$24.99

With its diverse cultural background and down-home atmosphere, San Antonio resounds with a vivacious spirit and rich history. Founded in 1691 by Spanish explorers and missionaries, the city later served a vital role in the Texas War for Independence when, in 1836, many brave, passionate men gave their lives at the Alamo. Downtown San Antonio is home to this sacred site and to the nearby River Walk as well as to other historic structures, plazas, parks, modern-day hotels, flourishing businesses, and a thriving nightlife. The rare photographs found between the covers of this book provide extraordinary glimpses back through time to the true building blocks of today's beautiful, historic downtown San Antonio.

Museum of the American Railroad

9781467115681

$24.99

Establishing its collection as the Age of Steam exhibit at Dallas's Fair Park in 1963, the Museum of the American Railroad would go on to acquire over 45 locomotives and railcars. By 2006, the museum needed to move from its first home to a larger facility to allow more space to exhibit the collection of railcars, documents, and other artifacts. One of the keystone pieces is the GG-1 electric locomotive that pulled Robert Kennedy's funeral train in 1968. It has been restored to its original Pennsylvania Railroad appearance. The museum also houses the Centennial--the world's largest diesel-electric locomotive--as well as the rare and famous Santa Fe Alco PA-1 locomotive, acquired from the Smithsonian Institution.

Dallas Love Field

9781467160599

$24.99

Dallas Love Field Airport, established in 1917 as an Army flight training field, was the site of the first commercial aviation flights in the state of Texas. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the airport's reputation as one of the nation's best attracted many well-known aviators of the day to take advantage of its excellent facilities and services. At one time the 10th busiest airport in the world, Love Field has been the headquarters of two major airlines (one of which is now the airport's largest tenant) and has a strong reputation for exceptional leadership and passenger satisfaction while processing more passengers per gate than any airport in the country. The repeal of a legislative amendment limiting nonstop flights at the airport resulted in a 100 percent increase in passenger traffic from 2010 to 2019 and significantly impacted the airport's relationship to the community.

Texas Mass Graves

9781467152488

$23.99

Every mass grave in Texas offers morbid proof that at one time, in that place, something went very, very wrong.

Texans have resorted to mass graves out of necessity, desperation and appalling indifference. These sites mark natural disasters or hide unnatural crimes that tested the limits of human endurance and empathy. Because of this, memorializing those who lie in mass graves can be controversial. Not everyone wants to dig up the darkness of the past, much less admit that the dirt is still fresh. Nevertheless, to honor those whose bones lie mixed with others, their stories must be told. In so doing, Kathy Benjamin exhumes essential shards of Lone Star history, from the Alamo to the present day.

The Old Spanish Trail Highway in Texas

9781467106924

$23.99

At the dawn of automobile travel in the United States, visionary entrepreneurs proposed a Southern transcontinental route called the Old Spanish Trail (OST) that would stretch across eight states from Florida to California. The central third of the road spanned more than 900 miles and traversed Texas. The collaboration of communities, both large and small, that worked to bridge rivers and pave primitive roads made the OST a reality during the 1920s. As travelers ventured forth on the route, a diverse crop of businesses--filling stations, autocamps, tourist courts, motels, and myriad eating establishments--sprang up to meet the needs of tourists, wanderers, migrants, and truckers while also fueling economic growth. For over 50 years, the OST continuously underwent construction and redesign that transformed a small roadway into a multilane interstate highway carrying a constantly increasing flow of goods, services, and people. Although the OST identity is gradually growing fainter amidst the standardization of businesses and rerouting of numbered highways around (instead of along) city streets, it still survives among many Texans who dwell along the Trail.

Williamson County

9780738578651

$24.99

The area now known as Williamson County has attracted humans for over 13,000 years. The Tonkawa Indians called the area takachue pouetsu, which means "land of good water." In 1848, the Texas Legislature carved a county out of a southwestern portion of the Milam District. They named it after Robert McAlpin Williamson, a judge, lawmaker, and Battle of San Jacinto veteran who was widely known as "Three-legged Willie." Just as the Native Americans before them, settlers were drawn to the area for its abundant water and fertile soil, and the population quickly grew. While agriculture has been a driving force behind the local economy for decades, the county has witnessed a shift from the small farmer and rancher to the larger agribusiness. In addition, Williamson County is a center for education and the high-tech industry and is home to institutions and companies including Southwestern University, the Round Rock Higher Education Center, and Dell.

Texas Rangers in the Mexican-American War

9781467153867

$23.99

For the Texas Rangers, the Mexican-American War was an opportunity for vengeance. When the United States declared war on Mexico in 1846, the Texas Rangers were eager to settle scores with their familiar foe and quickly became the eyes and ears of the US army. Commanded by established legends like Samuel H. Walker, Benjamin McCulloch, and John "Jack" Coffee Hays, Texas Rangers led the American charge at Monterrey and saved General Taylor's army at Buena Vista. However, their depredations on Mexican citizenry were often excessive, and their behavior, along with other volunteers, sparked Mexican resistance. However crucial they were to US victory, it is also indisputable that they earned a reputation for brutality even in a vicious war.. Author William Nelson Fox follows these larger than life figures into stories of heroism and villainy at the heart of the Mexican-American War.

