Customer Reviews

Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone Star State

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It really depends on what you like, but I think this is the best of the lot. Better than Fehrenbach. Better than Haley. A word of warning about all Texas histories: They tend to subordinate everything to politics. This one does a better job than the others concerning Texas' rich cultural history, but the major emphases are still what you'd expect. Spanish settlement. Texas Revolution. Civil War. Development of the Oil Empire and its relation to state politics. I really hope someday we get a good comprehensive cultural history of the state, but until then this one will have to do. And it does quite well.

This book is very well written and researched, with a nice balance of biography, demographics and narrative. I'd say it's probably a bit more scholarly than popular, but the writing is still easily accessible. Buy this one if you're serious about Texas history.

Concise and well written. It could have had more maps, but almost all histories have this fault. Campbell is a better writer than many other historians, but in places he does reflect a modern prejudice or failure to understand the thinking of the times about which he writes.

Writing of slavery, he says, "Planters did not have their capital 'tied up,' as some like to say, in slaves. Slave property could be liquidated easily. But planters had no economic or financial reason to do so." Well, some "like to say" this because it is relevant to a different question: not the question of what individual planters could do, but what they could do as a class if the slavery system were suddenly ended. In that event, planters would not at all have been able to easily liquidate slave property, and they knew that. Thus ending slavery peacefully would have had to overcome this financial problem, though not necessarily to everybody's perfect satisfaction. Solutions were possible, but the slave-holding class claimed that the system could continue unchanged indefinitely. Ultimately, because of polarization and failure to compromise, slavery was ended in the worst manner possible, through civil war.

I sometimes wonder whether history writers of our time are sufficiently knowledgable of religious formation in their historical period. Campbell writes, of a certain freedman, that he was "well versed in the survival skills learned in bondage" and "had served as the supervisor of registrars in his district, traveling at night for safety and acting, he wrote, 'as wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove.'" But this particular freedman likely knew, not just "survival skills learned in bondage," but also the Gospels. Many readers nowadays would not recognize the quoted phrase as coming directly from Matthew 10:16. Mentioning the Gospel source would have fit into the sentence but was omitted, and I was left wondering whether Campbell himself knew the source.

Despite my criticisms of this book, it does deserve the five-star rating and is a good introduction to the subject. The attentive reader of this book would come to understand what a large subject Texas history is, but ought to feel a need for further reading.

In Randolph B. Campbell's Gone To Texas he discusses every aspect of Texas's society, political nature, economy, etc. He starts out during the first arrival of humans in the area and ends with George W. Bush as governor of the state. The reading is quick and easy, passing from one topic to the next with ease. It does not feel like you are reading a textbook. It feels as if you are reading an intriguing tale about the people and events that affected the growth of Texas into what it is today.

It is impressive in its scope and depth. Only reading through it once, I have learned a vast amount about Texas's fight for independence from Mexico, the role Texans had in the numerous United States wars, the political atmosphere of Texas (being mainly a one party state) after the Civil War, and the many political and non-political figures that shaped the personality of the state. Anything you need to know about Texas is in this book and I would highly recommend it to Texas enthusiasts and history buffs. Everyone enjoy!

I must admit I checked this book out from the Library three times prior to purchasing it. This is one of those books that you can pick up and read anytime any where and choose the topic you want to research. The author has done a superb job of making the information interesting and full of facts AT THE SAME TIME! Imagine that....readable and informative. I really enjoy having this book in my library and telling people all the new things I have learned about History. I have not yet finished the book, I am really savoring every morsel.

Campbell's one-volume history is a celebration and also an honest treatment of the Lone Star State's history. While it won't satisfy those who see Texas History as one long string of triumphs, "Gone to Texas" will surely take its rightful place as a book that "told it how it was," rather than how we'd like to see it.

Like John Ferling's treatment of the American Revolution in "A Leap in the Dark," Randolph Campbell retells Texas history in narrative form, and the volume reads like a great big story. The prose is easy to comprehend without feeling condescending or oversimplified, and the reader is guided by numerous maps and illustrations. Campbell inserts a dash of wit (without becoming cynical) throughout, keeping things from becoming too serious!

While I'm not widely read in this field, Campbell's history seems both authoritative and easily read...a delightful celebration, in all its triumphs and failings, of the Lone Star State.

This was the textbook for my Texas history class in college, and it was one of the few texts I kept for my own use. For history buffs and especially for those interested in Texas' unique history, this is a great book to have on your shelf.

Mike Campbell's comprehensive one volume work on Texas history deserves a place on the bookshelves in every Texas library and home. All Texans, whether native born or newcomers, will add to their knowledge of Texas history after a reading of this fine book. The book recently received the Award of Merit given by The Philosophical Society of Texas for a book published on Texas.

Extremely interesting read. Covers the history of Texas from antiquity to the present. Goes into considerable detail without becoming boring or bogging down in knowledge.

I found the text book very useful and informative. It is an excellent supplement for a Texas history class. Better than other text books I've used for this subject. Cambell does a great job in his description of texas history.

Excellent service from supplier (Bunches of Books) and fast shipment. Book arrived in almost new condition and I was very surprised and delighted with the condition of this book.