{"product_id":"big-wonderful-thing-stephen-harrigan-9780292759510","title":"Big Wonderful Thing: A History of Texas","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e2020 Philosophical Society of Texas Nonfiction Book Prize \u003cbr\u003e 2019 Nonfiction Book Award Finalist, Writers' League of Texas \u003cbr\u003e 2021 Citation from the San Antonio Conservation Society\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Harrigan, surveying thousands of years of history that lead to the banh mi restaurants of Houston and the juke joints of Austin, remembering the forgotten as well as the famous, delivers an exhilarating blend of the base and the ignoble, a very human story indeed. [ \u003ci\u003eBig Wonderful Thing\u003c\/i\u003e is] as good a state history as has ever been written and a must-read for Texas aficionados.\"--\u003ci\u003eKirkus\u003c\/i\u003e, Starred Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe story of Texas is the story of struggle and triumph in a land of extremes. It is a story of drought and flood, invasion and war, boom and bust, and the myriad peoples who, over centuries of conflict, gave rise to a place that has helped shape the identity of the United States and the destiny of the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"I couldn't believe Texas was real,\" the painter Georgia O'Keeffe remembered of her first encounter with the Lone Star State. It was, for her, \"the same big wonderful thing that oceans and the highest mountains are.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBig Wonderful Thing\u003c\/i\u003e invites us to walk in the footsteps of ancient as well as modern people along the path of Texas's evolution. Blending action and atmosphere with impeccable research, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e best-selling author Stephen Harrigan brings to life with novelistic immediacy the generations of driven men and women who shaped Texas, including Spanish explorers, American filibusters, Comanche warriors, wildcatters, Tejano activists, and spellbinding artists--all of them taking their part in the creation of a place that became not just a nation, not just a state, but an indelible idea.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWritten in fast-paced prose, rich with personal observation and a passionate sense of place, \u003ci\u003eBig Wonderful Thing\u003c\/i\u003e calls to mind the literary spirit of Robert Hughes writing about Australia or Shelby Foote about the Civil War. Like those volumes, it is a big book about a big subject, a book that dares to tell the whole glorious, gruesome, epically sprawling story of Texas.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Stephen Harrigan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0292759517\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780292759510\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Texas Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/01\/2019\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 944\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 3.75lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.30h x 6.30w x 2.80d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/01\/2019 pg. 70\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/19\/2019\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews Fall Preview\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/15\/2019 pg. 31\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/01\/2019 pg. 110","brand":"Stephen Harrigan","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44053925855487,"sku":"9780292759510","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_462a2d84-ff0a-425e-bbc7-f4e37b7ad772.jpg?v=1685027017","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/big-wonderful-thing-stephen-harrigan-9780292759510","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}