Henry C. Dethloff

Texans in World War II offers an informative look at the challenges and changes faced by Texans on the home front during the Second World War. This collection of essays by leading scholars of Texas history covers topics from the African American and Tejano experience to organized labor, from the expanding opportunities for women to the importance of oil and agriculture. Texans in World War II makes local the frequently studied social history of wartime, bringing it home to Texas.An eye-opening read for Texans eager to learn more about this defining era in their state's history, this book will also prove deeply informative for scholars, students, and general readers seeking detailed, definitive information about World War II and its implications for daily life, economic growth, and social and political change in the Lone Star State.

This expanded edition of Texas A&M University: A Pictorial History gives a panoramic view of Texas A&M, from its infancy as a college with 48 agricultural and mechanical (engineering) students to today's diverse campus of more than forty thousand students. Captured in full-color photographs are the modern university, its buildings, its far-reaching programs, and its students. The book is also a gallery of Aggie greats—on the battlefields of five wars; on the athletic fields; in industry, agriculture, science, and civic leadership. Historical photos show visits by Presidents William H. Taft, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and George H. W. Bush; preparations for military actions of World Wars I and II; the 1939 national championship football team; and the campus filming of the 1943 World War II movie ""We’ve Never Been Licked.

The abundance of agricultural production enjoyed in the United States is the result of a federal-state partnership that relies on land grant universities to respond to the needs of society through research, invention, problem-solving, outreach, and applied science and engineering.The Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department at Texas A&M University, established in 1915, has been an important part of that effort. Over the hundred years of its existence, it has successfully tackled the challenges of mechanization, electrification, irrigation, harvest, transport, and more to the benefit of agriculture in Texas, the United States, and the world.In this book, historian Henry Dethloff and current department chair Stephen Searcy explore the history of the department—its people, its activity, its growth—and project the department’s future for its second century, when its primary task will be to sustainably help meet the needs of a predicted 9.6 billion Earth residents and to recognize that societal food concerns are focused more and more on sustainable production and human health.

Americans grow up expecting that in a time of need, their country can depend on its people for volunteer service to the military. Indeed, this has been a social and at times legal expectation for the citizenship of this country since 1776. Yet, since the end of World War II United States forces have been caught up in many long term military engagements, and the military aspect of citizenship has become an increasingly marginalized one in a world where only a minority of citizens even vote.Citizen and Soldier: A Sourcebook on Military Service and National Defense from Colonial America to the Present provides a useful framework and supporting documentary evidence for an informed discussion of the development of the American ideal of the "Citizen Soldier". Presented with insightful introductions and useful discussion questions, this concise collection of 27 primary documents takes a close look at the United States military and shows how it became entwined with the rise of American national identity.

Americans grow up expecting that in a time of need, their country can depend on its people for volunteer service to the military. Indeed, this has been a social and at times legal expectation for the citizenship of this country since 1776. Yet, since the end of World War II United States forces have been caught up in many long term military engagements, and the military aspect of citizenship has become an increasingly marginalized one in a world where only a minority of citizens even vote.Citizen and Soldier: A Sourcebook on Military Service and National Defense from Colonial America to the Present provides a useful framework and supporting documentary evidence for an informed discussion of the development of the American ideal of the "Citizen Soldier". Presented with insightful introductions and useful discussion questions, this concise collection of 27 primary documents takes a close look at the United States military and shows how it became entwined with the rise of American national identity.

When their country calls, Texas Aggies go to war. From the Spanish-American War and World War I to the Second Gulf War, Aggies have been in the forefront of America's armed forces. More than 20,000 Texas Aggies served in World War II, for instance, including more than 14,000 as commissioned officers. Trained in leadership and the knowledge required for warfare, Aggies have served with distinction in all branches of the military service.In this newly updated compilation of the impressive war record of Texas Aggies, extended to include Aggies' service in Afghanistan and Iraq, stories of individual soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines are displayed with an abundance of statistics, maps, and tables.""Texas Aggies Go to War"" celebrates the school's distinctive Corps of Cadets and its military contributions while honoring the individual sacrifices of its members. Those who fought and those who remember them will find here a comprehensive account of the distinguished war record of this school.

These essays, based on the 1980 Agricultural History Symposium held at Texas A&M University, spotlight the long-neglected area of agricultural development in the Southwest. Focusing on Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, the book traces the history of farming from the point of view of novelists, businessmen, archaeologists, cattlemen, scientists, and politicians. The twenty-six contributing authors lucidly discuss issues ranging from the secrets of pre-Columbian agriculture to the dilemmas of the county extension agent; from the thriving rice industry to the versatility of the chili pepper; from the struggles of farmer movements to the mushrooming of agribusiness. The symposium will appeal not only to agricultural historians and scientists but also to government agents working with farmers and to students of southwestern lore. The reader gains a fresh perspective on the crises and complexities of farming, from its earliest days to the present. These thoughtful selections promote a greater understanding of the diversity of southwestern agriculture and a heightened awareness of the rich cultural heritage of southwesterners

Texas and wildcatters--they go together. And Pattillo Higgins was the granddaddy of them all. Without him Spindletop, Texas' first gusher, would never have been drilled, and the history of the modern oil industry might have been far different. Here for the first time is his dramatic, almost mystifying story, based on his personal papers and told by his grandnephew. It was Pattillo Higgins who showed the more famous Captain Anthony Lucas where to drill at Spindletop. He organized the Gladys City Oil, Gas and Manufacturing Company in 1892, and he located oil fields all over Texas and Louisiana--as many as 100 independent fields, some still unexplored. Although often doubted, he has never yet been proven wrong on one. In his career he gained and lost several fortunes, opened the first brick plant in southeast Texas, and operated a logging enterprise on the Neches River. He was once acquitted in a murder trial, experienced a religious conversion, and married his adopted daughter. But throughout his life the search for oil was his chief preoccupation--one he never abandoned. This is the story of a determined, dedicated individual who took large risks in order to find black gold. It firmly gives Pattillo Higgins his rightful place as one of the three or four great names in the Texas oil industry.

Rice is a staple food for a majority of the world's people. Americans, however, traditionally have consumed corn and potatoes rather than rice. It thus may come as a surprise to some Americans that rice has been produced in America for more than three centuries and during that time has accounted for much of the world's trade. Most rice is consumed where it is produced, with little entering foreign markets. American rice has been primarily a product for the international export trade, but changing technology and political environments at home and abroad have made it a volatile commodity. Henry C. Dethloff has researched many original manuscript documents to gather the history of this American agribusiness that got its start when a British sea captain brought seed from Madagascar to the Carolinas in 1685. Plantations developed, and planters with resources for the complicated, labor-intensive production of rice made it the number-two colonial export cash crop. Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, California, and Mississippi eventually became the primary rice-growing states, and new plant varieties, further mechanization of farming, and improved pumping and irrigation systems reinvigorated the industry at the turn of the century. In the twentieth century, the rice industry is even more tied to the political vagaries of the world and its markets than before. Events in foreign countries, trade policies, and the federal government's foreign policy have more impact on the industry than the weather in the rice fields.