The Texas Book Two: More Profiles, History, and Reminiscences of the University ed. by David Dettmer (review)

When first asked to review David Dettmer's The Texas Book Two: More Profiles, History, and Reminiscences of the University, I wondered what more the volume could possibly say about the University of Texas at Austin (UT) that its predecessor, The Texas Book: Profiles, History and Reminiscences of the University (edited by Richard A. Holland) had not. The answer is a lot. Like the previous book, Dettmer's volume is divided into three sections, "Profiles," "History," and "Reminiscences."

In the introduction, Dettmer explains that the nineteen essays in the book are not meant to be a "comprehensive" history of UT, nor are those essays supposed to represent the nineteen most important people or events in UT's history. Rather, these essays—which are arranged chronologically within each section but can easily be read out of order—are intended to expose the reader to a "meaningful variety of facts, personalities, and flavors that are particular to UT" (2). Dettmer's book does just that. As a 2001 graduate of UT's American Civilization PhD program and someone who has written about the history of UT, I learned a great deal about people, places, and things connected to UT that I had not known before.

My favorite three essays are Brad Buchholz's "A Feminist before Her Time: The Journey of Anna Hiss"; Richard A. Holland's "The Most Important Building on Campus"; and Barbara Smith Conrad's "I Had No Reason to Believe Otherwise." Buchholz's essay on Anna Hiss—the sister of Alger Hiss and an instructor and later UT's director of physical training for women from 1918 until her retirement in 1957—is an interesting and engaging perspective on a woman who believed that "each of life's moments is precious and it is a sin to be wasteful" (63). Hiss accomplished this by championing recreation in "all its forms—hiking, team sports, music, folk dance, crafts, literature" (62).

Holland's essay, "The Most Important Building on Campus," gives a wonderful history of Gregory Gymnasium, which once served as the home of UT's basketball games and today serves as the home of UT's nationally ranked women's volleyball team. Opened in 1930, Gregory Gymnasium marked an eastern expansion of the original Forty Acres campus, and for generations of University of Texas students, Gregory Gymnasium simply meant registration. However, between 1930 and 1951, the biggest event in Gregory was "Fight Night" (also known as "Fite Nite"), an evening of boxing matches held on the gym's floor. Today, UT Recreational Sports operates out of Gregory Gymnasium, and as many as five hundred teams participate in intramural sports.

I wrote my dissertation on the history of African Americans at UT (which later became my book, Integrating the Forty Acres), yet I always learn something new about Barbara Smith Conrad's story. Conrad's essay, "I Had No Reason to Believe Otherwise," is a remarkable account of her removal from a 1957 production of UT's opera production of Dido and Aeneas after two East Texas legislators threatened to withdraw appropriations for the University after learning that Conrad, an African American, was playing the romantic lead opposite a white male. Her essay traces the events leading up to the "opera casting controversy," and concludes on February 5, 2009, when the Texas House of Representatives honored Conrad for "her talent, her skills, and her strengths" (226).

The Texas Book Two is not just for Longhorns. Those who have never even set foot in the State of Texas will enjoy this collection of essays, and they will have a better understanding of why so many of us who graduated from The University of Texas are so proud of our alma mater years after our graduation.