Betting,
Booze, and Brothels
Vice, Corruption, and Justice in Jefferson County,
Texas
From Spindletop to the 1960s by Wanda A. Landrey and Laura C. O’Toole By the turn of the twentieth century, Beaumont,
Texas had acquired a reputation as a rough place. Situated in the
oil-soaked chaos of Spindletop, Jefferson County was a hotbed of vice. For
decades, gambling and prostitution thrived as elected officials either
looked the other way or took money to keep quiet. That is, until 1960 when
a swashbuckling young state legislator blew into town and spearheaded an
intensive investigation into the rampant vice and governmental corruption
that supported it. And, at a time when such things were virtually unheard
of, he and his committee played it out on live television. When the dust
finally cleared, the local governments of Jefferson County were turned
inside out.
$24.95 Paperback
ISBN 157168-917-6
242 pages
Yield:
A Judge’s Fir$t_Year Diary
by Judge Janice Law "...If our courts are just theaters and not
places of justice, where as a nation are we headed?..." This excerpted juror's letter is one of many Judge Janice Law
weaves into the electrifying narrative of her rookie year on a county
criminal court bench in America's fourth largest city.
What is it really like to be a judge? Accepting a suggestion from
instructors at New Judge's School, Janice Law, a former print journalist,
kept a meticulous daily diary of her explosive first year as judge in
Harris County, (Houston) Texas, Criminal Court No. 5.
$26.95
Hardcover
ISBN 1-57168-405-0
6 by 9, 330 pages
Sex
Appealed
Was the U. S. Supreme Court Fooled? by Judge Janice Law When Deputy Joseph Richard Quinn and three other
veteran Harris County, Texas, sheriff’s deputies with guns drawn, burst
into an apartment the night of September 17, 1998, searching for a black
male with a gun, their shocking discovery in the back bedroom triggered a
chain of events resulting in a 2003 U. S. Supreme Court decision in
Lawrence v. Texas–that state laws criminalizing consensual, adult sodomy
are unconstitutional.
The landmark Lawrence ruling is the trigger event kicking away roadblocks
to gay marriage. Lawrence remains in headlines today, in a larger cultural
war, over adoption, employee benefits, the military’s Don’t_Ask_Don’t_Tell
policy, and related issues of judicial activism.
$29.95
Hardcover
ISBN 1-57168-888-9
6 by 9, 274 pages
MURDERED
JUDGES of the Twentieth Century By Susan P. Baker
"An amazing amount of research and assembly of facts to show
dangers related to the judiciary as well as failure to deal with the
mental health problems and related needed treatment often required and
more often ignored."
—Retired Judge Garvin Germany
A former Texas district court judge, Susan Baker spearheaded a drive for
courthouse security which resulted in her writing Murdered Judges of the
Twentieth Century. Her twenty-plus years of working with families and
children in crisis, and witnessing the heartbreak and meanness of
litigation, led her to write Heart of Divorce: Advice from a Judge,
published in 2004.
$26.95
Paperback
ISBN 1-57168-828-5
6 by 9, 234 pages
CRAPSHOOT
JUSTICE Politics, Money and the Texas
Judiciary
By Sam Kinch, Jr. For Campaigns For The People
With Susan Borreson Brewer
The reality for Texas judges is that in order to be elected or reelected, they must be either rich or really good at begging. Increasingly, they also have to be “pure” supporters of their political party. Texans tell pollsters that the big campaign money needed for elections influences judicial decisions—an opinion with which lawyers agree, as do a surprising number of judges. But Texans also tell pollsters that we should keep electing judges (despite the fact that every two years hundreds of thousands of us don’t even vote in judicial elections). The end result is a judicial election system that is merely a crapshoot.
The intention of the authors of Crapshoot Justice, which features interviews with a wide range of lawyers and former judges, is to keep stirring the pot until the system is changed. Published with generous support from THE ROCKWELL FUND AND TRULL
FOUNDATION
$22.95
Paperback
ISBN 1-57168-760-2
242 pages, 6 by 9, index
THE
SPIDER ROCK TREASURE A Texas Mystery of Lost
Spanish Gold By Steve Wilson
Hidden in the unforgiving earth of West Texas were
clues: archaic clues etched upon buried rocks, stacked as artifacts upon
other clues, or carved into rock walls. These centuries-old clues, placed
to lead Spaniards back to their cache, eventually formed an intricate web
which lured treasure seekers and captured them in its mystery. But the
question still remains: Has the Spider Rock treasure ever been found?
$26.95
Paperback
ISBN 1-57168-776-9
7 by 10, 208 pages, photos,
index, bibliography, notes
PRINCE
HALL FREEMASONRY
IN THE LONE STAR STATE From Cuney to Curtis 1875-2003 By Robert Uzzel
Freemasonry is one of the world’s oldest
fraternal organizations. Assuming its present form in England during the 18th century, Freemasonry
came to America with the colonists, and Freemasons have played many roles
in American history.
When the author first inquired about the admission of African
Americans to Masonic lodges, he was told: "They have their own
lodges." He later learned that white Masons viewed black Masons not
as "separate but equal" but as "irregular and
clandestine." Nevertheless, members of the
predominantly black Prince Hall Masonic Grand Lodges have held their heads
high and practiced the ancient mysteries for over two hundred years.
This is the first comprehensive study of the organization's growth, with
focus on each Grand Master.
$34.95
Paperback
ISBN 1-57168-834-X
7 by 10, index, photos
OVER THE WALL The Men Behind the 1934
Texas Death House Escape
By Patrick McConal
Over the Wall chronicles the lives of the men who made one of the most daring prison escapes in the history of the Texas Prison
System: the Death House escape from the Walls Unit at Huntsville. The exploits of the Whitey Walker
Gang
are examined for the first time in detail, including the planning of the Huntsville escape by their leader. Involved in the escape were some of the most desperate outlaws in the Southwest: Whitey Walker, Joe Palmer, Raymond Hamilton, Henry
Methvin, Hilton Bybee, and Charlie Frazier, among others.
