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Reviewed by:
  • Discovering Texas History ed. by Bruce A. Glasrud, Light T. Cummins, and Cary D. Wintz
  • Cameron Sinclair
Discovering Texas History. Edited by Bruce A. Glasrud, Light T. Cummins, and Cary D. Wintz. ( Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2014. Pp. 312. Notes, bibliography, index.)

In Discovering Texas History, the three editors present a collection of historiographical essays covering a wide array of topics and time periods in Texas history. Based on the successful but now dated Guide to Texas History (1988), this work functions both as a stand-alone resource and as a companion piece to the Guide. In this work, the editors, including Light T. Cummins, who also edited the Guide, have sought to provide a historiographical resource that covers works on Texas history that have appeared since the earlier publication. Taking into account the effects of the Internet on historical research, the editors of this volume have chosen to focus primarily on published academic works and to leave out most of the archival and primary sources that were mentioned in the Guide. They do, however, provide information on some important online resources for digitized primary sources and guides for archival holdings. For the most part, the essays’ authors, which include some of the most highly regarded authorities on Texas history, follow the same formula.

The editors begin this collection with an introduction that explores the historiography found in textbooks, general histories, and documentary collections on Texas history. This also includes the online resources mentioned above. The remaining essays in this anthology are organized by topic and era. Four of the topical essays examine race and ethnicity: Native Americans by Matthew M. Babcock, Mexican Americans by Arnoldo de León, African Americans by Alwyn Barr, and European immigrants by James C. Kearney. Other essays explore works on women (Rebecca Sharpless), workers (Richard B. Wright), the arts (Victoria H. Cummins and Light T. Cummins), and the military (Richard B. McCaslin). The seven chronological essays begin with F. Todd Smith’s previously-published article on “Spanish, Mexican, and Republican Texas to 1845” (Southwestern Historical Quarterly, January 2010), and continues through the antebellum era (Randolph B. Campbell), the Civil War and Reconstruction (Carl H. Moneyhon), the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (Jessica Brannon-Wranosky), the World Wars and the Great Depression (Patrick Cox), and the post-World War II and early Cold War era (Sean P. Cunningham). This [End Page 213] work concludes with another section by the editors, covering historical works that examine recent history as well as some thoughts on the current state of Texas history.

Generally speaking, the essays are not exhaustive bibliographic essays, nor do they provide in-depth analysis of the historiography. They do, however, provide well-organized and concise overviews of the most significant works of academic research on Texas history since the mid-1980s. Students and professionals alike will find these essays very useful, particularly as introductions to topics or eras in which they have not specialized. General readers may also find them useful as windows into the current state of academic Texas history. Overall, this work effectively fulfills its stated purpose and will likely become a valuable resource.

Cameron Sinclair
Brookhaven College
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