About the Author:
STEPHEN L. HARDIN has been a historical consultant on several motion pictures including the 2004 production of The Alamo. His book Texian Iliad won the T.R. Fehrenbach Book Award and the Summerfield G. Roberts Award. He is professor of history at McMurry University, Abilene, Texas.
Review:
"Erudite and entertaining in equal measure, Texian Macabre is bound to become a classic in the historiography of the Texas Republic. The book splendidly re-creates early Houston with scenes that will long linger in the reader's memories. Hardin not only richly contextualizes the hanging of the unfortunate David James Jones, but also teases out information on the elusive perpetrator and his fellow roughs and rowdies from an impressive variety of obscure (and often opaque) sources. But while Hardin brings to life scores of early Texan personalities in vivid detail, it is above all the crude and ambitious city of Houston, with its denizens high and low, that emerges as the main character of this drama. Finally, anyone doubting the appropriateness of the term "macabre" to describe this story will be set straight in Hardin's climactic chapter, as the author graphically describes the indignities visited upon the bodies of both the living and the dead-especially poor David James Jones, who killed the wrong person at exactly the wrong time."--James E. Crisp, author Sleuthing the Alamo: Davy Crockett's Last Stand and Other Mysteries of the Texas Revolution -- James E. Crisp, author Sleuthing the Alamo: Davy Crockett's Last Stand
"Erudite and entertaining in equal measure, "Texian"" Macabre" is bound to become a classic in the historiography of the Texas Republic. The book splendidly re-creates early Houston with scenes that will long linger in the reader's memories. Hardin not only richly contextualizes the hanging of the unfortunate David James Jones, but also teases out information on the elusive perpetrator and his fellow roughs and rowdies from an impressive variety of obscure (and often opaque) sources. But while Hardin brings to life scores of early Texan personalities in vivid detail, it is above all the crude and ambitious city of Houston, with its denizens high and low, that emerges as the main character of this drama. Finally, anyone doubting the appropriateness of the term "macabre" to describe this story will be set straight in Hardin's climactic chapter, as the author graphically describes the indignities visited upon the bodies of both the living and the dead--especially poor David James Jones, who killed the wrong person at exactly the wrong time."--James E. Crisp, author "Sleuthing the Alamo: Davy Crockett's Last Stand""and""Other Mysteries of the Texas Revolution"--James E. Crisp, author Sleuthing the Alamo: Davy Crockett's Last Stand
""Texian"" Macabre" is one of the best books ever written about life on the Texas frontier. Stephen L. Hardin is a rare combination of scrupulous historian and high-spirited storyteller, and his account of the early days of Houston is alive with vivid characters, gruesome incidents, and mordant insights. This is a marvelous narrative from a peerless authority." --Stephen Harrigan, author of "The Gates of the Alamo"--Stephen Harrigan, author of The Gates of the Alamo
"In Hardin's fascinating "Texian Macabre", readers stroll through early Texas history as if they had actually been living during the time period shortly after the Texas Revolution. . . Readers of Texas history and individuals with knowledge of Houston will find this book to be mesmerizing." -;/div>--Janet K. Turek "Review of Texas Books "
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