The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 47, July 1943 - April, 1944 Page: 73

View a full description of this periodical.

BOOK REVIEWS
Texas: The Lone Star State. By Rupert Norval Richardson.
New York (Prentice-Hall), 1943. Pp. xix+590. Maps, il-
lustrations, bibliography, index. $5.00.
The quest for a dependable, comprehensive, and readable
book on Texas for use in colleges ended with the publication of
Rupert Norval Richardson's Texas: The Lone Star State.
In the reviewer's judgment, Dr. Richardson's book is sanely
balanced, approximately one-third of it being devoted to early
Texas through the days of the Republic, less than one hundred
pages to Texas from 1845 to 1860, and nearly one-half of it to
the period beginning with the adoption of the present Consti-
tution and extending through the inauguration of Governor
Coke Stevenson. This balance is one of the outstanding fea-
tures of the book, and is particularly complimentary to the
author, since the period after 1876 required much original
research.
The most distinctive feature, however, of this new addition
to the long list of histories of Texas is the adequate treatment
of numerous topics other than the usual ones of war and poli-
tics. One of those non-conventional topics is that of "Pioneer
Institutions," treated in chapter ten. In this chapter the author
discusses how the Texans earned a living, what the living con-
ditions were in the little towns and on the farms, medicine and
the medicine men, amusements, education, and religion - all
of them delightful and informative. In other chapters, par-
ticularly the last, the author again departs from the orthodox
procedure. In this chapter, "Cultural Progress," there passes in
rapid review before the reader a list of writings on Texas from
Cabeza de Vaca's intriguing Relaci6n (1542) to the delightful
productions of the twentieth century, a short history of Texas
newspapers, the story of the rise of journalism and radio, and
brief discussions of the theatre, art and music in Texas. Obvi-
ously, these topics, in themselves subjects for separate volumes,
could not be treated adequately by Professor Richardson in
one volume. What he was able to include, however, makes the

[73]

Upcoming Pages

Here’s what’s next.

upcoming item: 78 78 of 519
upcoming item: 79 79 of 519
upcoming item: 80 80 of 519
upcoming item: 81 81 of 519

Show all pages in this issue.

This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.

Tools / Downloads

Get a copy of this page .

Citing and Sharing

Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.

Reference the current page of this Periodical.

Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 47, July 1943 - April, 1944, periodical, 1944; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146054/m1/77/ocr/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.

Univesal Viewer

International Image Interoperability Framework (This Page)

Back to Top of Screen