Texas Rangers in the Mexican-American War

The Texas Rangers

9780738579825

$24.99

The Texas Rangers. The words evoke exciting images of daring, courage, high adventure. The Rangers began as a handful of men protecting their homes from savage raiding parties; now in their third century of existence, they are a highly sophisticated crime-fighting organization. Yet at times even today the Texas Ranger mounts his horse to track fugitives through dense chaparral, depending on his wits more than technology. The iconic image of the Texas Ranger is of a man who is tall, unflinching, and dedicated to doing a difficult job no matter what the odds. The Rangers of the 21st century are different sizes, colors, and genders, but remain as vital and real today as when they were created in the horseback days of 1823, when what is today Texas was part of Mexico, a wild and untamed land.

Georgetown

9780738584508

$24.99

Before 1840, the land along the three forks of the San Gabriel River attracted trappers, traders, and frontiersmen. The town of Georgetown, situated at the confluence of these forks, was founded and named the Williamson County Seat in May 1848. It quickly grew as an agricultural center. Well-known cattlemen such as future Nevada governor John Sparks and the Snyder Brothers lived in Georgetown, and thousands of cows were driven right through downtown to the famed Chisholm Trail. Economic forces lined up favorably for this small village as cattle, cotton, and railroads combined to set off a boom in growth. Southwestern University, established here in 1873, further influenced the character of Georgetown. The wild cowboy town full of saloons and gambling halls soon developed great opportunities for education and business. Today the courthouse square from that earlier era is one of the most intact Victorian town squares in Texas. Georgetown is now recognized for its outstanding quality of life, vibrant business community, and award-winning historic preservation efforts.

Ranch Girl and the Orphan Lamb Adventure

9781455627684

$9.95

Kelsi Fairgate, a fourth grader and only child living on a ranch in the middle of Texas, awaits the end of the school year. When her parents bring in an orphan lamb from a pasture, her prospects for the summer look up. Kelsi and her friend, Ampara, run into some serious rattlesnake trouble one day. The lamb saves Kelsi, but then it is the girls’ turn to try to save the lamb!

Ranch Girl and the Orphan Lamb Adventure

Lighthouses of Texas

9781467130912

$24.99

Not long after winning their independence from Mexico in 1836, Texans began clamoring for lighthouses. Hundreds of miles of barrier islands, shifting sandbars, and shallow bays made the Texas coast treacherous at a time when few overland routes provided access to the new republic. Beginning in 1852, twenty-eight lighthouses were built along the Texas coastline, on land and over water. Lighthouse service was often a family affair, with husbands, wives, and children working together as keepers and assistants. For nearly 70 years, construction continued as coastal erosion, hurricanes, and wars regularly damaged or destroyed those lighthouses already built. These "sentinels of the sea" lessened but did not eliminate the chance of shipwreck, so lifesaving stations, manned by able seamen with unsinkable surfboats, were established as well. As Texas's lighthouses were gradually automated throughout the 20th century, many were sold to private owners or abandoned. Today, several have been restored, and two--at Aransas Pass and Port Isabel--still function as aids to navigation.

Mysteries of the Magnolia Hotel

9781467139786

$23.99

One night in 1874, a murderer crept into a New Braunfels home and killed twelve-year-old Emma Voelcker with an axe. The prime suspect was a family friend named Faust, lodging in the nearby Magnolia Hotel. A future governor prosecuted Faust, and an unknown assailant snuck past thirty-six armed guards to assassinate him. More than a century later, when Erin Wallace and her husband, Jim Ghedi, began restoring the hotel, first opened during the wild days of the Texas republic, they experienced eerie echoes from the past. One presence in particular cut through the chaos of slammed doors and roaming shadows to guide them to the Magnolia's darkest mystery. Wading through trial transcripts, newspaper archives and messages from disturbed ghosts, they discovered a secret history of Emma's death, a possible cover-up and its continuing legacy.

Fort Bliss

9781467129152

$23.99

Established as one of many frontier Army posts in 1849 following the Mexican-American War, Fort Bliss, Texas, has endured as an Army installation when most other frontier posts have faded from memory. From a small collection of adobe buildings, it has seen growth, decline, two closures, and ultimately survival as the major Army maneuver post that it is today. The post, named for West Point math prodigy and soldier William Wallace Smith Bliss, has served many roles in America's conflicts and has seen the march of technology in war fighting. Its role today includes training for the Army's only armored division, known as 1st Armored Division; training for major Army air and missile defense forces; serving as a mobilization platform for Army soldiers and civilians to deploy to support America's missions overseas; and testing of major equipment to be adopted for military use.

