The history of New Texas, the Texas we know today-oil-rich, insufferably loud, and unbearably proud of itself-begins in the late 1920s, when a horned frog wakes from its thirty-one-year nap in a courthouse cornerstone and flabbergasts the nation. In slightly over two decades ten individuals-their words, actions, and accomplishments-come to define the New Texas of the twenty-first century. While the history of Old Texas rests on oft-told legends of Houston, Austin, Travis, Crockett, Rusk, Lamar, and Seguin, today's New Texas-proud, loud, self-promotional, sports-crazy, and too rich for its own good-is the Texas that percolates throughout the nation's popular culture.
In Texas Loud, Proud, and Brash: How Ten Mavericks Created the Twentieth-Century Lone Star State, author Rusty Williams profiles ten largely unsung men and women responsible for the Texas you love, hate, and (secretly) envy today.