Catherine Nixon Cooke – författare

David Lesch is a modern-day Renaissance man whose work has spanned continents and allowed him to explore cultures near and far. An acclaimed scholar, educator, author, and conflict resolution specialist, he has advised five U.S. presidential administrations at the highest levels about the head-spinning political, religious, and cultural complexities of the Middle East. He is the author or editor of seventeen books, including The History of the Middle East since the Rise of Islam, Syria: A Modern History, and The Arab-Israeli Conflict: A History.Long before, as the number one draft pick for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1980, Lesch followed his American dream, playing with many baseball greats until a shoulder injury sidelined him. He later became a distinguished professor of Middle East studies at Trinity University in San Antonio and was soon tapped by the United Nations, the U.S. State Department, and policy centers and governments internationally.Dodgers to Damascus documents a part of the world that has been shrouded in mystery and plagued by conflict, power struggles, and warfare, and offers a firsthand glimpse inside modern Syria, its neighboring countries, and their connections to the rest of the world. Lesch’s work in Syria resulted in a tenuous relationship with President Bashar al-Assad and many tense situations, including a poisoned meal that almost cost him his life. His encounters with elected officials, diplomats, spies, and conflict resolution specialists have all the elements of a Hollywood thriller and parallel his personal story of loss, crisis, and redemption.

David Lesch is a modern-day Renaissance man whose work has spanned continents and allowed him to explore cultures near and far. An acclaimed scholar, educator, author, and conflict resolution specialist, he has advised five U.S. presidential administrations at the highest levels about the head-spinning political, religious, and cultural complexities of the Middle East. He is the author or editor of seventeen books, including The History of the Middle East since the Rise of Islam, Syria: A Modern History, and The Arab-Israeli Conflict: A History.Long before, as the number one draft pick for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1980, Lesch followed his American dream, playing with many baseball greats until a shoulder injury sidelined him. He later became a distinguished professor of Middle East studies at Trinity University in San Antonio and was soon tapped by the United Nations, the U.S. State Department, and policy centers and governments internationally. Dodgers to Damascus documents a part of the world that has been shrouded in mystery and plagued by conflict, power struggles, and warfare, and offers a firsthand glimpse inside modern Syria, its neighboring countries, and their connections to the rest of the world.Lesch’s work in Syria resulted in a tenuous relationship with President Bashar al-Assad and many tense situations, including a poisoned meal that almost cost him his life. His encounters with elected officials, diplomats, spies, and conflict resolution specialists have all the elements of a Hollywood thriller and parallel his personal story of loss, crisis, and redemption.Lesch’s work in Syria resulted in a tenuous relationship with President Bashar al-Assad and many tense situations, including a poisoned meal that almost cost him his life. His encounters with elected officials, diplomats, spies, and conflict resolution specialists have all the elements of a Hollywood thriller and parallel his personal story of loss, crisis, and redemption.

To create the "Confluence of Civilizations" mural commissioned for the 1968 World''s Fair in San Antonio, Texas, Juan O''Gorman collected natural stones from all over Mexico—twelve colors in all—field stones that the artist knew would never fade or change their hue. Juan O''Gorman: A Confluence of Civilizations follows the life of Juan O''Gorman and covers the creation of this spectacular piece of midcentury public art that stands the test of time not just in vibrancy but as one of the most influential works created by a storied Mexican artist.Juan O''Gorman was a not only a painter and a muralist, a mosaic artist, a critic, and a professor, but he was also an architect and a revolutionary; possibly most famous for his close friendship with Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo and as designer of their infamous two-house studio in Mexico City—Casa Azul—linked by a symbolic bridge.To celebrate San Antonio''s "HemisFair" Exposition in 1968, Juan created the giant mosaic mural that still adorns one wall of the Lila Cockrell Theater along San Antonio''s famed River Walk. The design plans for the five ton mosaic measured 2600 square feet and consisted of 540 numbered panels, each weighting about 90 pounds.

