Texas

“Texas is a big place with a complicated history, and Ben Johnson brings to life the stories of Texas in all its diversity. This book is for anyone who believes that an inclusive history of Texas matters.”—Rebecca Sharpless, Texas Christian University

“Johnson gives us a history which is unapologetically revisionist but which also displays the author’s genuine affection for his home state. It is indispensable reading for non-Texans hoping to understand the Lone Star State, and for Texans seeking a better understanding of themselves.”—Gregg Cantrell, author of The People’s Revolt: Texas Populists and the Roots of American Liberalism

“Authored by one of the best historians in the United States, this book’s brilliantly conceived and beautifully written chapters will reshape public conversations, classroom discussions, and popular understandings of Texas’s deep, varied, and contested past.”—Stephen Pitti, Yale University

“Writing about the ‘good times’ of the past is easy. More difficult and challenging is writing about the ‘bad’ and the ‘ugly.’ Ben Johnson does all three in his sweeping, elegantly written historical overview that features diverse voices and forgotten episodes to disrupt popular Texas myths and stereotypes. Johnson shows that the history of Texas is, indeed, an American history.”—David Montejano, author of Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836–1986