April 2001

7 x 10 in., 272 pp., 22 line drawings, 5 maps
ISBN 0-292-71231-6
$19.95, paperback

Explorers and Settlers of Spanish Texas

By Donald Eugene Chipman and Harriett Denise Joseph
Illustrated by Jack Jackson
Maps by Caroline Castillo Crimm

In Notable Men and Women of Spanish Texas, Donald Chipman and Harriett Joseph combined dramatic, real-life incidents, biographical sketches, and historical background to reveal the real human beings behind the legendary figures who discovered, explored, and settled Spanish Texas from 1528 to 1821. Drawing from their earlier book and adapting the language and subject matter to the reading level and interests of middle and high school students, the authors here present the men and women of Spanish Texas for young adult readers and their teachers.

These biographies demonstrate how much we have in common with our early forebears. Profiled in this book are:

• Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca: Ragged Castaway
• Francisco Vázquez de Coronado: Golden Conquistador
• María de Agreda: Lady in Blue
• Alonso de León: Texas Pathfinder
• Domingo Terán de los Ríos / Francisco Hidalgo: Angry Governor and Man with a Mission
• Louis St. Denis / Manuela Sánchez: Cavalier and His Bride
• Antonio Margil de Jesús: God's Donkey
• Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo: Chicken War Redeemer
• Felipe de Rábago y Terán: Sinful Captain
• José de Escandón y Elguera: Father of South Texas
• Athanase de Mézières: Troubled Indian Agent
• Domingo Cabello: Comanche Peacemaker
• Marqués de Rubí / Antonio Gil Ibarvo: Harsh Inspector and Father of East Texas
• Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara / Joaquín de Arredondo: Rebel Captain and Vengeful Royalist
• Women in Colonial Texas: Pioneer Settlers
• Women and the Law: Rights and Responsibilities

2000
6 x 9 in., 224 pp., 1 map
ISBN 0-292-77747-7
$30.00, hardcover
ISBN 0-292-77748-5
$16.95, paperback

Colonial Angels
Narratives of Gender and Spirituality in Mexico, 1580-1750
By Elisa Sampson Vera Tudela

"This is a fascinating, well-written, and suggestive account of the intersections of gender and genre in writing by and about religious women in colonial Mexico. . . . Sampson's overview of these women's narratives provides a wealth of information about the personal lives and thoughts of a doubly silenced group: cloistered religious women."
—Catherine Jaffe, Associate Professor of Spanish, Southwest Texas State University

Spain's attempt to establish a "New Spain" in Mexico never fully succeeded, for Spanish institutions and cultural practices inevitably mutated as they came in contact with indigenous American outlooks and ways of life. This original, interdisciplinary book explores how writing by and about colonial religious women participated in this transformation, as it illuminates the role that gender played in imposing the Spanish empire in Mexico.

The author argues that the New World context necessitated the creation of a new kind of writing. Drawing on previously unpublished writings by and about nuns in the convents of Mexico City, she investigates such topics as the relationship between hagiography and travel narratives, male visions of the feminine that emerge from the reworking of a nun's letters to her confessor into a hagiography, the discourse surrounding a convent's trial for heresy by the Inquisition, and the reports of Spanish priests who ministered to noble Indian women. This research rounds out colonial Mexican history by revealing how tensions between Spain and its colonies played out in the local, daily lives of women.

1999
6 x 9 in., 307 pp., 41 b&w photos; 4 maps; 6 figs; 18 tables
ISBN 0-292-79124-0
$45.00, hardcover
ISBN 0-292-79125-9
$19.95, paperback

Colonias and Public Policy in Texas and Mexico
Urbanization by Stealth
By Peter M. Ward

"This will be a much debated book among local, state, and national politicians and government officials. It makes a significant contribution in the fields of urban development, environmental planning, comparative urbanization, and U.S.-Mexico border studies. The scholarship is impressive."
—Lawrence A. Herzog, Professor of City Planning, San Diego State University

Today in Texas, over 1500 colonias in the counties along the Mexican border are home to some 400,000 people. Often lacking basic services, such as electricity, water and sewerage, fire protection, policing, schools, and health care, these "irregular" subdivisions offer the only low-cost housing available to the mostly Hispanic working poor.

This book presents the results of a major study of colonias in three transborder metropolitan areas and uncovers the reasons why colonias are spreading so rapidly. Peter Ward compares Texas colonias with their Mexican counterparts, many of which have developed into fully integrated working-class urban communities. He describes how Mexican governments have worked with colonia residents to make physical improvements and upgrade services-a model that Texas policymakers can learn from, Ward asserts. Finally, he concludes with a hard-hitting checklist of public policy initiatives that need to be considered as colonia housing policy enters its second decade in Texas.

An adviser on housing policy to the Mexican government and international development institutions, Peter M. Ward is the author of over a dozen books on urbanization and housing. He is a professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and in the Sociology Department at the University of Texas at Austin.