Böcker utgivna av Texas A & M University Press

Suitable for two types of people in Texas: those who play 42 and those who need to learn, this title contains instructions in all the basics, from bidding a hand or setting an opponent to the challenge of the 84 hand. This book illumines a cherished tradition that links Texans from different walks of life.

"When the Bosque Ran Clear: Life Along the River from Prehistory to the Civil War presents a history of early people and their environments along the Bosque River valley in North Central Texas. Spanning from the Pleistocene, thousands of years ago when the earliest peoples arrived in the cool and rainy river valley, to the time of the Comanche in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Dan Young describes how peoples' lives were shaped by climate-driven changes in the landscape. Global fluctuations in climate brought changes to the river's environment, forcing new lifestyles to develop in response to new environmental conditions, impacting foodstuffs and the presence or absence of bison. In response to centuries of alternating climates, lifeways successfully adapted in the Bosque Valley. Evidence of these inhabitants is found in the soil; stone tools and weapons, pollen, chemical signatures, and other organic matter, as discussed in archaeological and paleoclimatological studies, provide scientific evidence to support Young's insights on climate change, human occupation, and folk botany. Presented in ten chapters with forty-one original black and white illustrations, the book begins with the natural history of the river that flows through the Western Cross Timbers, the Blackland Prairies, and into the Brazos River at Waco. Beginning with the Pleistocene, Young's narrative then continues through the Early Archaic (8,000-6,000 years ago), Middle Archaic (6,000-4,000 years ago), and the Wet Centuries (5,000-2,150 years ago), with the climate-induced disappearance of bison and the arrival of the Spanish and their horses. Young concludes with a chapter on the establishment of Scots-Irish settlements in 1854 and the destruction of the Native American communities and lifeways through the new settlers' farming and ranching practices"--

"Fire lookout towers are enjoying a retrospective rebirth, attracting the curious and the adventurous, as Americans seeking escape for moments of solitude rediscover the structures' national significance. Though the Civilian Conservation Corps' national fire control policies and reforestation efforts have been covered elsewhere, each state's legacy is as unique as its people, forest conditions, traditions, and legislative history. In Texas, what emerges is a story that shaped national policies and examines the ethos of a generation. Edward Cavallerano's Fire in the Piney Woods develops several parallel stories. The first describes the Piney Woods and the antecedent conditions that necessitated fire prevention, forest fire detection, and the development of Texas' fire lookout network. Second, through collected stories, poetry, and primary accounts, it pays tribute to a generation of Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees, foresters, surveyors, and dedicated, self-sufficient lookouts who redeveloped or protected the forestlands of Texas and educated rural communities about the value of their natural resources. Finally, it describes the location and design of the lookout towers and associated structures in Texas by consolidating a decade of observations. In this effort, Cavallerano introduces methodologies to assess tower characteristics that may be useful to workers in other regions. Taken together, the book shares an appreciation of the past and celebrates the heritage these sites still possess. Fire in the Piney Woods preserves the history of forest fire protection in Texas, enhances readers' recreational experiences, and builds a compelling case among Texans to preserve the lookout towers that still stand"--