History Ahead: Stories Beyond the Texas Roadside Markers (review)

History Ahead presents an engaging journey across Texas through the state's roadside markers. Unlike the brief text on each metal sign, these accounts dig into the deeper narratives behind the concise sketches. The authors, Dan Utley and Cynthia Beeman, are eminently qualified—Utley as former chief historian of the Texas Historical Commission and Beeman as former director of the commission's History Programs Division. This publication does not offer a comprehensive guide to the thousands of markers across Texas. The writers chose instead, through nineteen chapters divided into three sections, to expand on some "lesser-known, but not less significant," stories that reflect the "diversity of culture and geography that makes our state so unique historically" (2).

The book's first section, "A Texas Sense of Place," portrays interesting microcosms that highlight activities key to the development of Texas and significant in the lives of Texans. The state's heritage has deep roots in cotton culture, oil exploration, land sales, religion, and recreation. Many families, for example, can trace their Texas beginnings to the hopeful home-seekers who looked to settle in a garden land, such as the real estate industry advertised (though deceptively) in the early twentieth century for the new town of Provident City in Colorado County. Readers may be reminded of their own experiences or the recollections of parents and grandparents about gathering at all-day camp meetings like those held at the Bluff Dale Tabernacle in Erath County. Perhaps most compelling are the stories of unassuming people who made their mark on history simply by living their lives. Elmer Kleb, featured in the opening chapter, illustrates a wonderful case in point. The reclusive man's love of his home and the surrounding woods in Harris County eventually inspired others to preserve his haven as the Kleb Woods Nature Center. Equally moving is the story of Pedro Jaramillo, a curandero of Los Olmos in Starr County, who devoted his life to prayer and healing.

Texas has also provided the stage for landmark events in the lives of national and international figures as demonstrated in the book's second section, "Passing Through Texas." Utley and Beeman explore major themes such as aviation history, conservation and the timber industry, transportation, and tourism. The Lone Star State played host to Charles Lindbergh, who trained in San Antonio at Brooks Field and Kelly Field. Readers can learn about William Hope Harvey who envisioned and implemented the Ozark Trails in the 1910s and 1920s in his dream to lead drivers to his Monte Ne resort in Arkansas. This ancestral road to the famed Route 66 sliced across the Texas Panhandle. A few tantalizing pyramid trail monuments still dot the landscape and call to mind that early age of motoring.

Part Three of History Ahead profiles "Texans on the National Stage"—individuals who attained distinction beyond the state's borders. Such diverse characters, from Beaumont's Jiles Perry Richardson ("The Big Bopper") and his contributions to early rock-and-roll to Bessie Coleman's remarkable accomplishments as the world's first African American female pilot, speak to the depth and determination of the citizens of the Lone Star State.

More than seventy-five images, modern and historic, enhance the volume. Sidebars with related information as well as the locations of all markers mentioned contribute complementary tidbits. The endnotes predictably include references to individual marker files of the Texas Historical Commission but also cite a number of books, periodicals, letters, and oral histories.

The writers certainly succeed in conveying some of the hidden threads that add even more color to the tapestry of Texas. Even better, perhaps this work will inspire others to delve beyond the descriptions on the roadside markers they encounter. History Ahead implies an age-old question: what other stories are out there?