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Lone Star Lit has your monthly roundup of regional reads from <\/span><\/span>The Twig Book Shop<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a>, a leading independent bookseller in San Antonio. Click on any title for the buy link.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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DECEMBER 2022<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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San Antonio Cooks: Favorite Recipes from Local Chefs and Restaurants <\/strong><\/em><\/span>(Figure 1) by <\/span>Julia Rosenfeld<\/span><\/p>\n

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“San Antonio\u2019s dining scene has risen beyond spicy stews and corn tortillas. Here, you\u2019ll find Moroccan, French, Chinese, Japanese, Caribbean, Korean, New Orleanian, and classic Continental cuisines.” <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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From family-run taquerias and next-level smokehouses to trailblazing chef-led bistros and heavyweight fine-dining restaurants, discover the city\u2019s best food, drink, and culture all in one place. San Antonio Cooks <\/em>introduces home cooks to more than 80 signature recipes from some of the city\u2019s best chefs and restaurants. Whether it\u2019s Mexican street corn, beef shank barbacoa, Asian dumplings, or chocolate banana cream pie, San Antonio Cooks<\/em> confirms what locals have known all along: eating in San Antonio has never been better.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Arte del Pueblo: The Outdoor Public Art of San Antonio<\/a> <\/b><\/em>(Schiffer) <\/b><\/em>by Frederick Preston and Carmen Tafolla<\/span><\/span>
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Only book to provide literary insight into the meaning of San Antonio’s robust public art<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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A celebration of the power of public art to express a community’s cultural history, Arte del Pueblo<\/em> explores San Antonio’s heart and soul. In moving photography and poetic commentary, it covers five genres of public art in a variety of artistic styles, from murals, sculpture, and mosaics to street art and digital art projections. Readers will come away with a deeper understanding of this multicultural crossroad through an introduction to its major artistic influences, as well as thought-provoking interviews with 11 of the 190 artists featured. San Antonio’s public artworks can be found everywhere: from its famous River Walk to the West Side Barrio, in parks and libraries, along roadways and bridges, on high-rises and restaurants. Self-tours guide those who wish to appreciate their favorite pieces in person.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Boys in the Brazos River Bottom<\/a> (<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/em>Peter L. Scamardo II) by Peter L. Scamardo II<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Mumford, Texas, the summer of ’69. Matt Ruggirello believes he is doomed to enter the farming life, just like everyone else in his family. Josh, his middle brother, wants nothing more than Papa’s approval. While little brother Tommy observes all the happenings in and around the Ruggirello family home of Three Pecans, a nickname christened by the three brothers.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Yet Matt receives news that could take him away from the cotton fields and into the big city. The obstacle in the way is Papa, whose suspicions make him fearful of change in the family. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Along the way the brothers experience rivalries, car crashes, a torrential storm, familial stories of the past, the music of KTSA 550 San Antonio, and the dinner table discussions that define the Italian-American household. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Inspired by stories his family has told over the years, Peter L. Scamardo II provides a window into the lives of the Central Texas farming communities, and a different perspective on the Italian-American experience.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Fishermen and the Dragon: Fear, Greed, and a Fight for Justice on the Gulf Coast<\/a><\/em> <\/b>(Viking) by Kirk Wallace Johnson<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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A gripping, twisting account of a small town set on fire by hatred, xenophobia, and ecological disaster\u2014a story that weaves together corporate malfeasance, a battle over shrinking natural resources, a turning point in the modern white supremacist movement, and one woman\u2019s relentless battle for environmental justice.<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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By the late 1970s, the fishermen of the Texas Gulf Coast were struggling. The bays that had sustained generations of shrimpers and crabbers before them were being poisoned by nearby petrochemical plants, oil spills, pesticides, and concrete.  But as their nets came up light, the white shrimpers could only see one culprit: the small but growing number of newly resettled Vietnamese refugees who had recently started fishing. <\/span><\/span>
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Turf was claimed.  Guns were flashed.  Threats were made.  After a white crabber was killed by a young Vietnamese refugee in self-defense, the situation became a tinderbox primed to explode, and the Grand Dragon of the Texas Knights of the Ku Klux Klan saw an opportunity to stoke the fishermen\u2019s rage and prejudices.  At a massive Klan rally near Galveston Bay one night in 1981, he strode over to an old boat graffitied with the words U.S.S. VIET CONG, torch in hand, and issued a ninety-day deadline for the refugees to leave or else \u201cit\u2019s going to be a helluva lot more violent than Vietnam!\u201d  The white fishermen roared as the boat burned, convinced that if they could drive these newcomers from the coast, everything would return to normal.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A shocking campaign of violence ensued, marked by burning crosses, conspiracy theories, death threats, torched boats, and heavily armed Klansmen patrolling Galveston Bay.  The Vietnamese were on the brink of fleeing, until a charismatic leader in their community, a highly decorated colonel, convinced them to stand their ground by entrusting their fate with the Constitution.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Battleground B\u00e9xar: The 1835 Siege of San Antonio<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/em> <\/span><\/span><\/b>(State House Press) by Richard L. Curilla<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The famous siege and fall of the Alamo in 1836 is the stuff of legends. What is often missing from most discussion of that battle is why the Texian defenders were in the Alamo in the first place! <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Richard L. Curilla\u2019s pathbreaking book, Battleground B\u00e9xar<\/i>, shows how the famous compound that has become such a Texas icon was just a small piece of the strategic real estate that now composes downtown San Antonio. In 1835, Mexican Centralist soldados <\/i>faced a deteriorating political situation in the region and the very real threat of an insurgent attack by the Texian Federalist Army of the People. They fortified the main plazas in the frontier town of B\u00e9xar to meet the attack they knew must certainly come. Today, where traffic and pedestrians compete for the right of way, once stood cannon, earthworks, and barricades that transformed streets and blocks of downtown San Antonio into a stronghold.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Using advanced computer-generated imaging, Curilla has recreated San Antonio de B\u00e9xar as it looked in 1835. Now, for the first time ever, the location of the Alamo and its role as an important garrison and artillery position covering the approaches to the heart of the town is revealed. Mexican Centralist troops reinforced and modified the old mission compound and transformed it into a fortress which they believed they could defend. The Siege of B\u00e9xar in December 1835 created the battleground and circumstances that would shape the destiny of Texas forever.