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A New History of Old Texas — Arts
A New History of Old Texas

Explore the history of early Texas as you’ve never heard it before. The most recent season (“Lipan Apocalypse”) unveils the legacy of the Lipan Apaches on modern Texas. Season 6 recounts the outsized impact of José Francisco Ruíz on the state’s history. Season 5 traces the roots of Texans’ unique psychology – their “Texanity” – to the technological innovations that shaped its people. Season 4 relates the largely unknown story of the Republic of the Rio Grande. Season 3 tells the remarkable tale of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his journey across the North American continent. Season 2 covers the Battle of Medina, the largest, bloodiest battle in Texas history…and the narrowing search for the battlefield itself! And Season 1 traces the identity of modern-day Texas to the first 160 years or so of San Antonio’s history. — As seen and heard on Texas Standard, KSAT12, Texas Public Radio, the San Antonio Express-News, the San Antonio Report, the Austin Chronicle, and more! —

Copyright: © 2024 A New History of Old Texas

Latest Episodes:

Immigrants and Indians Dec 07, 2023

Show notes

Episode 4 of Brandon Seale's podcast (in collaboration with Art Martínez de Vara) on the life and times of José Francisco Ruíz.
1820's East Texas was a melting pot of native Texans, old time Tejanos, Indian immigrants pushed out of the United States, and newcomer Anglos. For all their distaste of José Francisco Ruíz's revolutionary past, the old Mexican officer corps had no choice but to turn to him once again to manage the chaos. It would leave Ruíz more disillusioned than ever with the prospects for Mexico.
Click here to purchase the complete audiobook of "Tejano Patriot" by Art Martínez de Vara and read by Brandon Seale.

www.BrandonSeale.com

The Impossible Peace Nov 30, 2023

Show notes

Episode 3 of Brandon Seale's podcast (in collaboration with Art Martínez de Vara) on the life and times of José Francisco Ruíz.
If there was anything more improbable in Texas history than the Lipan-Comanche alliance orchestrated by José Francisco Ruíz in 1816, it was the peace brokered WITH the Lipanes and Comanches on behalf of the newly-independent Mexican empire in 1822. It would culminate in one of the most memorable scenes in Texas history, the journey of Ruíz and a handful of Lipan and Comanche chiefs to the halls of Monteczuma for a three-way peace that Texas would never truly be able to enjoy...
Click here to purchase the complete audiobook of "Tejano Patriot" by Art Martínez de Vara and read by Brandon Seale.

www.BrandonSeale.com

Comancheros in Exile Nov 23, 2023

Show notes

Episode 2 of Brandon Seale's podcast (in collaboration with Art Martínez de Vara) on the life and times of José Francisco Ruíz.
José Francisco Ruíz would remain a focus of Spanish royalist vengeance after the Battle of Medina. For good reason. From his exile in Louisiana, Ruíz orchestrated a proxy war by his Lipan and especially Comanche allies against Spanish royalists' fragile hold on Texas. It would bring Spain to the brink of abandoning Texas. Eventually royalists would have no choice but to ask Ruíz to bring peace to the frontier that he had incited to total war.
Click here to purchase the complete audiobook of "Tejano Patriot" by Art Martínez de Vara and read by Brandon Seale.

www.BrandonSeale.com

Blood in the Sand Nov 16, 2023

Show notes

Episode 1 of Brandon Seale's podcast (in collaboration with Art Martínez de Vara) on the life and times of José Francisco Ruíz.
The Battle of Medina left José Francisco Ruíz the highest-ranking Tejano revolutionary in the state...and its most wanted man. What drove him to abandon a promising future in the Spanish army and turn on his old comrades-in-arms? And what price would he have to pay for this change of heart?
Click here to purchase the complete audiobook of "Tejano Patriot" by Art Martínez de Vara and read by Brandon Seale.

www.BrandonSeale.com

The Man for Texas Nov 09, 2023

Show notes

Intro to Brandon Seale's podcast (in collaboration with Art Martínez de Vara) on the life and times of José Francisco Ruíz.
José Francisco Ruíz lived through the most turbulent years of Texas history. What was it about Ruíz that always seemed to place him at the center of the action? What made him the man to whom Tejanos, Anglos, and Native Americans all turned in uncertain times? Join us to find out what made José Francisco Ruíz "The Man for Texas."
Click here to purchase the complete audiobook of "Tejano Patriot" by Art Martínez de Vara and read by Brandon Seale.

