Texas Standard For November 25, 2020

You know the saying so many books, so little time? Well if you’ve got an hour, we’ve got a page turner for you. We’ll take a trip to the library. From ideas about voting and civic duty, the untold story of a war often repeatedly revisited, an agent of change who might otherwise have been lost to history, the tale of a Texas music scene that breaks all the stereotypes and loving sports when they don’t love you back. Conversations with authors from across the Lone Star State and beyond as we hit the bookshelves for a very special edition of the Texas Standard:

By Texas StandardNovember 25, 2020 10:00 am

Here’s what’s coming up on Texas Standard for Wednesday, November 25, 2020. Listen on your Texas public radio station, or ask your smart speaker to play Texas Standard.

Thank You for Voting

Even before the vote for the 2020 election was in, Liberty, Texas native Erin Geiger Smith was offering an appreciation of those doing their civic duty at the polls. She’s the author of “Thank You For Voting: The Maddening, Enlightening, Inspiring Truth About Voting in America.”

 Lee Merrill Byrd on “Birdie’s Beauty Parlor”

Author Lee Merrill tells Texas Standard the story behind her bilingual book that celebrates the bond between grandmothers and granddaughters.

“Three-Cornered War”

The Civil War’s western theater seldom gets as much attention as those battles in the east, but historian Megan Kate Nelson could help change that a bit with a new perspective on America’s bloodiest conflict. Her book is “The Three-Cornered War: The Union, The Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West.”

“Agent of Change:” Adela Sloss-Vento

A South Texan icon, long overlooked by historians finally got her proper due in a new biography. Adela Sloss-Vento was an important writer, a feminist, an activist and a leader who helped pave the way toward equal rights in the Lower Rio Grande valley. Cynthia Orozco wrote “Agent of Change.

“Texas Is The Reason”

Pat Blashill was a photojournalism college student at the University of Texas who decided to take pictures of an explosive music scene springing up at bars near campus: punk rock. He went on to travel the globe to document rock and roll but says it’s the images of an almost forgotten music scene in Texas that captures an emotional power unrivaled among his collection of images. He’s gathered those impressions together in a book titled “Texas Is The Reason: The Mavericks of Lone Star Punk.”

“Loving Sports When They Don’t Love You Back”

2020 was also a year of social change within the sports industry as discussions of racial and gender equity took center stage both in and out of the arena. Amid these reckonings, many sports lovers found themselves struggling with how to personally justify their fandom in an industry that can be at odds with their ethical beliefs. These are themes Austin-based sports journalist Jessica Luther explores in a new book, co-authored with Kavitha A. Davidson. It’s called “Loving Sports When They Don’t Love You Back: Dilemmas of the Modern Fan.”

All this and Texas News Roundup, plus Social Media Editor Wells Dunbar with the talk of Texas.

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