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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NOVEMBER 2022<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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They Call Her Fregona: A Border Kid’s Poems<\/a> <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/em>(Kokila) by David Bowles<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Thirteen-year-old G\u00fcero stands by and supports his first girlfriend, Joanna, after the sudden deportation of her father.<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cYou can be my boyfriend.\u201d It only takes five words to change G\u00fcero\u2019s life at the end of seventh grade. The summer becomes extra busy as he learns to balance new band practice with his old crew, Los Bobbys, and being Joanna Padilla\u2019s boyfriend. They call her \u201cfregona\u201d because she\u2019s tough, always sticking up for her family and keeping the school bully in check. But G\u00fcero sees her softness. Together they cook dollar-store spaghetti and hold hands in the orange grove, learning more about themselves and each other than they could have imagined. But when they start eighth grade, Joanna faces a tragedy that requires G\u00fcero to reconsider what it means to show up for someone you love.
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Honoring multiple poetic traditions, They Call Her Fregona<\/i> is a bittersweet first-love story in verse and the highly anticipated follow-up to They Call Me G\u00fcero<\/i>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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My Two Border Towns<\/a><\/em> <\/b>(Kokila) by David Bowles<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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“A boy and his father cross the United States-Mexico border every other Saturday, visiting their favorite places, spending time with family and friends, and sharing in the responsibility of community care”–<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Early one Saturday morning, a boy prepares for a trip to The Other Side\/El Otro Lado. It’s close–just down the street from his school–and it’s a twin of where he lives. To get there, his father drives their truck along the Rio Grande and over a bridge, where they’re greeted by a giant statue of an eagle. Their outings always include a meal at their favorite restaurant, a visit with T\u00edo Mateo at his jewelry store, a cold treat from the paletero, and a pharmacy pickup. On their final and most important stop, they check in with friends seeking asylum and drop off much-needed supplies.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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It Can Be This Way Always: Images from the Kerrville Folk Festival<\/b><\/a> <\/em>(University of Texas Press) by David Johnson<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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A graceful and searching photographic ode to the people of the Kerrville Folk Festival, who gather annually in the Texas Hill Country to celebrate music and live an idealistic combination of nonconformity and intentional community.<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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For fifty years, music fans, hippies, artists, and songwriters have converged each spring on Quiet Valley Ranch in the Texas Hill Country. They are drawn by the thousands to the annual Kerrville Folk Festival, a weeks-long gathering of musical greats and ordinary people living in an intentional community marked by radical acceptance and the love of song.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At the festival, David Johnson is known as Photo Dave, the guy who lugs around a large-format camera and captures the moments that make Kerrville special. It Can Be This Way Always<\/i> collects eighty images from the past decade. Portraits of attendees and volunteers accompany scenes of stage performances, campfire jam sessions, and vans repurposed into coffee stands. In these images we see the temporary, makeshift world that festivalgoers create, a place where eccentricities are the norm and music is the foundation of friendship and unity. \u201cIt can be this way always\u201d is a popular saying at Kerrville: simultaneously optimistic and wistful like a good folk song\u2014or a photograph from your best life.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Big Texas Cookbook: The Food That Defines the Lone Star State<\/b><\/a> <\/span><\/span><\/em>(Harper Wave) by Editors of<\/span><\/span> Texas Monthly<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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“In The Big Texas Cookbook<\/em>, the editors of the award-winning magazine Texas Monthly<\/em> have gathered an expansive collection of recipes that reflects the state’s food traditions, eclectically grouped by how Texans like to start and end the day (Rise and Shine, There Stands the Glass), how they revere their native-born ingredients (Made in Texas), and how they love the people, places, and rituals that surround their favorite meals (On Holiday, Home Plates). Getting their very own chapters–no surprise–are the behemoths mentioned above, barbecue and Tex-Mex (Smoke Signals, Con Todo). With recipes for \u00fcber-regional specialties like venison parisa, home cooking favorites like King Ranch casserole, and contemporary riffs like a remarkable Lao beef chili, The Big Texas Cookbook<\/em> pays homage to the cooks who long ago shaped the state’s food culture and the ones who are building on those traditions in surprising and delightful ways”-<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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West Side Love Story<\/b><\/a> <\/span><\/span><\/em>(Montlake) by Priscilla Oliveras<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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“Two familias in Texas, both alike in dignity, rivalries, and passion…Having grown up in the nurturing household of Casa Capuleta, Mariana will do anything for familia. To solve her adoptive parents’ financial problems amid their rapidly changing San Antonio comunidad, Mariana and her younger sisters are determined to win the Battle of the Mariachi Bands. That means competing against Hugo Montero, their father’s archnemesis, and his band and escalating a decades-old feud. It also raises the stakes of Mariana’s forbidden attraction for a certain dark-eyed mariachi who sets her heart racing. To Angelo Montero’s familia, Mariana is also strictly off-limits. But that doesn’t stop him from pursuing her. As their secret affair intensifies and the competition grows fierce, they’re swept up in a brewing storm of betrayals, rivalries, and broken ties. Against the odds, they vow to bring peace. But sacrifices must be made and consequences weighed for two star-crossed lovers to make beautiful music together.”–Provided by publisher.<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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OCTOBER 2022<\/b><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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We’ve Got to Try: How the Fight for Voting Rights Makes Everything Else Possible<\/a> <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/em>(Flatiron Press) by Beto O’Rourke<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Activist and political leader Beto O’Rourke blends history, sociology, and travelogue for a thrilling, inspiring case for how voting rights is essential to a productive and healthy democracy. <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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In We\u2019ve Got To Try<\/i>, O\u2019Rourke shines a spotlight on the heroic life and work of Dr. Lawrence Aaron Nixon and the west Texas town where he made his stand. The son of an enslaved man, Nixon grew up in the Confederate stronghold of Marshall, Texas before moving to El Paso, becoming a civil rights leader, and helping to win one of the most significant civil and voting rights victories in American history: the defeat of the all-white primary. His fight for the ballot spanned 20 years and twice took him to the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