Fort Worth

9781467103848

$24.99

Fort Worth exudes a vivacious Western spirit founded upon a rich history. In 1849, four years after the Republic of Texas became the 28th state, the Army built a fort to keep native tribes west of the Trinity. That fort grew into a focal stop on the Chisholm Trail and later became the western terminus of the railroad. In World War I, Fort Worth housed one Army and three aircraft training bases, while Fort Worth Stockyards, which became one of the largest in the nation, provided multitudes of horses and mules. From pianos on dirt floors to the Van Cliburn Competition, from the earliest portraits by itinerant French artists to world-class art museums, Fort Worth has always been home to high culture. Groups such as the Woman's Wednesday Club made sure art and libraries stood in the old fort town once more famous for its saloons. No matter the era, and no matter the many reasons, Fort Worth will always be "where the West begins."

Camp Wolters

9781467153577

$23.99

Discover how a World War transformed a small Texas town. Located in Mineral Wells, Camp Wolters was the U.S. Army's largest Infantry Replacement Training Center during World War II. From 1941-1946, the camp trained an estimated 250,000 soldiers, including Medal of Honor winner Audie Murphy and the infamous Eddie Slovik. The camp was more than just a training facility--it also held German POWs and brought a cascade of changes to its corner of Texas. With millions of dollars being pumped into the local economy, the population of Mineral Wells surged from 6,303 to 25,000 in four months. Some growing pains accompanied these changes, but the Army and town worked together to lay the foundation for a long lasting, mutually beneficial system cementing military history in Mineral Wells.

Gunfights & Sites in Texas Ranger History

9781626199712

$24.99

Since colonizer Stephen F. Austin proposed hiring ten rangers "for the common defense" in 1823, the Texas Rangers have protected the Lone Star State from its enemies with dedication and fortitude. All across Texas are places where Rangers made history. From the Alamo to nearly forgotten graves and battle sites, important landmarks in the story of these legendary lawmen lie in every corner of the state. Historian and author Mike Cox reveals history hiding in plain sight and true tall tales of the world-famous Texas Rangers.

Gunfights & Sites in Texas Ranger History

Cold War Texas

9781467152471

$23.99

From missile launch sites to Soviet espionage, experience the Cold War deep in the heart of Texas.

In an era when miscalculation or a mistake could lead to global annihilation, Texas operated 12 Atlas F intercontinental ballistic missile launch sites near Abilene's Dyess Air Force Base. Nuclear-capable Nike Hercules surface-to-air antiaircraft missiles protected Austin and the Metroplex from a Soviet bomber attack. An American pilot stationed at Laughlin Air Force Base near Del Rio was the only fatality of the Cuban Missile Crisis. After he was accused of spying for the Soviet Union, former Ranger College professor Maurice Halperin fled the country. Amarillo's Pantex plant, where three employees died in a 1977 explosion, maintains the security and reliability of the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal. Landry Brewer explores how the Lone Star State shaped American Cold War policy.

Fort Worth Stockyards

9780738558745

$7.99

The Fort Worth Stockyards boast a rich history.

Lost Austin

9780738596136

$24.99

Known to some as "Capitol City," "River City," and "Groover's Paradise," Austin is a diverse mix of university professors, students, politicians, musicians, state employees, artists, and both blue-collar and white-collar workers. The city is also home to the main campus of the University of Texas and several other universities. As Austin has grown to become more cosmopolitan, remnants of its small-town heritage have faded away. Austin's uniqueness--both past and present --is reflected in its food, architecture, historic places, music, and businesses. Many of these beloved institutions have moved on into history. While some are far removed in the mists of time, others are more recent and generate fond memories of good times and vivid experiences. Images of America: Lost Austin explores, through the collections of the Austin History Center and others, where Austinites once shopped, ate, drank, and played.

Dealey Plaza

9781467130226

$24.99

Dealey Plaza is famous for many things, both locally and nationally. Considered "the front door of Dallas," the park rests on a bluff near the Trinity River, where Dallas's founder, John Neely Bryan, identified a natural low-water crossing in 1841. This ford was the site of Bryan's cabin and was also the site of the first ferry and bridge over the Trinity River. Home to several Dallas County buildings and other historic structures, Dealey is not just the birthplace of Dallas; it is also the site of Dallas's first large-scale city planning solution, a traffic diverting triple underpass, and a beautiful downtown park built in the 1930s. The park was launched into national history when Pres. John F. Kennedy was assassinated here on November 22, 1963. Today, the site is visited by over two million annually. To preserve Dealey Plaza and its surrounding buildings, the federal government designated it a National Historic Landmark District in 1993.

Houston

9780738566832

$24.99

In an area that was little more than a thick forest lining Buffalo Bayou, Houston was founded in 1836 by the Allen brothers and named after the Republic of Texas's beloved general Sam Houston. By 1860, there were 5,000 residents in Houston, wooden sidewalks, a few shell-paved roads, and five railroads. Out of the mud and mayhem of Houston's humble frontier beginnings arose men like Thomas W. House, Alexander P. Root, Edward Hopkins Cushing, Thomas Bagby, and William S. Swilley. The sleepy little bayou that wound from Main Street and emptied into Galveston Bay would soon become one of the largest ports in the south. By 1900, the founders' grandchildren were ready to strike out on their own and would play their part in building a great Texas city, a railroad nexus for the Gulf Coast, and an international port of call.