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Spending Thanksgiving with the Relatives?
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Perhaps there is no better time than the present to examine new insights into how Americans construct the meaning of war.  The Martial Imagination: Cultural Aspects of American Warfare
Edited by Jimmy L. Bryan Jr.
Martial experiences and subsequent mythologies profoundly affect ways in which Americans think of themselves. Wars produce heroic figures who serve to define national character, and they set the stage for grand narratives of belonging and sacrifice to serve as benchmarks for moments of national transformation.
This new volume brings together twelve scholars from such diverse fields as American studies, public culture analysis, and media studies to examine how war shapes the American psyche. They uncover surprising revelations of how Americans have grappled with the trauma of war, salvaged meaning from the meaningless, or advanced ulterior agendas.
Put Thanksgiving dinner into perspective this year--in more ways than one!
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Thinking ahead about gifts?
Thankfully, we have plenty of great ideas!
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We have many titles that make great gifts and don't require size or color specifications. Browse our gift books to find the perfect fit for someone on your list this season.
See our coupon below.
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Speaking of Texas Style . . .
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Here are some selections from other member presses of the Texas Book Consortium that are sure to please the Texan (or Texas enthusiast) on your holiday gift list.
Dog Trots and Mud Cats: The Texas Log House
 "Log dwellings are many things to many people. . . . In one way or another, log cabins tell us much about America and Americans, both past and present."--from the Preface by Terry G. Jordan
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Chronicles of the Big Bend:
A Photographic Memoir of Life on the Border
By W. D. Smithers
Foreword by Kenneth Baxter Ragsdale
TSHA Press
For over half a century, Smithers painstakingly recorded the frontier era of Big Bend that ended in 1944 when it became a national park. See Big Bend as few did, and as no one will again. |
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Christmas at the Ranch
By Elmer Kelton
Foreword by Walt McDonald
Illustrations by H. C. Zachry
State House Press
"If you are looking for a Christmas gift for your favorite cowboy, you're looking at it right now."--Texas Illustrated Magazine
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Civilizing the Texas Frontier
By Bill McCarron
SFA Press
Tracing the lives and legacies of Amarillo pioneers Mr. and Mrs. Lowry Smith, McCarron parallels their experiences and successes with numerous civilizing events on the Texas frontier.
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The Wynne Home: Then and Now
Edited by Betty Burdett, Michael Dunican, Michelle Gille, Christina Henderson, Tamara Hill, and Nickie Pittman
Photography by David Carpenter
Texas Review Press"A fascinating look . . . at the family history and the sensitive renovations of the nineteenth century mansion located at the gateway to downtown Huntsville."--Stephanie Smither
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Stay indoors on Black Friday. Shop from home!
Use this coupon for any of the books mentioned in this newsletter!
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Offer Expires 12/31/2013. Code applicable on all books listed in the gift flyer and in the November 2013 newsletter.
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Questions? Email k-krol@tamu.edu or call 800.826.8911 for assistance.
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Celebrate Chanukah, Texas StyleTexas has a long and storied Jewish history. Read up on some notable figures that helped forge the state of Texas as we know it today.
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Pioneer Jewish Texans
By Natalie Ornish
"From Jewish buccaneers
. . . to Jewish patriots at the Alamo, Pioneer Jewish Texans is a rich look at an often overlooked aspect of Lone Star history."
--Steve Bennett, Houston Chronicle
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Jewish Stars in Texas: Rabbis and Their Work
By Hollace A. Weiner
"For East Coast folks who assume Texas has no Jews, Hollace Weiner's book is the equivalent of a pastrami on rye with a jalapeno on the side."--Molly Ivins
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NEW RELEASE from Texas Book Consortium member TCU Press
The Harness Maker's Dream: Nathan Kallison and the Rise of South Texas
By Pulitzer Prize-winning author Nick Kotz
"Add one more chapter to the tale of how Texas became Texas--Nick Kotz's meticulous and lovingly researched account of how his grandfather at age 17 escaped the marauding Cossacks of Czarist Russia, made his way to America and then San Antonio where he built the largest ranch and farm supply business in the Southwest, and became an innovator rancher. A dramatic, inspiring and heretofore little known side of Texas history."--Bob Schieffer, CBS News
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 By Christin Wuensche, Lead Order Fulfillment/Customer Service Representative
I picked up Ron Rozelle's award-winning My Boys and Girls Are in There: The 1937 New London School Explosion when it came out last year. I was curious about all the buzz it was generating and about what had happened.
In March 1937, the school building in the small East Texas town of New London exploded. Over 300 people died, most of them students, in the worst school disaster in US history. The fact that I knew so little about it was what drew me in. How could anyone handle that sort of tragedy, especially one that involved so many children? 
Not surprisingly, what I read wasn't easy to handle. The school and almost everyone else in town were illegally tapping oil pipelines running through the area, which caused the gas leak that ignited the school. Rozelle's book follows several individuals throughout the day, leading up to their places at the time of the explosion. I felt like I went through the difficult process of realization along with the parents and the surviving students who suffered life-long guilt for making it out alive.
This may be a strange choice for a favorite book, but it made me reflect on how thankful I am for my life and my loved ones. It also caused me to reflect that it is a rare life in this world that is not touched by tragedy on some level. I developed a deeper perspective on struggling through unexpected tragedy.
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TAMU Press Author Wins Prestigious Award
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 Shelley Wachsmann, Meadows Professor of Biblical Archaeology at Texas A&M University and author of The Gurob Ship-Cart Model and Its Mediterranean Context has been named joint winner of the 2013 Keith Muckelroy Memorial Award, presented by the Nautical Archaeology Society in Portsmouth, UK.
Programme Director Mark Beattie-Edwards says:
" The Gurob Ship-Cart Model is an impressive and attractive piece . . . tightly focused on an unusual and very narrow subject which the author considers with great originality and rigour. Wachsmann u  ses this discovery and his expertise on Bronze and Iron Age ships and seafaring to provide a thorough survey of the historical situation in the late second millennium BC, and the available evidence for early Mediterranean shipping, thereby giving the ship-model its wider context. It is also a very enjoyable read. In many ways this is maritime archaeology at its best."
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New Interns Named for 2013-2014
 | | Wilhelm and Ashby |
Laura Wilhelm, a junior majoring in visualization studies, has been named the Parchman Intern for Development and Marketing Outreach, a position funded by Advancement Board members James C. Swaim '74 and Debra Parchman-Swaim. Laura is the second student to hold this position since it was established in 2012.
Hannah Ashby, a sophomore human resources major with minors in business and communication, has been named as the T. Edgar '74 and Nancy Paup Marketing Intern, the third student to hold this position since it was established in 2011 by TAMU Press Advancement Board members T. Edgar and Nancy Paup.
Wilhelm and Ashby will work strategically with the Press's director and the marketing team on high profile projects through design, special promotions work, and content management. Honoring Editor-in-Chief Mary Lenn Dixon on December 5,2013 The Press's director and staff, its Faculty Advisory Committee, and its Advancement Board have proclaimed December 5, 2013, "Mary Lenn Dixon Day" in honor of our long-serving editor-in-chief whose many publishing credits and accomplishments will culminate upon her retirement at the end of 2013.  | | Recognizing Dixon at the 2013 Advancement Board Meeting |
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