This is the hardcopy "commemorative" comprising a last printing from the original (and now deemed hopelessly politically incorrect) 1926/1928 plates, which were subsequently destroyed. I looked for an affordable copy of this for about 30 years (it sold for $249.95 upon its release in the '70s) and finally scored this copy, apparently unread, for $19.95 ! :-) A great read for San Jacinto Day! ( )

This is a collection that many Texans remember from their youth with great fondness. Many of the reasons that educators and librarians now champion the use of graphic novels as educational aids now were anticipated by this series from the late 1920s. Through the use of combined drawing, text and humor the early history of the state came alive and was made memorable.

While the approach is up-to-date for the early twenty-first century, the sensibility is early twentieth century when it comes to stereotypical representations of ethnic groups. This was a time when Jim Crow Laws were being put into effect and membership in the Ku Klux Klan was at a high point. African Americans are coarsely depicted as ignorant, slow-witted watermelon eaters (page 43,panel 5), even when they are fighting for Texas liberty (page 121, panel 4) the term Greaser is a synonym for Mexican (page 159, panel 1), and Native Americans are considered duplicitous by nature. For example, on page 205, panel 1 Texas President Sam Houston proposes a way to deceive a political rival by saying, “We’ll have to work an old Indian Trick.” The summary page of the volume (217) concludes, “Texas was first found by the conquistadores of Spain (panel 1) and “Later it lured the hardy Anglo-Saxon colonist.” In fairness it should be noted that Mexicans refer to Anglo-Texans as “Gringoes” (page 190, panel 4) and there are a number of very scruffy looking representatives of the “hardy” Anglo-Saxons in the book (page 74, panel 4 and page 89, panel 3). ( )

poor condition. spine is falling apart and extensive water damage ( )