Highlighted Local Book Store:
Literarity Book Shop
Recommended Books:
A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son, Sergio Troncoso
Kafka in a Skirt: Stories from the Wall, Daniel Chacón
Retablos, Octavio Solis
You can hear each of these authors speak under our LANGUAGE tab.
Texas A&M University Press
Founded in 1974, Texas A&M University Press is the book publishing arm of one of the nation’s leading research and land grant institutions. Throughout its history, the Press has enjoyed strong support from the University and the entire Texas A&M community, and that support has been essential to the Press’s growth and success. Texas A&M University Press publishes fifty to sixty new titles a year, and they include both works of science and scholarship and books that educate and entertain the general reader. The Press’s publishing program spans a range of fields: Texas history, art, and culture; American history (Western, military, environmental, ethnic, women’s, and political history); Borderlands, Mexican American, and immigration studies; Natural history, natural resource science, agriculture, and the environment; Archaeology, nautical archaeology, and physical anthropology; Sports and sports history; Consumer health and veterinary medicine; and Digital humanities.
University of Texas Press
The University of Texas Press serves knowledge seekers in an information-rich world through the publication of books and journals in a wide range of fields. Our work is a focal point where the life experiences, insights, and specialized knowledge of writers converge to be disseminated in both print and digital formats. Established in 1950, UT Press has published more than 3,000 books over six decades.
Here are a few recent books that I'd recommend to readers who want to learn more about the Southwest. All three of these are more history-focused than anything else, and the first and third are more specific to Texas.
Big Wonderful Thing: A History of Texas, by Stephen Harrigan: A tour de force by a New York Times best-selling author and master storyteller who captures the rich history of a state that sits at the center of the nation, yet defiantly stands apart.
Border Land, Border Water: A History of Construction on the US-Mexico Divide, by C.J. Alvarez: A 150-year history of the border region between the United States and Mexico, told through the fences and barriers, the river engineering projects, and the surveillance infrastructure that have reshaped the natural landscape.
A Thirsty Land: The Fight for Water in Texas, by Seamus McGraw: A Thirsty Land chronicles Texans’ epic struggles over water, from San Antonio’s mission-era acequias to today’s debates in the face of climate change and population growth, with an eye toward innovative technologies and strategies for increasing the supply.
Bowlin's Mesilla Book Center
Information courtesy of the owner
We feature books on the American West and its history and cultures. We also have a wide variety of non-fiction, fiction and children's books. Our mission is to carry books that you wouldn't see in the average chain store. We try to find a home for books on many topics of importance, historical and contemporary, that don't make bestseller lists. We do special orders.
Mary Bowlin, my mother, bought the bookstore in 1966 from Betty Armstrong. Betty had restored the building in the late 1950's and had a bookstore and design center. Mary expanded the book collection over the years and added a variety of merchandise. Mary's daughter Cheryll Blevins and her husband Paul have taken over the operation of the store in recent years.
Since 1966 we have carried books on the Southwest and Border region. We have books on New Mexico history, the history of Mexico, Native American history and culture, African American history in the West. We also carry books on Southwest natural history, field guides and the environment. We have always carried books on historic and contemporary Border issues. We have a large collection of Children's books, including Children's books about the Southwest and its cultures and Children's bilingual books.
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