With heart, eloquence, and powerful storytelling, O\u2019Rourke weaves together Nixon\u2019s story with those of other great Texans who changed the course of voting rights and improved America\u2019s democracy. While connecting voting rights and democracy to the major issues of our time, O\u2019Rourke also shares what he saw, heard, and learned while on his own journey throughout the 254 counties of his home state. By telling the stories of those he met along the way and bringing us into the epicenter of the current fight against voter suppression, the former El Paso Congressman shows just how essential it is that the sacred right to vote is protected and that we each do our part to save our democracy for generations to come.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Brackenridge: San Antonio’s Acclaimed Urban Park\u202f- PGW<\/a><\/em><\/strong> (Maverick Books) by Lewis F. Fisher<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The comprehensive history of one of the nation’s foremost city parks <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Brackenridge Park began its life as a heavily wooded, bucolic driving park at the turn of the twentieth century. Over the next 120 years it evolved into the sprawling, multifaceted jewel San Antonians enjoy today, home to the San Antonio Zoo, the state’s first public golf course, the Japanese Tea Garden, the Sunken Garden Theater, and the Witte Museum.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Light We Give: How Sikh Wisdom Can Transform Your Life<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Riverhead Books) by Simran Jeet Singh<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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“As a boy growing up in South Texas, Simran Jeet Singh and his brothers confronted racism daily. Instead of giving in to negativity, he delved into the Sikh teachings he grew up with and embraced the lessons to seek the good in every person and situation and to find positive ways to direct his energy. Part memoir, part spiritual journey, The Light We Give offers an approach to a happier, more fulfilling life through Sikh teachings on love and service”– <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Light We Give<\/i> lays out how we can learn to integrate ethical living to achieve personal happiness and a happier life. It speaks to those who are inspired to take on positive change but don\u2019t know where to begin. To those who crave the chance to be empathetic but are afraid of looking vulnerable. To those who seek the courage to confront hatred with love and compassion. Singh reaches beyond his comfort zone to practice this deeper form of living and explores how everyone can learn the insights and skills that have kept him engaged and led him to commit to activism without becoming consumed by anger, self-pity, or burnout.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 
Part memoir, part spiritual journey, The Light We Give<\/i> is a transformative book of hope that shows how each of us can turn away from fear and uncertainty and move toward renewal and positive change.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Valley of Shadows<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Blackstone Publishing) by Rudy Ruiz<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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“Solitario Cisneros thought his life was over long ago. He lost his wife, his family, even his country in the late 1870s when the Rio Grande shifted course, stranding the Mexican town of Olvido on the Texas side of the border. He’d made his brooding peace with retiring his gun and badge, hiding out on his ranch, and communing with horses and ghosts. But when a gruesome string of murders and kidnappings ravages the town, pushing its volatile mix of Anglo, Mexican, and Apache settlers to the brink of self-destruction, he feels reluctantly compelled to confront both life, and the much more likely possibility of- -death, yet again. As Solitario struggles to overcome not only the evil forces that threaten the town but also his own inner demons, he finds an unlikely source of inspiration and support in Onawa, a gifted and enchanting Apache-Mexican seer who champions his cause, daring him to open his heart and question his destiny”– <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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As Solitario struggles to overcome not only the evil forces that threaten the town but also his own inner demons, he finds an unlikely source of inspiration and support in Onawa, a gifted and enchanting Apache-Mexican seer who champions his cause, daring him to open his heart and question his destiny.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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As we follow Solitario and Onawa into the desert, we join them in facing haunting questions about the human condition that are as relevant today as they were back then: Can we rewrite our own history and shape our own future? What does it mean to belong to a place, or for a place to belong to a people? And, as lonely and defeated as we might feel, are we ever truly alone?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Through luminous prose and soul-searching reflections, Rudy Ruiz transports readers to a distant time and a remote place where the immortal forces of good and evil dance amidst the shadows of magic and mountains.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Beasts of the Earth<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Blackstone Publishing) by James Wade<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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James Wade, whose first two novels were praised as rhapsodic and haunting, delivers his most powerful work to date–a chilling parable about the impossible demands of hate and love, trauma and goodness, vividly set in the landscapes of Texas and Louisiana. <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Beasts of the Earth <\/em>tells the story of Harlen LeBlanc, a dependable if quiet employee of the Carter Hills High School’s grounds department, whose carefully maintained routine is overthrown by an act of violence. As the town searches for answers, LeBlanc strikes out on his own to exonerate a friend, while drawing the eyes of the law to himself and fending off unwelcome voices that call for a sterner form of justice. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Twenty years earlier, young Michael Fischer dreads the return of his father from prison. He spends his days stealing from trap lines in the Louisiana bayou to feed his fanatically religious mother and his cherished younger sister, Doreen. When his father eventually returns, an evil arrives in Michael’s life that sends him running from everything he has ever known. He is rescued by a dying poet and his lover, who extract from him a promise: to be a good man, whatever that may require. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Beasts of the Earth<\/em> deftly intertwines these stories, exploring themes of time, fate, and free will, to produce a revelatory conclusion that is both beautiful and heartbreaking. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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SEPTEMBER 2022<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Nimitz at War: Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/em>(Oxford University Press) by Craig L. Symonds<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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From one of our most distinguished naval historians, the first wartime biography in a half-century of the man who guided America to victory in the Pacific in World War Two<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The most cataclysmic and consequential war in history produced more than its share of fascinating characters and great leaders. Some have hardened into legend, others fallen below the radar. Somewhere in-between sits Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief of both the Pacific Fleet and the Pacific.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Ocean Area from 1941 to 1945. Nimitz demanded and received less attention than his Army counterpart, Douglas MacArthur, whose self-promotion was prodigious. He seemed less colorful than some of his subordinates, such as Admiral Bill “Bull” Halsey and General Holland “Howlin’ Mad” Smith. Yet Nimitz’s was the guiding hand of Allied forces in the Pacific War, and the central figure in the victory against Japan.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Craig L. Symonds’s full-length portrait of Nimitz, from the precarious early months following Pearl Harbor, when Nimitz assumed command of the Pacific Fleet, to the surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay, is the first in more than fifty years. Using Nimitz’s headquarters-the eye of the hurricane-as the vantage point, Symonds covers the major campaigns, from Guadalcanal to Okinawa. He captures Nimitz’s calm, discipline, homespun wisdom, and uncanny sense of when to project authority and when to pull back, illuminating how this helped him direct one of the largest and most complex campaigns in military history, fought against an implacable foe. The pressures Nimitz faced were crushing, involving tactical and strategic decision-making, visualizing success while mindful of the welfare of those who served under him-soldiers, sailors, and Marines. He had to corral assertive subordinates and keep them focused on the larger objectives, and maintain a strong working relationship with his own superiors, including the equally formidable Admiral Ernest J. King and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In addition, Nimitz had to deal with the public spectacle of war, managing the expectations of a nation both expecting victory and longing for the carnage to end.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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In retrospect it seems impossible to imagine anyone else could have accomplished all this. As Symonds’ absorbing, dynamic, and authoritative portrait reveals, it took leadership asked of-and exhibited by-few others. Behind Nimitz’s unflappable professionalism and reservoirs of charm were a resolve and audacity that became evident when most needed.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Valleyesque: Stories<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (MCD X Fsg Originals\u202f) by Fernando A. Flores<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Psychedelic, dazzling stories set in the cracks of the Texas-Mexico borderland, from an iconoclastic storyteller and the author of Tears of the Trufflepig<\/em>. <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 
