Ross Phares

"Phares' book is readable and interesting. It's well-researched but is not the totally academic sort of material". Nacogdoches (TX) Daily SentinelThis is the biography of Louis Juchereau de St. Denis (1676-1744), who founded Natchitoches.

The state of Texas holds an interesting and important place in the history of the United States, and this volume explores those men and women who have helped to shape the course of the state by serving as governor.For example, Miriam V. Ferguson (1925-1927, 1933-1935) was the first woman governor of the state. She won the governorship by promising that she would work with her husband, former Texas governor, James E. "Farmer Jim" Ferguson (1915-1917), assuring Texans that they would have "two governors for the price of one."As in the story of the Fergusons, The Governors of Texas offers political and biographical information on each Texas governor from the period of French control through 1973. Thus the progression towards statehood and beyond is clearly visible in this history of the individuals who took great pride in serving as their state's chief executive officer.For quick reference, a roster of governors is also provided, giving full names and the dates in which each individual held office. Also included are pictures of most of the governors, so that these men and women may be more vividly brought to life.

"'The Story of Frontier Religion' could have been told in a great many ways, many of them dull. Here, however, interpretative matter has been kept to a minimum and source material selected with an unerring sense of humor...There are chapters on the styles of preaching and of praying, the phenomena of revivalism, the church as a disciplinary force, frauds and 'bad men' who preached, scoffers and trouble-makers, the fiercely jocular competition among the various sects, and the hard lot of circuit ministers."--Virginia Kirkus' Bulletin. "This is an admirable piece of research, unpedantic but authentic, packed with entertaining anecdotes (some of them hilarious) based on obscure pastoral autobiographies, the diaries of early missionaries, the minutes of church court trials, and other curious source materials...A unique book."--Chicago Sunday Tribune. Ross Phares has written widely for magazines and is the author of several books.

"One of the best books on this outlaw, based on scholarly research." -Adams No. 767, Six Guns and Leather"The narrative is true, documented research and easy reading." -Irving Ward-SteinmanIn many parts of the South and the Southwest today, they still speak in quiet awe of the intrepid John Murrel-highwayman, bandit, cutthroat, and slaver who spread organized terror through dozens of early nineteenth-century towns.From Tennessee and Arkansas to Georgia eastward, and to the Mexican border westward, Murrel carved a special niche for himself as one of the first American outlaws to operate on a grand scale.Murrel led a band of highly organized, disciplined, and tightly knit bandits, who preyed at will on travelers along the Natchez Trace and on remote settlements. Murrel even impersonated and preached as a reverend. More than a century after his death, Murrell remains one of the most intriguing gangsters in American history.