Hey there. Hope you’re doing well. Here’s a new essay for your edification. I hope it brings you joy. open.substack.com/pub/texashis...

Laredo by James McMurtry. Check it out.

One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words. — Goethe, Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, 1795-1796

LOLITA’S PARIS APARTMENT WHERE SHE LIVES ALONE AND READS COLETTE, BALZAC, AND E.M. FORSTER (Acrylic and Ink on Handmade Paper)

One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words. — Goethe, Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, 1795-1796

#OtD in 1839, the Cordova Rebellion ended in the War for Texas Independence. www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=128126 #TexasHistory #HistoricalMarker @texashistoryl.bsky.social

#OtD in 1840, the Battle of Plum Creek was fought in Texas. www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=64063 #TexasHistory @texashistoryl.bsky.social #usindianwars

#OtD in 1880, a Methodist Episcopal Church was built near #DrippingSpringsTX beginning its legacy in the community. www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=205186 @texashistoryl.bsky.social @unitedmethodist.bsky.social #historicalmarker #texashistory

This was a fun one to make. open.spotify.com/episode/0lBa...

Truth can’t be institutionalized. It can be learned and it can spread, but there is no curriculum for intellectual honesty. — J. Frank Dobie

Nothing is too trivial for art, but good art treats nothing in a trivial way. Nothing is too provincial for the regional writer, but he cannot be provincial-minded toward it. Luminosity is not stumbled into. - J. Frank Dobie

New episode about Bride Neill Taylor and the TSHA is available now. open.spotify.com/episode/4czg...

The evil that men do lives after them. — Shakespeare

How do I respond to this? I like to hear about what I get wrong with suggestions on how to improve—but this does nothing.

Coming soon: Texas History Lessons + Classic Texas Books in print, e-book and audio versions (with notes, essays and very affordable prices) = Texas History Library.

It's ALIVE! #OnThisDay, 1 Jan 1818, Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' was published anonymously. Her gothic novel was also one of the first science-fiction novels. #ReadMoreWomen #LiteraryWomen #WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory 🗃️

A few weeks ago I picked up this piece of Texas ephemera in an antiques mall. I finally read through it last night and, to be honest, the poetry is pretty terrible. It's all sing-song rhymes about the bravery of the men who settled Texas. BUT it did lead me down a "Houston Pen Women" rabbit hole...

A good hiking tip!

“It avails not, time nor place—distance avails not, I am with you, you men and women of a generation, or ever so many generations hence, Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt, Just as any of you is one of a living crowd, I was one of a crowd…” Walt Whitman

Derrick G. Jeter’s Blood Touching Blood is so good. The story, the quality of the writing, the descriptive scenes of the land and the interior landscape of the characters, and the historical context within the narrative are superb. Get a copy to enjoy. Blood Touching Blood a.co/d/cHKXYqA

Breakfast dinner and supper

This episode and the others on the Texas Revolution are a success and a failure. Secret: There are parts that I am very pleased with but there’s a lot missing. The goal is to fill in the missing parts in the future. open.spotify.com/episode/4XD3...

ₜᵣᵤₘₚ becomes president again in thirty days. And as if that isn't bad enough, the Texas Legislature convenes in twenty-four.

One of the strangest things I’ve done this year: A listener offered to book and pay for me to stay the night at Goliad and I politely declined.

I just wrote one of the best passages I’ve ever written. No. It’s probably the best. What’s nice is that I already see how to make it better.

Latest blog dropped @refusing2forget.bsky.social. Lobe how @tbowmanhist.bsky.social channels the voices of his students. Our scholarship has made a difference!

Today

Tonight

The 1522 Christmas Day rebellion on Diego Columbus’s sugar plantation is another example. It is the first large-scale revolt of enslaved people. Festive! #merrychristmas #tistheseasonforrebellion

The Wild West Extravaganza podcast is amazing and this episode deserves an award. open.spotify.com/episode/6l6U...

I just discovered a novel written in the 1870s about the Republican Army of the North’s Texas campaign—or the Gutierrez Magee filibuster. This is what makes me excited.

I am loving this new novel by Derrick G. Jeter. I hope to finish it this weekend.

I said 3 or 4. Then I decided to make a list. And…I was way off.

I have at least 3 or 4 projects that I’ve been working on for about a year or more and, of course, I just started a new one: The Raven in the Lion’s Den - Houston and His Enemies.

Robert Julian Onderonk, Bluebonnet Scene 2, Date Unknown

This is what I've grown to appreciate about Pacific History, there's a good amount of ed. volumes about the methods and historians. Be good to see more ed. collections about women... #History

The AHR’s December 2024 issue is now available. This issue inaugurates the annual publication of a special issue of the journal. Inside the issue authors explore how historical context and contingency shape and inflect resilience. 🗃️

"E.L. Doctorow talked about the way he writes, and it’s like you have a car on the road, and the headlights illuminate three feet of what’s ahead of the car. He writes what’s in those headlights, and he keeps going as he drives." --Raven Leilani