No one captures the border\u2014its history and imagination, its danger, contradiction, and redemption\u2014like Fernando A. Flores, whose stories reimagine and reinterpret the region\u2019s existence with peerless style. In his immersive, uncanny borderland, things are never what they seem: a world where the sun is both rising and setting, and where conniving possums efficiently take over an entire town and rewrite its history. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 
The stories in Valleyesque<\/em> dance between the fantastical and the hyperreal with dexterous, often hilarious flair. A dying Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Chopin stumbles through Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez in the aftermath of his mother\u2019s death, attempting to recover his beloved piano that was seized at the border, while a muralist is taken on a psychedelic journey by an airbrushed Emiliano Zapata T-shirt. A woman is engulfed by a used-clothing warehouse with a life of its own, and a grieving mother breathlessly chronicles the demise of a town decimated by violence. In two separate stories, queso dip and musical rhythms are bottled up and sold for mass consumption. And in the final tale, Flores pieces together the adventures of a young Lee Harvey Oswald as he starts a music career in Texas. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 
Swinging between satire and surrealism, grief and joy, Valleyesque<\/em> is a boundary- and border-pushing collection from a one-of-a-kind stylist and voice. With the visceral imagination that made his debut novel, Tears of the Trufflepig<\/em>, a cult classic, Flores brings his vision of the border to life\u2014and beyond. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Feet of Clay: Gus C. Garcia, Tragic Hero of the Civil Rights Movement<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Texas Christian University Press) by Millie Rose Diaz<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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In the early 1950s, a Mexican American man named Gus has become a top Texas civil rights attorney\u2014a climb that has been bedeviled by his competing obsessions with the law, la raza, the ladies, and Chivas Regal whisky. <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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On the day he learns his failed marriage has rendered him homeless, Gus hastily takes on a new client, a man accused of shooting and killing a man outside a bar in Edna. The case becomes one about equal representation when his associates uncover a disturbing fact: no minority or person of color has sat on a Jackson County jury in at least twenty-five years. Without funds, without political support, Gus and his team courageously pursue a demanding course that forces them to battle the system at every turn. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The case and Gus himself are targeted by Symmetry, an elitist, ultraconservative secret society bankrolled by Texas oil barons. A representation of the many extant southern white supremacist groups of the day, the group engages Gus\u2019s longtime nemesis to stop the progression of the case using schemes of persuasion and bribery. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Gus finds occasional solace when he begins a relationship with the world\u2019s first female bullfighter, but his unresolved past threatens his well-being. The story also introduces a young Mexican American girl who learns the complications of being shades darker than her sister and struggles to find her voice. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Mothercoin: The Stories of Immigrant Nannies<\/a> <\/strong><\/em>(Beacon Press) by Elizabeth Cummins Munoz<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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“Mothercoin is a nonfiction, story-driven consideration of immigrant nannies and contemporary motherhood in the US”-<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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In taking up the mothercoin\u2014the work of mothering, divorced from family and exchanged in a global market\u2014immigrant nannies embody a grave contradiction: while \u201cwomen\u2019s work\u201d of childcare and housekeeping is relegated to the private sphere and remains largely invisible to the public world, the love and labor required to mother are fundamental to the functioning of that world. Listening to the stories of these workers reveals the devastating consequences of undervaluing this work.<\/span><\/span>
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As cleaners and caregivers are exported from poor regions into rich ones, they leave behind a material and emotional absence that is keenly felt by their families. On the other side of these borders, children of wealthier regions are bathed and diapered and cared for in clean homes with folded laundry and sopa de arroz<\/i> simmering on the stove, while their parents work ever longer hours, and often struggle themselves with these daily separations.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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In the US, many of these women\u2019s voices are silenced by language or fear or the habit of powerlessness. But even in the shadows, immigrant nannies live full and complicated lives moved by desire and loss and anger and passion. Mothercoin<\/i> sets out to tell these stories, recounting the experience of Mexican and Central American women living and working in the private homes of Houston, Texas, while also telling a larger story about global immigration, working motherhood, and the private experience of the public world we have all created.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a1Vamos! Let’s Go to the Market\u202f(World of \u00a1Vamos!)<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/span> (Versify) by Raul the Third<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Richard Scarry’s “Busytown” gets a Mexican-American makeover in the marketplace of a buzzing border town from Pura Belpr\u00e9 Medal-winning illustrator Raoel the Third. Full color. <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Bilingual in a new way, this colorful adventure teaches readers simple words in Spanish as they experience the bustling life of a border town. Follow Little Lobo and his dog Bernabe as they deliver supplies to a variety of vendors, selling everything from sweets to sombreros, portraits to pi\u00f1atas, carved masks to comic books!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a1Vamos! Let’s Go Eat\u202f(World of \u00a1Vamos!)<\/strong><\/em><\/a> (Versify) by Raul the Third<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Little Lobo returns to share his love of food and wrestling in this delicious follow-up to\u202fVamos! Let’s\u202fGo to the Market\u202ffrom Pura Belpr\u00e9 Medal-winning illustrator Ra\u00fal the Third. <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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In this new \u00a1Vamos! title, Little Lobo is excited to take in a show with wrestling star El Toro in his bustling border town.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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After getting lunch orders from the luchador and his friends to help prepare for the event, Little Lobo takes readers on a tour of food trucks that sell his favorite foods, like quesadillas with red peppers and Mexican-Korean tacos. Peppered with easy-to-remember Latin-American Spanish vocabulary, this glorious celebration of food is sure to leave every reader hungry for lunch!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Jam-packed with fun details and things to see, the \u00a1Vamos! books are essential reads.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a1Vamos! Let’s Cross the Bridge\u202f(World of \u00a1Vamos!)<\/strong><\/em><\/a> (Versify) by Raul the Third<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Little Lobo and Bernab\u00e9 are back in this joyful story about coming together and celebrating community, a lively follow-up to \u00a1Vamos! Let’s Go Eat, by Pura Belpr\u00e9 Medal-winning illustrator Ra\u00fal the Third. <\/strong><\/p>\n

