Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone Star State

by Randolph B. Campbell

Overview

In Gone to Texas, historian Randolph Campbell ranges from the first arrival of humans in the Panhandle some 10,000 years ago to the dawn of the twenty-first century, offering an interpretive account of the land, the successive waves of people who have gone to Texas, and the conflicts that have made Texas as much a metaphor as a place.
Campbell presents the epic tales of Texas history in a new light, offering revisionist history in the best sense—broadening and deepening the traditional story, without ignoring the heroes of the past. The scope of the book is impressive. It ranges from the archeological record of early Native Americans to the rise of the oil industry and ultimately the modernization of Texas. Campbell provides swift-moving accounts of the Mexican revolution against Spain, the arrival of settlers from the United States, and the lasting Spanish legacy (from place names to cattle ranching to civil law). The author also paints a rich portrait of the Anglo-Texan revolution, with its larger-than-life leaders and epic battles, the fascinating decade of the Republic of Texas, and annexation by the United States. In his account of the Civil War and Reconstruction, he examines developments both in local politics and society and in the nation at large (from the debate over secession to the role of Texas troops in the Confederate army to the impact of postwar civil rights laws). Late nineteenth-century Texas is presented as part of both the Old West and the New South. The story continues with an analysis of the impact of the Populist and Progressive movements and then looks at the prosperity decade of the 1920s and the economic disaster of the Great Depression. Campbell's last chapters show how World War II brought economic recovery and touched off spectacular growth that, with only a few downturns, continues until today.
Lucid, engaging, deftly written, Gone to Texas offers a fresh understanding of why Texas continues to be seen as a state unlike any other, a place that distills the essence of what it means to be an American.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199881383
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/08/2003
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	278,437
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Randolph B. Campbell is a Professor of History at the University of North Texas. A past president of the Texas State Historical Association, he is the author or co-author of seven books on nineteenth-century Texas history, including Sam Houston and the American Southwest and An Empire for Slavery: The Peculiar Institution in Texas, 1821-1865.

Table of Contents

Maps and Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgment

1. The First Texans
2. Exploration and Adventure, 1519-1689
3. Spanish Texas, 1690-1779
4. Spanish Texas in the Age of Revolutions, 1779-1821
5. Mexican Texas, 1821-1835
6. The Texas Revolution, 1835-1836
7. The Republic of Texas, 1836-1846
8. Frontier Texas, 1846-1861
9. Empire State of the South, 1846-1861
10. The Civil War, 1861-1865
11. Reconstruction, 1865-1876
12. The Old West, 1877-1900
13. The New South and the Populist Revolt, 1877-1900
14. The Progressive Era, 1901-1920
15. The "Prosperity Decade," 1921-1929
16. The Great Depression and World War II, 1929-1945
17. The Rise of Modern Texas, 1945-1971
18. Modern Texas, 1971-2000
19. Texas in the New Millennium, 2001-2016
20. The Texas Mystique in the Twenty-First Century

Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Select Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Anyone who believes that the history of Texas is written only in tub-thumping braggadocio will quickly be set straight by this superb history of the Lone Star State. A leading historian of Texas (Sam Houston and the American Southwest, etc.), Campbell writes with authority and clarity about one of the nation's most distinctive components. His thoroughly contemporary approach sets early Texas history firmly within the checkered development of Mexico and keeps African-Americans, both slave and free, as well as native tribes at the center of his story. His coverage of such matters as the Texas Revolution, the state's 10 years as an independent republic and the cattle business are models of their kind, and surely no one has written so well while so briefly about how Texas became Southern. Because much of the book is spent on the state's lively political history, however, there may not be enough about Texas society (and certainly not about the state's complex, mixed culture) to satisfy some readers. What's best about the book and what will make it attractive beyond Texas borders is Campbell's healthy skepticism about claims that Texas is unique among the states. He's also critical where criticism is clearly warranted, such as when arraigning "the general lack of concern for civil rights that characterized the state's politics after the 1870s." Campbell shows an unusual ability to judge people in 21st-century terms without losing sight of the long-ago context of their acts. A dividend for readers is the book's unusually good maps and diagrams. (Aug.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Campbell (history, Univ. of North Texas, Sam Houston and the American Southwest) provides a broad-brushed survey of the history of Texas, dating from 12,000 years ago to the present day. Balancing traditional impressions with revisionist tendencies, Campbell's story begins with Pleistocene Epoch migrants to Texas and continues with chapters on the 16th-century European exploration of Texas, Spanish rule, the "age of revolution," Mexican control, the legendary Texas Revolution, and the independent Republic of Texas, then proceeds through to the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War II, and the rise of modern Texas. Campbell conveys stories of colorful Texans and key events. Woven throughout the text are themes of the Texas Revolution as more a clash of cultures than a deliberate plan by the United States to take over the territory, the predominant identification of Texans as Southerners instead of Westerners, and the nonpareil Texas exaggeration of individualism and personal liberty. With the soon-to-be-released film Alamo, Campbell's superb, engrossing history is a timely arrival that nicely updates T.R. Fehrenbach's magisterial Lone Star. Highly recommended for academic and public libraries and any college-level Texas history course.-Dale Farris, Groves, TX Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Sweeping history of the outsized state and its bellwether politics. Texas's past and present can fairly be characterized as a series of land grabs: the Caddo and Comanches stole it from the Karankawa and other native peoples, the Spanish from the Caddo and Comanches, the Americans from the Spanish. A sovereign nation following the Americano rebellion against Santa Anna before being annexed to the US, Texas has long nursed an independent streak; so vast and remote are portions of the state that news of the Union victory in the Civil War did not reach slaves until well after hostilities had ended, and this geographical distance has furthered ideas of separateness. For all that, writes Campbell (History/Univ. of North Texas), Texas today has "an economy more like that of the United States as a whole than ever in its history," as well as a diverse society-and an ever-changing one at that, such that Hispanics will regain demographic majority status within the next 20 to 40 years. Texans, Campbell writes, have long been politically conservative, though not a great deal more today than most Americans; the same struggles went on there as in other states on poll taxes, prohibition, and desegregation, fought by the same progressive and right-wing elements. Its leaders have been similarly conservative, from the aristocratic Stephen Austin to the faux-bumpkin Pappy O'Daniel (caricatured-and to judge by Campbell's account, not too wide of the mark-in the recent film O Brother, Where Art Thou?) and on to George Bush, who as governor did for the state what he has lately been doing as president for the US with tort reform, relaxed regulations on handguns, and the dismantling of various portions of thewelfare state, failing "only in his proposals for tax reform, but few Texans regarded that as a pressing issue anyhow." A well-written survey, rather less entertaining than T.R. Fehrenbach's now-standard Lone Star, but meatier, too.

Kirkus Reviews

"What we finally have in Gone to Texas, then, is a history for a diverse, mature, and self-confident people willing to take a balanced look at their own past. It's a quantum leap forward from T.R. Fehrenbach's classic Lone Star, first published in 1968 . . . "—Texas Books in Review

"A sweeping history of the outsized state and its bellweather politics.... A well written survey."—Kirkus Reviews

"The best, most comprehensive account of the Lone Star saga I know of, the place to start if you prefer Texas history to Texas mythology."—Fritz Lanham, Houston Chronicle

"The new standard history of America's most unusual state. It is a balanced account, beautifully written, with verve and wit."—William H. Goetzmann, Jack S. Blanton, Sr. Chair of History and American Studies, University of Texas at Austin

"One of the very best crafted, thoroughly researched, and masterfully presented histories in one volume ever written about this state. It establishes standards of scholarship and literary merit that will endure for years to come.... Nothing short of an historical tour de force."—Light T. Cummins, Guy M. Bryan, Jr. Professor of History, Austin College

"Authoritative, gracefully written, and fully conversant with the newest scholarship, this book will henceforth be the standard history of Texas for both academic and general readers—a significant historical and cultural achievement."—John B. Boles, William P. Hobby Professor of History, Rice University

"Eminent scholar Randolph Campbell presents a full length portrait, unsparing of blemishes and scars, that stands alone in its thoroughgoing portrayal of the Lone Star State's luminous past. Campbell's colorful pageant of the winners, sinners, heroes and highbinders who roamed the legendary landscape of that 'other country'—Texas—is a dandy, best of breed. Gone to Texas will inform and excite Texans, while inviting others to go to Texas in the pages of this book."—Kent Biffle, Texana columnist, The Dallas Morning News

"Anyone who believes that the history of Texas is written only in tub-thumping braggadocio will quickly be set straight by this superb history of the Lone Star state. A leading historian of Texas, Campbell writes with authority and clarity about one of the nation's most distinctive components. His thoroughly contemporary approach sets early Texas history firmly within the checkered development of Mexico and keeps African-Americans, both slave and free, as well as native tribes at the center of his story. His coverage of such matters as the Texas Revolution, the state's 10 years as an independent republic and the cattle business are models of their kind, and surely no one has written so well while so briefly about how Texas became Southern.... What is best about the book and will make it attractive beyond Texas borders is Campbell's healthy skepticism about claims that Texas is unique among the states."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher