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Books | Texas
History
Lone Star
Suburbs:
Life on the Texas Metropolitan Frontier
Paul J. P. Sandul
and M. Scott Sosebee, editors
(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2019)
ISBN: 978-0806164472.
$24.95, paperback, 240 pages
Review by Dr.
Kirk Bane
December 4 , 2019 |
"Texas
is a suburban state, and though the cultural image of Texas usually
involves cowboy hats, oil derricks, football, and loud, brash people,
that is an overblown stereotypical image. If one wanted a true 'Texas
image,' one would place its people in single-family dwellings, in
planned developments, where one would be surrounded by shopping centers,
chain restaurants, and an almost homogenous culture. You want to find
a Texan? Odds are, you would find [them] in a suburb." So assert Professors
Sandul and Sosebee (both of whom teach history at Stephen F. Austin
State University in Nacogdoches),
editors of this commendable new anthology.
Sandul and Sosebee have recruited a team of prominent scholars for
their project, including Andrew C. Baker (Texas A&M University-Commerce),
Andrew Busch (Coastal Carolina University), Robert B. Fairbanks (University
of Texas at Arlington), and Herbert Ruffin II (Syracuse University).
Among the topics addressed in this compilation are "Texas Suburbia
Rising," "Rising Up: The Ascent of Irving to Super-Suburb and Home
of the Dallas Cowboys," "From Chinatown to Little Saigon: The Development
of a Vietnamese Ethnic Urban Center in Houston," "The Forging of an
African American Community on the Outskirts of the Alamo City, 1980-2010,"
and "Planning the Suburban City in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex."
Readers interested in modern Texas, especially those who want to learn
more about suburban history, "an exciting and growing field," should
consult this well-researched, insightful collection of essays. In
short, Sandul, Sosebee, and their colleagues have produced an admirable,
much-needed volume that will certainly encourage additional study
of Lone Star suburbia.
Dr.
Kirk Bane,
Book Review Editor,
Central Texas Historical Association
More Book Reviews by Dr. Kirk
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