This
engaging, well-written anthology by popular state historian Mike
Cox contains fifty-two stories set in “the middle of Texas.” Cox
divides his book into fifteen sections: Indians, the Civil War, Law and Disorder,
Matters of the Heart, Critters, Characters, Landmarks, A Room for the Night, Mysteries
and Could-Have-Beens, Ghost Towns, Ghosts, Treasure, Getting There and Back, Laughing
Matters, and Traditions.
Central Texas Tales examines such intriguing
topics as Barton Springs, UT mascot Bevo, “psych ops” at Fort Mason, Hill Country
rock fences, the Battle of Bull Creek, O. Henry, Governor Jim Hogg, rancher-lawman
Bill Wharton, Dare Devil Rogers, the Antlers Hotel in Kingsland, Waco’s Cotton
Palace, and the lost town of Old Bluffton, submerged by the creation of Lake Buchanan
in 1937.
Texas Escapes readers will recognize
Cox from his celebrated “Texas
Tales” column. The author of more than twenty books, he is best-known, perhaps,
for his two-volume account of the state’s iconic law enforcement agency: Wearing
the Cinco Peso: The Texas Rangers, 1821-1900 (2008) and Time of the Rangers:
The Texas Rangers From 1900 to the Present (2009). His other studies include
Fred Gipson, Texas Storyteller (1980), Historic Amarillo: An Illustrated
History (2000), and Texas Disasters: True Stories of Tragedy and Survival
(2006). A member of the Texas Institute of Letters, he received the A. C. Greene
Award for Lifetime Achievement at the West Texas Book Festival in 2011. In addition
to his successful writing career, Cox has worked for the Texas Department of Public
Safety, the Texas Department of Transportation, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department. Central
Texas Tales joins his West Texas Tales (2011), Big Bend Tales
(2011), and Texas Panhandle Tales (2012) in the American Chronicles Series
from the History Press. Texana enthusiasts, especially history teachers searching
for fresh material to enrich their lectures, will enjoy these entertaining, informative
publications. Three cheers for Mike
Cox!
- Review by Dr. Kirk Bane (Blinn College—Bryan campus)
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