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People are always crossing the bridge for work, to visit family, or for play. Some going this way; others going that way. Back and forth they go. With friends on foot and in bicycles, in cars and trucks, the bridge is an incredibly busy place with many different types of vehicles.<\/p>\n

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Little Lobo and his dog Bernab\u00e9 have a new truck and they are using it to carry party supplies over the bridge with their pals El Toro and La Oink Oink. The line is long and everyone on the bridge is stuck. How will they pass the time?<\/p>\n

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AUGUST 2022 <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Last Karankawas<\/em><\/a> <\/strong>(Henry Holt & Company) by Kimberly Garza<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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A kaleidoscopic, emotionally charged debut about a tight-knit community of Mexican and Filipino families on the Texas coast. Unflinching, lyrical, and singular, The Last Karankawas<\/em> is a portrait of America rarely witnessed, where browning palm trees and oily waters mark the forefront of ecological change. It is a deeply imagined exploration of familial inheritance, human perseverance, and the histories we assign to ourselves, establishing Kimberly Garza as a brilliant new literary voice.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Money, Murder, Sex, and Beer:: The Texas Trial of Emma Burgemeister<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (State House Press) by Robert L. Gulley<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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There was never any doubt that Emma Burgemeister shot and killed beer and real estate magnate Otto Koehler on November 12, 1914. The question remained: Why? The deceased was one of the wealthiest and most respected persons in the Southwest and a pillar of the community. As a result, his murder and trial drew national attention. Soon, the entire affair was one of the most famous murder cases ever tried in Bexar County–a part of Texas known to have some notorious characters. Now, for the first time ever, MONEY, MURDER, SEX, AND BEER presents testimony from the trial, legal analysis, and other information that allows the readers to draw their own conclusions regarding the guilt or innocence of the alleged murderer. What makes the story unique is the efforts of officials in San Antonio and friends of Otto Koehler–the victim–to subvert the judicial process to avoid having the case go to trial. For a dead man with a recently spurned mistress, who could predict what secrets might come to light on the witness stand?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Texas Dives: Enduring Neighborhood Bars of the Lone Star State<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/strong> (Texas A&M University Press) by Anthony Head<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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While sometimes mischaracterized as the last respite of alcoholism, despair, and questionable motives, Texas dive bars are a reminder that life is not limited to the pressures and profits of the 9-to-5 world. A true dive earns its status through age and patron loyalty, so while dives are outposts from much of society, they\u2019re typically stable businesses and often active in their neighborhoods. Dives are also gathering places, where the members, lubricated by affordable beer and long pours of whisky, solve the world\u2019s problems on a regular basis.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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A Ballad of Love and Glory<\/strong><\/em><\/a> (Atria Books)  by Reyna Grande<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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A forgotten war. An unforgettable romance.<\/p>\n

The year is 1846. After the controversial annexation of Texas, the US Army marches south to provoke war with M\u00e9xico over the disputed R\u00edo Grande boundary.\u200b<\/p>\n

Ximena Salom\u00e9 is a gifted Mexican healer who dreams of building a family with the man she loves on the coveted land she calls home. But when Texas Rangers storm her ranch and shoot her husband dead, her dreams are burned to ashes. Vowing to honor her husband\u2019s memory and defend her country, Ximena uses her healing skills as an army nurse on the frontlines of the ravaging war.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, John Riley, an Irish immigrant in the Yankee army desperate to help his family escape the famine devastating his homeland, is sickened by the unjust war and the unspeakable atrocities against his countrymen by nativist officers. In a bold act of defiance, he swims across the R\u00edo Grande and joins the Mexican Army\u2014a desertion punishable by execution. He forms the St. Patrick\u2019s Battalion, a band of Irish soldiers willing to fight to the death for M\u00e9xico\u2019s freedom.<\/p>\n

When Ximena and John meet, a dangerous attraction blooms between them. As the war intensifies, so does their passion. Swept up by forces with the power to change history, they fight not only for the fate of a nation but for their future together.<\/p>\n

Heartbreaking and lyrical, Reyna Grande\u2019s spellbinding saga, inspired by true events and historical figures, brings these two unforgettable characters to life and illuminates a largely forgotten moment in history that impacts the US-M\u00e9xico border to this day.<\/p>\n

