Betty Simmons, a Texan in Slavery’s Last Years
Narratives collected by the federal Works Progress Administration, like the one recounted here, are an invaluable tool for retelling American history.
History
Valeria Luiselli’s Third Novel Reckons with the Trauma Inflicted on Migrant Kids
Lost Children Archive is not only an indictment of U.S. immigration policy, but a requiem memorializing every child who has ever lost their right to a childhood.
Who Writes History? The Fight to Commemorate a Massacre by the Texas Rangers
In 1918, a state-sanctioned vigilante force killed 15 unarmed Mexicans in Porvenir. When their descendants applied for a historical marker a century later, they learned that not everyone wants to remember one of Texas’ darkest days.
The Lone Star State Teems with Snakes, Lizards and Toads in ‘Herping Texas’
Michael Smith and Clint King's entertaining and rambling book recounts years of cold-blooded adventuring.
A New History Tears Down the Myth of the Texas Rangers
Monica Muñoz Martinez’s new book paints a brutally clear picture of the Rangers’ complicity in crimes against minorities.
Sarah Bird’s Lively New Novel Resurrects a Little-Known Civil War Hero
Bird produces a memorable re-creation of a freed slave who passed as a man to become a Buffalo Soldier — and of the thoroughly racist country in which she suffered and triumphed.
Homeward Bound
The first-of-its-kind Museum of Street Culture challenges art-world norms by employing homeless docents and displaying art on the street.
The Time-Traveler’s Guide to the Lower Pecos
Hidden away on private land in Southwest Texas is some of the oldest and best-preserved prehistoric rock art in the world. The Rock Art Rendezvous offers a rare glimpse.