I love to read and I am excited to share my recommendations of some of the wonderful books I have enjoyed. I will update this list periodically, so check back for future recommendations.
This book is the "Friday Night Lights" for all of Texas High School Football! Author Chad Conine brings the Friday night legends to life again from Gordon Wood and Bob McQueen to the Big Sandy Wildcats and the Dangerfield Tigers, and many more in between. As a fan of the high school game, in the state where it matters the most, I loved reading this book!
This book needed to be written and fortunately author Michael Hurd answered the call. "Thursday Night Lights" details the long neglected and overlooked history of black high school football in Texas and traces the history of the Prairie View Interscholastic League, the counterpart to the once all white UIL.
The true story of a true Texas Football Legend. When G.A. Moore retired from coaching high school football a few short years ago, he was #1 all-time in wins, and his eight state championships were only one less than the legendary Gordon Wood's state record of nine. A great read about a truly great coach and even even better man.
In the segregated US Navy of 1941, it was almost unfathomable to imagine that the first American hero of World War II would be African American. But the heroic efforts at Pearl Harbor of Waco native and Naval messman Doris Miller shattered all stereo-types and helped launch American society on the path that led to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
Vast in scope and amazing in detail, Taylor Branch's Pulitzer Prize winning first volume in his Civil Rights trilogy chronicles the movement's critical years from 1954-1963. Told through the context of the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., Branch's work is not just a primer on the era, but a definitive history of the tragedy and hope of the times.