At the center of San Antonio’s growth from a small pioneering town to a major western metropolis sits CPS Energy, the largest municipally owned energy utility in the United States and an innovator in harnessing, conserving, and capitalizing on natural energy resources.The story of modern energy in San Antonio begins in 1860, when the San Antonio Gas Company started manufacturing gas for streetlights in a small plant on San Pedro Creek, using tree resin that arrived by oxcart. The company grew from a dark, dusty frontier town with more saloons than grocery stores to a bustling crossroads to the West and, ultimately, a twentieth-first-century American city. Innovative city leaders purchased the utility from a New York–based holding company in 1942, and CPS Energy as we know it today was born.In Powering the City, Catherine Nixon Cooke discusses the rise and fall of big holding companies, the impact of the Great Depression and World War II--when 25 percent of the company’s workforce enlisted in the armed forces--on the city’s energy supply, and the emergence of nuclear energy and a nationally acclaimed model for harnessing solar and wind energy.Known and relatively unknown events are recounted, including Samuel Insull’s move to Europe after his empire crashed in 1929; President Franklin Roosevelt’s Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, which made it possible for the city to purchase the San Antonio Public Service Company; the city''s competition with the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority, whose champion was Congressman Lyndon Johnson, in which the city emerged victorious in a deal that today returns billions in financial benefit; legal wranglings such as one that led to the establishment of Valero Energy Corporation; and energy’s role in the Southwest Research Institute and the South Texas Medical Center, HemisFair 1968, Sea World, Fiesta Texas, and Morgan’s Wonderland.Images from CPS''s archive of historic photographs, some dating as far back as the early 1900s; back issues of its in-house magazine; and the Institute of Texas Cultures provide rich material to illustrate the story.As CPS Energy celebrates seventy-five years of city ownership, the region''s industrial, scientific, and technological innovation are due in part to the company’s extraordinary impact on San Antonio.

The major guiding principle in the life of Tom Slick was a relentless search for adventure and exploration of the unknown, sparked by his immense curiosity about everything and his willingness to embrace and investigate new ideas. He was a larger-than-life Texas oilman, entrepreneur, and explorer. He climbed mountains in the Himalayas in search of the legendary Yeti. He developed new breeds of cattle. He discovered major oil fields. He founded several research institutes in San Antonio, including the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, Southwest Research Institute, and the Mind Science Foundation. He even wrote and published on the topic of world peace in the 1950s; the Tom Slick World Peace Lectures at the University of Texas' LBJ Library and the endowed Tom Slick Professorship of World Peace were established after his death in 1962.In this revised and expanded edition of her previously published biography, Catherine Nixon Cooke, niece of Tom Slick, has mined personal letters, family papers, archives of the institutes founded by her uncle, and other resources to expand what we know of this enigmatic, energetic adventurer. In addition to relating his better-known exploits and pursuits, Cooke delves for the first time into Slick's shadowy connections with the world of international espionage, including clues that Slick may have been involved in certain operations and interests of the OSS and its successor organization, the CIA.Illustrated throughout with rare historic photographs, In Search of Tom Slick: Explorer and Visionary will introduce a new readership to this influential yet little known figure in modern history.

To create the Confluence of Civilizations in the Americas mural commissioned for the 1968 World's Fair in San Antonio, Texas, Juan O'Gorman collected natural stones from all over Mexico—twelve colors in all—field stones that the artist knew would never fade or change their hue. Juan O'Gorman: A Confluence of Civilizations follows the life of O'Gorman and covers the creation of this spectacular piece of midcentury public art, which stands the test of time not just in vibrancy but as one of the most influential works created by a Mexican artist.Juan O'Gorman was a not only a painter and a muralist, a mosaic artist, a critic, and a professor; he was also an architect and a revolutionary, possibly most famous for his close friendship with Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo and as the designer of their two-house studio in Mexico City—Casa Azul—linked by a symbolic bridge.To celebrate San Antonio's HemisFair Exposition in 1968, O'Gorman created the giant mosaic mural that still adorns one wall of the Lila Cockrell Theater along San Antonio's famed River Walk. The five-ton mosaic measured 2,600 square feet and consisted of 540 numbered panels, each weighing about 90 pounds.