$19.95
Paperback
ISBN 1-57168-365-8
6 by 9, 200 pages, photos, index
BLACK SUNDAY
The Great Dust Storm of April 14, 1935 By Frank L.
Stallings, Jr.
One giant, black dust storm in April of 1935 became the signature event of a devastating period in the history of the South Plains of the United States. The author, who grew up in Pampa in the Texas Panhandle, gathered a collection of reminiscences, reports, and responses to the storm by individuals who had been in it, and by newspapers that had reported about it, then reflected about the storm during the following years.
A rich oral history of well over 100 people and their personal experiences on that Black Sunday in the mid-thirties.
$19.95
Paperback
ISBN 1-57168-528-6
168 pages, 6X9, photos
RAW
FRONTIER
Armed Conflict Along the Texas
Coastal Bend
By Keith Guthrie Facts about the Coastal Bend from just south of Corpus Christi to
just north of Copano Bay---The scene of several battles of the Texas
Revolution, including Gonzales, San Patricio, and Goliad.
$24.95 Hardback
ISBN 1-57168-234-1
152 pages, 6X9,
bibliography, index, illustrations
RAW
FRONTIER-2
Survival to Prosperity Along the Texas Coastal Bend By Keith Guthrie
As the defeated Mexican armies retreated to Mexico, hundreds of soldiers
deserted rather than go home. They became rustlers and gathered the wild
cattle roaming the countryside.
$24.95
Paperback
ISBN 1-57168-339-9
192 pages, 6X9,
maps and index
EAGLE
WITH A BADGE By Paul Creech & Jack Lawler Eagle with a Badge is the true story of pilot Paul Creech, who flew state police helicopters and other aircraft for thirty years, preceded by ten years as a highway patrolman. It was a life of extreme danger, with times of stark terror, interspersed with the routine that all police officers know. Paul rescued
people and helped ground officers apprehend bank robbers, murderers, and escaping convicts. Creech and his wife live on a farm in East Texas. Lawler is editor of
Texas State Trooper and lives in Austin.
$22.95
Paperback
ISBN 1-57168-511-1
6 by 9, 225 pages, photos and index
DALLAS, TOO
Stories I'm Telling Again Because I Want to Hear Them Myself
By Rose-Mary Rumbley
Rose-Mary jogs down ”Nostalgia Lane” with people like R. L. Thornton, Melvin
Kiser, Dr. George W. Truitt, Sheriff Bill Decker, and Dean Imogene.
$24.95
Paperback
ISBN 1-57168-421-2
320 pages, 6 x 9,
over 200 photos
BELLY
FULL OF BEDSPRINGS
History of Bronc Riding
By Gail Woerner
Follows the history of bronc riding from its beginning to the
“computerized” cowboys of today’s rodeo circuit; from Casey Tibbs to Billy
Etbauer.
$18.95 Paperback
ISBN 1-57168-209-0
250 pages, 6 x 9,
over 200 photos, lists, index
THE
EXPLORERS’ TEXAS
Vol. II
By Del Weniger Provides the sights and sounds of the mammals described in the
pioneers’ own exciting words. Wonderful illustrations included.
$27.95 Hardback
ISBN 1-57168-100-0
176 pages, 8½ x 11,
endnotes, bibliography, and index
FORGOTTEN
BATTLEFIELD
of the First Texas Revolution By Robert H. Thonhoff Up to 1,000 American and
Mexican revolutionists were killed or executed in the last major encounter of Spanish forces in
Texas.
$22.95
Paperback
ISBN 1-57168-866-8
224 pages, 5½ x 8½,
illustrated, notes, index, bibliography, maps
EL FUERTE
DEL CIBOLO Sentinel of the Bexar - LaBahia Ranches By Robert H. Thonhoff El Fuerte del Cibolo, an eighteenth century
Spanish fort, was situated in the big middle of the ninety-mile-long
Alamo-La Bahia corridor, a veritable seedbed of history and culture in
Texas.
Maps depict period
uniforms and equipment used.
$17.95 Hardback
ISBN 0-89015-848-7
156 pages, 5½ x 8½,
notes, bibliography, appendix, index
HISTORIC
TOWNS OF TEXAS
TWO VOLUMES By Joe Tom Davis Vol. 1: Houston, East and
West Columbia, Egypt, Matagorda, Texana, Helena. Vol 2: Gonzales, Columbus, and Jefferson.
$22.95
Vol. 1,
Paperback
ISBN 1-57168-388-7
288 pages, 6 x 9,
86 photos, notes, bibliography, index
$24.95 Vol.
2, Hardback
ISBN 1-57168-044-6
288 pages, 6 x 9,
over 100 photos, notes, index, bibliography
TEXAS:
ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY STATE By Archie P. McDonald A layman's history of Texas by a respected Texas professor.
$24.95 Paperback
ISBN 0-89015-389-2
288 pages, 5½ x 8½,
56 historic photos, index
HOBART
HUSON'S TEXAS COASTAL BEND TRILOGY By Kathleen Maxwell Two Sea Captains Johnson, El Copano, St.
Mary's of Aransas
$15.00 Hardback
ISBN 0-89015-915-7
176 pages, 6 x 9,
photos, notes
CHRONOLOGY
OF TEXAS HISTORY
VOL. 2, 1920 to 1983
By Donald W. Whisenhunt Selected Texas history from 1920 to 1983.
$14.95 Hardback
ISBN 0-89015-577-1
168 pages, 5½ x 8½, photos