www.BrandonSeale.com

When Texanity Fails. And When it Doesn't. Aug 17, 2023

Show notes

Episode 11 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Engines of Texas History.
Winter Storm Uri. Texas's unique legal system. And Juneteenth. All together in one episode.
Sources:
McKnight, Joseph W. “The Spanish Legacy to Texas Law.” The American Journal of Legal History, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Jul 1959): 222-241.
McKnight, Joseph W. “The Spanish Legacy to Texas Law.” The American Journal of Legal History, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Oct 1959): 299-323.

www.BrandonSeale.com

The Texas Love Triangle Aug 10, 2023

Show notes

Episode 10 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Engines of Texas History.
Southwest Airlines was born of a uniquely Texan model of regulation and a uniquely Texan appreciation for the challenges of distance. More than that, however, it came to represent Texan ascendancy onto the national political and economic scene, in ways that discomforted the old coastal centers of power, and found them agitating against the Texas model in ways that recalled nineteenth century Texans' efforts to rein in coastal economic power. In the end, however, Southwest airlines democratized the skies and paved the way for broader regulatory reforms across other industries...some with more mixed results than aviation.
Sources:
Dockery, Christy. “Southwest Airlines: A Texas Airline in an Era of Deregulation.” Master’s Thesis, Texas Tech University, 1996.

www.BrandonSeale.com

The Integrated Circuit Aug 03, 2023

Show notes

Episode 9 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Engines of Texas History.
Jack Kilby's integrated circuit set off the "Second Industrial Revolution" and I want to believe that it was the product of Texans' finely-tuned attention to energy density, going back to the likes of Gail Borden and every plains Indian that ever sat a horse. And yet, is the integrated circuit perhaps a better example of land-obsessed Texans' failing to appreciate the potential of the twentieth century's greatest invention?
Photo available at TexasInstruments.com.
Sources:
Reid, T.R. The Chip: How Two Americans Invented the Microchip and Launched a Revolution (1985).

www.BrandonSeale.com

Making Texas Cool Jul 27, 2023

Show notes

Episode 8 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Engines of Texas History.
Texas's first true industrial "cluster" might have been ice-making. In the twentieth century, Texans lead the way in applying the science of refrigeration to human comfort and notched many significant firsts in the history of air conditioning. Most Texans' first experience with air conditioning was in movie theaters, and the movie industry repaid their patronage with an entire genre of films (the "Western") that helped make Texas "cool" in a way that it never had been before. The homogenizing effects of cinema worsened the marginalization of some Texas communities, however, even as it drove a massive wave of immigration from other U.S. states.
Photo courtesy of Friedrich Air Conditioning.
Sources:
Arsenault, Raymond. “The End of the Long, Hot Summer: The Air Conditioner and Southern Culture.” The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 50, No. 4 (Nov 1984): 597-628.
Cooper, Gail. Air Conditioning America: Engineers and Controlled Environment, 1900-1960 (1998).
Swanson, Philip. “Remember the Alamo? Mexicans, Texans, and Americans in 1960’s Hollywood.” Iberoamericana, Año 11, No. 44 (Dic 2011): 85-100.
Woolrich, W.R. The Men Who Created Cold. New York, NY: Exposition Press, 1967.

www.BrandonSeale.com

Spindletop Jul 20, 2023

Show notes

Episode 7 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Engines of Texas History.
Anthony Lucas's gusher at Spindletop marked "a new era of civilization," yet was the product of the humility, persistence, and practical genius of three Waco-area farm boys. Oil rapidly transformed the Texas economy from stubbornly agrarian and colonial into a first-world industrial power. For the first time in Texas history, Texans began to accumulate capital and were set on a countercyclical trajectory from the rest of the U.S. economy in a way that would only reinforce Texans' contrarian impulses.
Cover photo by John Trost, available online at the American Petroleum Institute.
Sources:
Linsley, Judith Walker, Ellen Walker Rienstra, Jo Ann Stiles. Giant Under the Hill: A History of the Spindletop Oil Discovery at Beaumont, TX in 1901 (2002).
Soday, Frank J. “The Petrochemical Industry.” The Analysts Journal, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Q3 1951): 17-24.
Spratt, John Stricklin. The Road to Spindletop: Economic Change in Texas, 1875-1901. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1955.

www.BrandonSeale.com

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