Texas: A Historical Atlas [Hardcover]

A. Ray Stephens (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

For twenty years the Historical Atlas of Texas stood as a trusted resource for students and aficionados of the state. Now this key reference has been thoroughly updated and expanded--and even rechristened. Texas: A Historical Atlas more accurately reflects the Lone Star State at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Its 86 entries feature 175 newly designed maps--more than twice the number in the original volume--illustrating the most significant aspects of the state's history, geography, and current affairs.

The heart of the book is its wealth of historical information. Sections de-voted to indigenous peoples of Texas and its exploration and settlement offer more than 45 entries with visual depictions of everything from the routes of Spanish explorers to empresario grants to cattle trails. In another 31 articles, coverage of modern and contemporary Texas takes in hurricanes and highways, power plants and population trends.


Practically everything about this atlas is new. All of the essays have been updated to reflect recent scholarship, while more than 30 appear for the first time, addressing such subjects as the Texas Declaration of Independence, early roads, slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction, Texas-Oklahoma boundary disputes, and the tideland oil controversy. A dozen new entries for "Contemporary Texas" alone chart aspects of industry, agriculture, and minority demographics. Nearly all of the expanded essays are accompanied by multiple maps--every one in full color.


The most comprehensive, state-of-the-art work of its kind, Texas: A Historical Atlas is more than just a reference. It is a striking visual introduction to the Lone Star State.

About the Author

A. Ray Stephens is retired as Professor of History at the University of North Texas, Denton, and Director of the Texas History Institute. He is coauthor (with William M. Holmes) of the Historical Atlas of Texas. Carol Zuber-Mallison is an award-winning freelance artist specializing in maps and informational graphics. For 14 years she was an editor and artist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Dallas Morning News. She is also cartographer for the Texas Almanac.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 417 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr (Trd) (April 30, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806138734
• ISBN-13: 978-0806138732
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #312,433 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

  #73 in

  Books > Reference > Atlases & Maps > Historical

• Due to this item's unusual size or weight, it requires special handling and will ship separately from other items in your order. Read More

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A few weaknesses, but what a book!, May 14, 2010

By	Dick Stanley (Austin, TX, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Texas: A Historical Atlas (Hardcover)

The colorful new atlas, which aims to supplant a popular one published in 1990 by the same author, seems to have it all. It's also prettier.

Step back through the decades and you see the strengths in its graphical presentations, the data often mapped by county. The dwindling of farms, from their peak in 1900 to the present paucity. The dramatic rise in urban populations and extension of the railroads---including a photo of a train crossing the dramatic Pecos High Bridge, built in 1882. Major aquifers, native-plant regions, and dates and locations of the worst tornadoes. Go back farther and, well, how about the distribution of slaves in 1850 and again in 1861? A lot fewer than you might think.

There are weaknesses. The modern distribution of cattle, of all things, notably does not include (the fact is noted but the reason left unstated), the numbers of cows in the miles-long industrial feedlots of the Panhandle.

As has been said, coffee-table books are supposed to be pretty and not controversial. By that measure it's not surprising the atlas is less informative the closer it gets to its publication date. For one, illegal immigration from Mexico (the politically-correct phrase "undocumented workers" is used) is dismissed as merely "producing much rhetoric." Hundreds of thousands of people a year swamping schools, emergency rooms and charities and increasing the danger on highways is more than rhetoric.

No, most of the strengths are in the past, with special maps and diagrams for Mexican Texas, the early explorers from 1519, the grants of the empresarios and major early roads, the Texas Revolution. The modern section is eclectic: mapping nuclear and coal-fired power plants, the lumber industry, distribution of major crops, colleges and universities, and ethnic and racial groups by county.

All-in-all, and despite the faults, an invaluable reference work. One only wonders why it's not published by a Texas press.

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Texas: A Historical Atlas, May 10, 2010

By	K. Searle - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Texas: A Historical Atlas (Hardcover)

A must-have reference tool for all students of Texas history! K. K. Searle - Texas History Page.