Don R Carleton

No Texas archetype is more indelibly stamped on the public perception than the Texas oil mana shrewd, flamboyant figure captured most recently in the character of J. R. Ewing in the long-running television series Dallas.” During the 1980s when this program was playing worldwide, reinforcing the ster...

Texas native James Farmer is one of the Big Four” of the turbulent 1960s civil rights movement, along with Martin Luther King Jr., Roy Wilkins, and Whitney Young. Farmer might be called the forgotten man of the movement, overshadowed by Martin Luther King Jr., who was deeply influenced by Farmer’s i...

In a state assumed to have a constitutionally weak governor, the Speaker of the Texas House wields enormous power, with the ability to almost single-handedly dictate the legislative agenda. The House Will Come to Order charts the evolution of the Speaker's role from a relatively obscure office to on...

Red McCombs has, in his words, "dabbled in automobiles, cattle, oil and gas, broadcasting, insurance, racehorses, motion pictures, real estate, politics, minor league baseball, and pro football." The successful businessman is also the cofounder of Clear Channel Communications, the former owner of tw...

The art of furniture making flourished in Texas during the mid-nineteenth century. To document this rich heritage of locally made furniture, Miss Ima Hogg, the well-known philanthropist and collector of American decorative arts, enlisted Lonn Taylor and David B. Warren to research early Texas furnit...

Dolph Briscoe, governor of Texas from 1973 until 1979, is the largest individual landowner and rancher in a state famous for its huge ranches. He is one of the most respected businessmen in Texas, with a portfolio that includes banks, agribusinesses, cattle, and oil and gas properties. His philanthr...

Intimate. Revealing. Candid. Published by the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, Conversations with Cronkite gives readers a rare glimpse into the life and times of Walter Cronkite in his own words. The book contains selections from interviews between the legendary journalist and an experien...

Bernard Rapoport has lived the American Dream. Born to Russian Jewish immigrant parents in San Antonio, Texas, in 1917, he grew up in poverty and worked his way through the University of Texas during the Great Depression. In 1951, he founded the American Income Life Insurance Company, which he devel...