Best of 2012 Round Up

In addition to 'Best Of' accolades for Let the People In and A Book on the Making of Lonesome Dove, we're proud to share that the following books were hand picked by a variety of outlets as some of the best of 2012.

Colonel Selig, the Man Who Invented Hollywood
Picked by Thomas Gladysz as one of the best film books of 2012 on Huffington Post Books


See the list at huffingtonpost.com>>

Killer on the Road: Violence and the American Interstate
Picked by Heather Mallick as one of the best books of 2012 in the Toronto Star


See the list at thestar.com>>

Let the People In: The Life and Times of Ann RichardsPicked by Blue Willow bookstore as one of the best books of 2012
 
See the list at blog.bluewillowbookshop.com>>
  

Nathan Lyons: Selected Essays, Lectures, and Interviews Picked by Time Magazine’s Lightbox blog as one of the best photography books of 2012

See the list at lightbox.time.com>>

  
Ryan Adams: Losering, a Story of Whiskeytown
Picked by Uprooted Music Revue as one of the top 15 music books of the year

See the list at uprootedmusicrevue.com


Estampas de la Raza: Contemporary Prints from the Romo Collection
Nic Nicosia
Texas Furniture Volume Two: The Cabinetmakers and Their Work, 1840-1880
Picked by staff as some of the best coffee table books of 2012 in The Austin-American Statesman

See the list at statesman.com>>

Vintage Moquegua: History, Wine, and Archaeology on a Colonial Peruvian Periphery
Picked by Gourmand International as one of the best drink history books of 2012

See the list at cookbookfair.com>>

Houston Chronicle :: Texas Furniture, Volume One

Texas Furniture, Volume One

By Lonn Taylor and David B. Warren
Buy It Now

Early Texas furniture industry was well beyond primitive

By Allan Turner

Sam Houston was spitting mad about the wagon load of furniture arriving at his Huntsville home. The stove had no pipe, the bed's canopy and side rails were missing and a bedpost was split, the mirror was shattered and the sideboard was "infamous beyond all things else."

"The veneering is broken and split," Houston furiously complained to the Galveston merchant who sold the items. "Wherever it needed it, and I should say at least 20 places, it has been puttied. ... One end of the sideboard was split for near a foot and filled with wax. I have not told you all, nor is it worth the trouble."

Furnishing a house in mid-19th century Texas, where even short-distance transportation could be treacherous, could pose serious problems. Thousands of early Texas settlers arrived with little more than a trunk, and the items needed to fill their homes - especially those in the hinterland - often were improvised on the spot.

Yet, when it came to furniture, Texas was filled with surprises. Among the frontier settlers were skilled craftsmen capable of transforming native woods into functional, sometimes highly sophisticated, furnishings.

Read the full article at chron.com »