Will Ximena and John survive the chaos of this bitter war, or will their love be devoured along with the land they strive to defend?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Bodyguard <\/em><\/strong><\/a>(St. Martin’s Press) by Katherine Center<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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She\u2019s got his back.<\/strong>
Hannah Brooks looks more like a kindergarten teacher than somebody who could kill you with a wine bottle opener. Or a ballpoint pen. Or a dinner napkin. But the truth is, she\u2019s an Executive Protection Agent (aka “bodyguard”), and she just got hired to protect superstar actor Jack Stapleton from his middle-aged, corgi-breeding stalker.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s got her heart.<\/strong>
Jack Stapleton\u2019s a household name\u2014captured by paparazzi on beaches the world over, famous for, among other things, rising out of the waves in all manner of clingy board shorts and glistening like a Roman deity. But a few years back, in the wake of a family tragedy, he dropped from the public eye and went off the grid.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve got a secret.<\/strong>
When Jack\u2019s mom gets sick, he comes home to the family\u2019s Texas ranch to help out. Only one catch: He doesn\u2019t want his family to know about his stalker. Or the bodyguard thing. And so Hannah\u2014against her will and her better judgment\u2014finds herself pretending to be Jack\u2019s girlfriend as a cover. Even though her ex, like a jerk, says no one will believe it.<\/p>\n

What could possibly go wrong???
Hannah hardly believes it, herself. But the more time she spends with Jack, the more real it all starts to seem. And there lies the heartbreak. Because it\u2019s easy for Hannah to protect Jack. But protecting her own, long-neglected heart? That\u2019s the hardest thing she\u2019s ever done.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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JULY 2022<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Red Sky Morning: The Epic True Story of Texas Ranger Company F<\/a><\/strong> <\/i> (St. Martin’s Press) by Joe Pappalardo<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The explosive and bloody true history of Texas Rangers Company F, made up of hard men who risked their lives to bring justice to a lawless frontier.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Between 1886 and 1888, Sergeant James Brooks, of Texas Ranger Company F, was engaged in three fatal gunfights, endured disfiguring bullet wounds, engaged in countless manhunts, was convicted of second-degree murder, and rattled Washington, D.C. with a request for a pardon from the US president. His story anchors the tale of Joe Pappalardo’s Red Sky Morning<\/i>, an epic saga of lawmen and criminals set in Texas during the waning years of the \u201cOld West.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Alongside Brooks are the Rangers of Company F, who range from a pious teetotaler to a cowboy fleeing retribution for killing a man. They are all led by Captain William Scott, who cut his teeth as a freelance undercover informant but was facing the end of his Ranger career. Company F hunted criminals across Texas and beyond, killing them as needed, and were confident they could bring anyone to \u201cRanger justice.\u201d But Brooks\u2019 men met their match in the Conner family, East Texas master hunters and jailbreakers who were wanted for their part in a bloody family feud.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The full story of Company F\u2019s showdown with the Conner family is finally being told, with long dead voices being heard for the first time. This truly hidden history paints the grim picture of neighbors and relatives becoming snitches and bounty hunters, and a company of Texas Rangers who waded into the conflict only to find themselves over their heads \u2013 and in the fight of their lives.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Miraflores: San Antonio’s Mexican Garden of Memory<\/a><\/strong> <\/i>(Maverick Books) <\/i>by Anne Elise Urrutia and foreword by Tom\u00e1s Ybarra-Frausto, <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Aureliano Urrutia, a prominent physician and public servant in Mexico City, built Miraflores garden after he immigrated to San Antonio, Texas, from Mexico in 1914 during the Mexican Revolution. A man of science, Urrutia professed the importance of nature, art, literature, history, music, and community.
Everything in Miraflores, located near the headwaters of the San Antonio River–the plants, architecture, sculpture, and artisanship–formed an atmospheric landscape reflecting Urrutia’s love for and memory of his homeland. Sculptures and fountains created by Luis L. Sanchez, Ignacio Asnsolo, and Dionicio Rodriguez, and other Mexican artists and artisans evoked the ideals of Mexican culture, all surrounded by Talavera tile and plant species native to Mexico.
The wear of time saw many of the garden’s features, artworks, and landscape elements decayed, lost, or significantly altered. Despite being one of the country’s unique cultural landscapes, situated at the edge of historic Brackenridge Park, the garden became barely recognizable.
In Miraflores<\/i>, Anne Elise Urrutia, the great-granddaughter of Urrutia, recounts the garden’s history, drawing on family archives and other primary sources to reconstruct this remarkable story.
Miraflores<\/i> celebrates the importance of green spaces in urban areas and the vitality of a place’s cultural, historical, and artistic meanings. Urrutia’s garden was a magical gift to Texas and an international tribute to his Mexican homeland.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Lupe Lopez: Rock Star Rules!<\/a><\/i><\/strong> (Candlewick Press (MA)) by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo, Pat Zietlow Miller, & Joe Cepeda (Illustrator)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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When Lupe Lopez struts through the doors of Hector P. Garcia Elementary in sunglasses with two taped-up Number 2 pencils–drumsticks, of course–poking from her pocket, her confidence is off the charts. All day, Lupe drums on desks, tables, and chairs while Ms. Quintanilla reminds her of school rules. Lupe has her own rules: 1) Don’t listen to anyone. 2) Make lots of noise. Rataplan! 3) Have fans, not friends. But with her new teacher less than starstruck, and fans hard to come by, Lupe wonders if having friends is such a bad idea after all. Can it be that true star power means knowing when to share the spotlight?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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More Than You’ll Ever Know<\/a><\/strong> (<\/i>William Morrow & Company) by Katie Gutierrez<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The dance becomes an affair, which becomes a marriage, which becomes a murder…<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In 1985, Lore Rivera marries Andres Russo in Mexico City, even though she is already married to Fabian Rivera in Laredo, Texas, and they share twin sons. Through her career as an international banker, Lore splits her time between two countries and two families\u2014until the truth is revealed and one husband is arrested for murdering the other.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In 2017, while trawling the internet for the latest, most sensational news reports, struggling true-crime writer Cassie Bowman encounters an article detailing that tragic final act. Cassie is immediately enticed by what is not <\/i>explored: Why would a woman\u2014a <\/b>mother<\/i>\u2014risk everything for a secret double marriage? Cassie sees an opportunity\u2014she\u2019ll track Lore down and capture the full picture, the choices, the deceptions that led to disaster. But the more time she spends with Lore, the more Cassie questions the facts surrounding the murder itself. Soon, her determination to uncover the truth could threaten to derail Lore\u2019s now quiet life\u2014and expose the many secrets both women are hiding.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Told through alternating timelines, More Than You\u2019ll Ever Know<\/i> is both a gripping mystery and a wrenching family drama. Presenting a window into the hearts of two very different women, it explores the many conflicting demands of marriage and motherhood, and the impossibility of ever truly knowing someone\u2014especially those we love.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Personal Geography<\/a><\/i><\/strong> (Welcome Rain Publishers) by Geoff Rips <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The world is falling apart at every turn as New York investigator Giacomo Berg undertakes a desperate search for longtime friend Peter Proust before he disappears from the face of the earth. Set in the chaotic months leading up to the millennium, Peter, last heard from in Texas, seems to be working intently to fade into the landscape.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Berg’s search leads deep into the underbelly of America, where he encounters a survivalist waiting for the bomb, people dodging space debris, and a commune hidden in the East Texas woods run by a messianic rock star. All are trying to protect themselves in a world gone haywire.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Berg is joined by Texas-born friend Bonita “B.C.” Boyd, who works documenting disappeared persons and assisting political refugees. Before they can continue on Peter Proust’s trail, they are pulled into a frantic investigation by Boyd’s friends living in a Houston suburb, who believe they are being poisoned by local chemical plants.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The tortuous course of their quest for Peter is mirrored by the meandering trajectory of their relationship as Berg and B.C. navigate the swamps, deserts, and mountains of the Southwest, determined to rescue Peter Proust before he vanishes completely.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Oleander City: A Novel Based on a True Story<\/a><\/strong> <\/i>(Blackstone Publishing) by Matt Bondurant<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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In the wake of the 1900 Galveston hurricane, three lives converge despite persecution from the Ku Klux Klan, a bare-knuckle boxing match gone wrong, and the recovery efforts of the American Red Cross.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Based on a true story<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The hurricane of 1900, America’s worst natural disaster, left the island city of Galveston in ruins. Thousands perished, including all ninety-three children at the Sisters of the Incarnate Word orphanage–except six-year-old Hester, who miraculously survived. Oleander City is the tale of this little girl and the volatile collision between the American Red Cross, the Ku Klux Klan, and one of the most famous boxing matches in American history. The bout, organized to raise money for the recovery effort, featured the enigmatic veteran Chrysanthemum Joe Choynski, the most successful Jewish boxer in America, and Jack Johnson, a young hometown hero known as the Galveston Giant. The storied battle forged a bond between the two legendary fighters and put Johnson on the path to become the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Clara Barton and the Red Cross minister to the sick and hungry as mounted vigilantes use the chaotic situation to settle old scores. After witnessing a terrible crime, Hester finds sanctuary with the ladies of the Red Cross, in a heartrending convergence of these historic figures.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Notebook Keeper: A Story of Kindness from the Border<\/a><\/i><\/strong> (Random House Studio) by Stephen Brise\u00f1o, Magdalena Mora (Illustrator)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

