San Antonio College Library

A complete guide to the status and distribution of the 419 bird species of the Texas Hill Country.

Ottilie Fuchs Goeth was an alert seventy-nine years old when she completed her memoirs in the German language for her family. Born the year of the Texas revolution, 1836, she migrated with her family in 1845, eventually settling in the Cypress Mill community near the Pedernales River west of Austin.

Daughter of the pastor of a parish church in Germany, Mrs. Goeth was nurtured in family life, literature and music and her writings reflect a keen

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Unique among early settlers of Texas was a group of political refugees, intellectuals and freethinkers -- a segment of the impressive Germany-to-Texas movement of the late 1840s -- who established new homes for themselves in the beautiful Hill Country some fifty miles north of San Antonio. The author was the Yankee bride of a great-grandson of Ernst Kapp, formerly professor at the University of Minden and one of those first settlers.

In this detailed account of how the Johnson Ranch was used during LBJ's years in public office, readers will learn who visited, how they were fed and entertained, and how LBJ conducted the nation's business while there. Readers will get a fascinating interpretation of how the ranch influenced LBJ's self-image, promoted his rags-to-riches story, and gave him in retirement the one thing he truly craved: control.

Elroy Bode's books on nature and life have made him a favorite of readers and critics. Here he explores his home city of El Paso, the land and people of Central Texas, and his roles as teacher, father, and writer. These sharply observed, beautifully written pieces find the universal in the particular a young boy in a barbershop, plaza life, a young couple in Smokey's Barbecue. Like the work of Wendell Berry and John Graves, Bode's writing is rooted...

The Hill Country may assault or soothe your senses, but there is testimony that its cedar-dotted hills and cypress-edged rivers are unique and unforgettable.

Limestone hills, cold spring-fed streams, live oaks and cedar, old German towns--the Texas Hill Country may well be the most beloved region of the state. Unlike West Texas with its dramatic expanses of plains and sky, or the eastern Piney Woods in their lush fecundity, the Hill Country never overwhelms. Its intimate landscapes of rolling hills, fields of wildflowers, and cypress-shaded rivers impart a peace and serenity that draws the urban-weary...