I understood going in that the book was written in 1969 and was willing to give lead way for some racist language and concepts. And the first couple of hundred pages were well-written and acceptably biased. Then things went off the rails. The author becomes strictly concerned with Anglo-Americans (read "White") history. Mexicans are painted as too lazy to have a true civilization. The 400 years they controlled Texas brought no real culture. The 14th and 15th Amendments simply interfered with the Texan way of dealing with their ex-slaves. Also, freed slaves should have agreed to continue to work for their kidnappers to prevent hard feelings and restiveness. And a chapter entitles "Red N-----s, Red Vermin" speaks for itself.
Fehrenbach justifies all his bigotry by claiming that we should never judge the past by our morals and that Texas was won by white men so we should accept their values. Anytime "Anglo-Americans" did anything wrong he claims they were "guileless" and therefore on the high moral ground (I frankly never got the connection between these two things but there you go).
Another difficulty with this book is the blatant and noxious Texas worship. Only Texas understands the true meaning of the Constitution. Two Texas Rangers could tame an entire town. All men in Texas are independent, land-loving, ready to fight at any insult and more practical than any other American. He maintains an especial disdain Northerners and Easterners.
But always, there is the bigotry that won't allow any right to rebel to African-Americans. "Texans honestly believed that Negroes could never be effective citizens of the United States, though hope was still retained for ethnic Mexicans." "The eleventh legislature passed a series of so-called black codes...They were not planned to punish the Negro, but put him back to work." "The Texas violence toward blacks, which at times could be very violent, was provoked and condoned not by any desire to wipe Negroes off the earth but to keep them conquered and in their appointed place."
I finished this book through gritted teeth.
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