Where the West Begins: Debating Texas Identity (Plains Histories)

Unsure which of its legacies are true and which to embrace, Texas grapples with an identity crisis. One camp insists that the state’s roots in slavery, segregation, and cotton make it southern. Another argues that its Native and ranching history make it western. Outside Texas, southern and western historians who don’t know what to make of the state ignore it altogether. In his innovative settling of the question, Glen Sample Ely examines the state’s historical DNA, making sense of Lone Star identity west of the hundredth meridian and defining Texas’s place in the American West.Focusing on the motives that shape how Texans appropriate their past―from cashing in on tourism to avoiding historical realities―Ely reveals the inner workings of a multiplicity of Texas identities.

Glen Sample Ely’s documentaries have appeared on PBS, the History Channel, and the Discovery Channel. His scholarly work has appeared in journals such as Southwestern Historical Quarterly and the New Mexico Historical Review. A Ph.D. graduate of Texas Christian University, he lives in Fort Worth, Texas. www.texashistory.com