Regents' Professor of History at the University of North Texas (Ph. D. at the University of Virginia); specializes in Early US National period and the History of Texas. Books include: Wealth and Power in Antebellum Texas (Texas A&M U Press, 1977); Sam Houston and the American Southwest (HarperCollins, 1993); and An Empire for Slavery (LSU Press, 1989).

The best, most comprehensive account of the Lone Star saga that I know of; the place to start if you prefer Texas history to Texas mythology/" - Fritz Lanham, Houston Chronicle

• Maps and IllustrationsPrefaceAcknowledgment1. The First Texans2. Exploration and Adventure, 1519-16893. Spanish Texas, 1690-17794. Spanish Texas in the Age of Revolutions, 1779-18215. Mexican Texas, 1821-18356. The Texas Revolution, 1835-18367. The Republic of Texas, 1836-18468. Frontier Texas, 1846-18619. Empire State of the South, 1846-186110. The Civil War, 1861-186511. Reconstruction, 1865-187612. The Old West, 1877-190013. The New South and the Populist Revolt, 1877-190014. The Progressive Era, 1901-192015. The "Prosperity Decade," 1921-192916. The Great Depression and World War II, 1929-194517. The Rise of Modern Texas, 1945-197118. Modern Texas, 1971-200019. Texas in the New Millennium, 2001-201620. The Texas Mystique in the Twenty-First CenturyAppendix 1Appendix 2Select BibliographyIndex