The Bookshelf, The Parlor, The Young Texas Reader, and the Monthly

The Texas Bookshelf is different from the The Texas Parlor, http://texasparlor.blogspot.com/ . The Texas Parlor carries "general" bookish information and non-book information and even different Texana news and notes of use to the bibliographically challenged and other nosey folks intersted in historical, literary, and cultural observations. Will's Texana Monthly may carry material from either blog, but extends itself beyond those, especially for longer compilations or treatments. The Monthly, the Bookshelf and the Parlor are all companions. So, is the Young Texas Reader http://youngtexasreader.blogspot.com/ which specialized on books and such things for the youngest to the teenagers.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Texas Land of Legends - Bill Cannon


Texas: Land of Legends and Lore.

By Bill Cannon.

Lanham, MD: Republic of Texas Press / Taylor Trade / Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Group (dist by National Book Network), 2004. 216 pages, pbk, photos. $22.95 ISBN ISBN-13: 9781556229497 http://www.nbnbooks.com/

Cannon’s 100 historical anecdotes, legends, and folklore pieces are short (1 paragraph to 3 pages) and quite consumable. Some is the expected fodder, but most will be rather fresh to the usual reader. Here you find Three-Legged Williamson resting next to Bessie Coleman, the pioneer African American aviatrix and Barbara Jordan, known to all. It’s not secret, but here’s a version of how Box 13 was stolen for LBJ in 1948. The plains of Ector County reminded the early settlers of Russia, so you get the town of Odessa. Did Crockett’s “Old Betsy” come to Texas, or was it just too new fangled for tough Texas?

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