Sallyport - The Magazine of Rice University - Winter 2002

Texas Tidbits - On the Bookshelf
that would only be appropriate because size has always been important to
Texas. Upstart Alaska may have usurped the title of biggest state in the
union, but Texas still boasts the tallest monument (San Jacinto Monument)
and the largest capitol dome in the U.S.
Texas has made its mark with quality as well as quantity, and a lot of that
comes from its fair share of famous people. There have been heroes
(Chester W. Nimitz, Audie Murphy), musicians (Ernest Tubb, Bob Wills,
Lightnin’ Hopkins, Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly), and athletes (Jack
Johnson, Babe Didrikson), just to name a few. Sure, Texas has had its share
of outlaws (John Wesley Hardin, Sam Bass, Clyde Barrow), but it also has
that stalwart champion of good, Popeye, who was created in Elzie Crisler
Segar’s Thimble Theater comic strip, published in the Victoria Advocate.
That may seem like an unusual crowd, but Texans often have been quite
good at concocting strange brews. Consumers thought Gail Borden’s “meat
biscuits” were disgusting, but the entrepreneur hit gold with Borden’s
Condensed Milk. Waco pharmacist Charles C. Alderton kicked off the
bottled soft drink industry with Dr Pepper. And Ferris obstetrician Robert
Ernest House, looking for a sedative, discovered scopolamine
hydrobromide, more commonly known as truth serum.
So, whether you want the real truth about Texas or just need a few nifty
stories to tell your friends, pick up Jent’s book and open it to any page. It’s
one of the liveliest looks at Texas assembled in one place—the Texas State
Fair excepted—and you can make it last a whole year.
For those of us who can’t get enough of Texas trivia, Jent also has
compiled A Browser’s Book of Texas Quotations (Republic of Texas Press,
2001), a collection of about 700 noteworthy quotations from or about Texas.
—Christopher Dow
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