After traveling to Tijuana, Mexico, Noemi and her mother are denied entry at the border and must find the refugee in charge of the notebook, an unofficial ledger of those waiting to cross into the United States. Includes author’s note.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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JUNE 2022<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Nobody’s Pilgrims<\/a><\/span><\/i><\/strong> <\/strong>(Cinco Puntos Press) by Sergio Troncoso<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

No Country for Old Men<\/span><\/i> meets Contagion<\/i> in this story of three teenagers on the run, carrying a great menace, and chased by a greater evil.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Three teenagers are traveling northeast in a navy blue Ford pickup. Turi has fled his abusive family to see the beautiful New England landscape he’s always dreamed about. Arnulfo is undocumented and wants only to find someplace to work and live. Molly seeks a new life far away from her nowhere Missouri town. Turi and Arnulfo are best friends. Molly and Turi are falling in love.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But for all their innocence, violence follows the trio at every turn. The mean viejito<\/i> who owns the truck wants it back. The narco who hid a deadly shipment in the truck really, really<\/i> wants it back. And the imperturbable hitman the narco sends after the trio will kill anyone who stands in his way. Turi, Arnulfo, and Molly might outrun the carnage that’s stalking them … but they can’t elude the chaos they’re carrying, no matter how far they go.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A literary novel with the propulsion of a thriller, a genre joyride written in the prose of a master, Nobody’s Pilgrims<\/i> both offers and questions the possibility of escape in America — like Huckleberry Finn<\/i> with a gritty frontera twist.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Unsettled Land: From Revolution to Republic, the Struggle for Texas<\/a> <\/em><\/strong>(Basic Books) by Sam W Haynes<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A bold new history of the origins and aftermath of the Texas Revolution, revealing how Indians, Mexicans, and Americans battled for survival in one of the continent\u2019s most diverse regions<\/span> <\/b><\/p>\n

 
The Texas Revolution has long been cast as an epic episode in the origins of the American West. As the story goes, larger-than-life figures like Sam Houston, David Crockett, and William Barret Travis fought to free Texas from repressive Mexican rule. In Unsettled Land<\/i>, historian Sam Haynes reveals the reality beneath this powerful creation myth. He shows how the lives of ordinary people\u2014white Americans, Mexicans, Native Americans, and those of African descent\u2014were upended by extraordinary events over twenty-five years. After the battle of San Jacinto, racial lines snapped taut as a new nation, the Lone Star republic, sought to expel Indians, marginalize Mexicans, and tighten its grip on the enslaved. 
 
