I Would Rather Sleep in Texas: A History of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and the People of the Santa Anita Land Grant
This superb work of history tells the compelling story of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and the people who struggled to make this land their home. Spanish Conquistadors and Mexican revolutionaries, cowboys and ranchers, Texas Rangers and Civil War generals, entrepreneurs and empire-builders are all a part of this thoroughly researched, centuries-long saga.
Steamboats used the inland waterway as a major transport route and fortunes were made while serving as the Confederacy's only outlet for money and munitions. It is the land from where cattle were driven to the Chisholm Trail and where men, women, and beasts braved the unrelenting climate. It was and remains a crossroads of international culture.
First-hand accounts and the life experiences of the family members of the Santa Anita further enrich this narrative, as do its many rare illustrations. I Would Rather Sleep in Texas tells a remarkable story that covers the broad sweep of Texas and borderlands history.
Mary Margaret McAllen Amberson, a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and student of history and anthropology, worked with her father, James A. McAllen, who compiled extensive notes, research, and data on South Texas and Valley history. His mother, Margaret H. McAllen, a former member of the TSHA and the Texas Historical Commissions, began the book project in 1978.