This is a revelatory and essential new narrative of a major turning point in the history of North America. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands<\/a><\/strong> <\/span><\/i>(W.W. Norton Company) by Kelly Lytle Hern\u00e1ndez<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“Rebel historian” Kelly Lytle Hern\u00e1ndez reframes our understanding of U.S. history in this groundbreaking narrative of revolution in the borderlands.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Bad Mexicans<\/span><\/i> tells the dramatic story of the magonistas<\/i>, the migrant rebels who sparked the 1910 Mexican Revolution from the United States. Led by a brilliant but ill-tempered radical named Ricardo Flores Mag\u00f3n, the magonistas were a motley band of journalists, miners, migrant workers, and more, who organized thousands of Mexican workers\u2014and American dissidents\u2014to their cause. Determined to oust Mexico\u2019s dictator, Porfirio D\u00edaz, who encouraged the plunder of his country by U.S. imperialists such as Guggenheim and Rockefeller, the rebels had to outrun and outsmart the swarm of U. S. authorities vested in protecting the Diaz regime. The U.S. Departments of War, State, Treasury, and Justice as well as police, sheriffs, and spies, hunted the magonistas<\/i> across the country. Capturing Ricardo Flores Mag\u00f3n was one of the FBI\u2019s first cases.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Ambassador of Nowhere Texas<\/a><\/span><\/i><\/strong> (Henry Holt & Company) by Kimberly Willis Holt<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Kimberly Willis Holt’s The Ambassador of Nowhere, Texas<\/i> is a stunning post-9\/11 companion to the National Book Award-winner When Zachary Beaver Came to Town.<\/i><\/p>\n

Decades after the Vietnam War and Toby\u2019s life-changing summer with Zachary Beaver, Toby\u2019s daughter Rylee is at a crossroads\u2014her best friend Twig has started pushing her away just as Joe, a new kid from New York, settles into their small town of Antler. Rylee befriends Joe and learns that Joe\u2019s father was a first responder on 9\/11. The two unlikely friends soon embark on a project to find Zachary Beaver and hopefully reconnect him with Rylee’s father almost thirty years later.<\/p>\n

This beautiful middle grade novel is a tribute to friendships\u2014old and new\u2014and explores the challenges of rebuilding what may seem lost or destroyed.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Did Beatniks Kill John F. Kennedy?: Bongo Joe’s Requiem for the President<\/a><\/span><\/i><\/strong> (Beatdom Books) by Rob Johnson<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Rob Johnson shines a new light on the Kennedy assassination, framing it through the lens of a beatnik bar that was frequented by the Secret Service the night before the President was shot dead in Dallas.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Ghostly Tales of the Haunted Southwest<\/a><\/strong> <\/span><\/i>(Spooky America) (Arcadia Children’s Books) by Alan Brown <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ghost stories from the Southwestern United States have never been so creepy, fun, and full of mystery<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The haunted history of the Southwest comes to life–even when the main players are dead. Visit Fort Huachuca to catch a glimpse of the ghosts of Buffalo Soldiers. Or spend the night at the Museum of Colorado Prisons in Canon City, but don’t count on getting much sleep while surrounded by restless spirits. Dive into this spooky chapter book for suspenseful tales of bumps in the night, paranormal investigations,<\/span><\/span><\/span> and the unexplained; just be sure to keep the light on.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

MARCH \/ APRIL 2022<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Texas Job<\/a> <\/i><\/b>(Poisoned Pen Press) <\/b>by Reavis Wortham  <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Texas Ranger Tom Bell is tracking a fugitive killer when he rides into Pine Top, a hastily erected shanty-town crawling with rough and desperate men-oil drillers, come by the thousands in search of work. It soon becomes apparent that the lawman’s poking around has irritated the wrong people, and when two failed attempts are made on his life, Bell knows that he’s getting closer to finding out who is responsible for cheating and murdering the local landowners in order to access the rich oil fields flowing beneath their farms. When they ambush him for a third time while he’s out with a local woman he’s fallen for, they make the deadly mistake of killing her and leaving him alive.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Sparrows of Montenegro<\/i><\/a><\/strong> <\/a>(Skyhorse Publishing) by Bj Mayo <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Their journey takes them into the heart of the dangerous Llano Estacado region known as the Comancheria. The area is ruthlessly defended by a band of Quahadi Comanche and their stoic leader, Lonely Horse. The Troop encounters a large group of Comanches and the gun-running Comancheros at Mushaway Mountain, close to Gail, Texas. A quick battle ensues that leaves eight men dead.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Queen of the West: A Documentary History of San Antonio, 1718-1900<\/i><\/b> <\/a>(State House Press) by Richard Bruce Winders<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Queen of the West: A Documentary History of San Antonio, 1718\u20131900<\/em> takes readers through a series of important writings detailing how San Antonio transformed from an important but threatened outpost to a thriving Edwardian city.  The author, Richard Bruce Winders, provides an introduction to each eye-witness account providing diverse perspectives on the history of San Antonio by the people who  actually lived it.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Coraz\u00f3n Abierto: Mexican American Voices in Texas Music<\/i><\/b> <\/b><\/a>(Texas A&M University Press) by Kathleen A Hudson<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Coraz\u00f3n Abierto: Mexican American Voices in Texas Music<\/i> provides a wide view of the myriad contributions Mexican American artists have made to music in Texas and the United States. Based on interviews with longtime stalwarts of Mexican American music\u2014Flaco Jim\u00e9nez, Tish Hinojosa, Ernie Durawa, Rosie Flores, and others\u2014and also conversations with newer voices like Lesly Reynaga, Marisa Rose Mejia, Josh Baca, and many more, Kathleen Hudson allows the musicians to tell their own stories in a unique and personal way. As the artists reveal in their free-ranging discussions with Hudson, their influences go far beyond traditionally Mexican genres like conjunto<\/i>, norte\u00f1o<\/i>, and Tejano to extend into rock, jazz, country-western, zydeco, and many other styles.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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I’ll Always Come Back to You<\/i><\/b> <\/a>(Eerdmans Books for Young Readers) By Carmen Tafolla, Grace Zong (Illustrator)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n