Citizens of Texas often say Texas is not a state, but a state of mind. Perhaps no other state has been represented more in popular culture than Texas—yet stereotypes of the oil baron, cowboy, superpatriot and cheerleader distill (and conceal) com plex, dynamic histories. As an economic powerhouse and the birthplace of two postwar presidents (Eisenhower and Johnson) and home of a third presidential family (Bush), the myths and changes of Texas influence all of America.

The 28th state in the Union and largest of the continental states, Texas was annexed on December 29, 1845. Americans had settled there after 1821 in territory ruled by Mexico.

Tensions between colonizers and the state eventually meant war, including the famous 1836 Battle of the Alamo (San Antonio), where frontier heroes Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and William Travis died. Films and books have kept this memory alive, although, as Holly Brear suggests in Inherit the Alamo (1995), this shrine also divides Mexican American and Anglo-American consciousness. Prior to annexation, Texas was the only state in the union that had been an independent nation (1836–45).

The nickname “Lone Star State” also suggests a conception shared by Texas citizens and others in the United States and abroad. Texas, called the “Third Coast,” is characterized by vast spaces, freedom, opportunity and more nationalistic sentiment than in the United States itself. This independent ethos is supported by history and through economic success and population growth that have made Texas the third-largest state in the country. Oil and gas lead the way in the twentieth century; the international success of the prime-time soap opera Dallas made Texas oil-millionaires global stereotypes.

Metropoles like Dallas and Houston, and burgeoning San Antonio, El Paso and Austin, TX have incorporated more economic diversity, including agriculture and livestock, shipping, retail, military development, electronics, communications and tourism.

Growth complicates a potentially conflictive cultural landscape. While sharing a long border with Mexico, the large Mexican American population was repressed for generations. African Americans reflect the state’s slave heritage as well as its attraction for blacks who sought opportunities as cowboys or oil workers. Both have gained more prominence since the civil-rights era, although many argue that they have been left out of postwar wealth and power. Other older immigrant groups include Germans and Czechs, while new immigration from Vietnam, China and Latin America continues to change the state’s Sunbelt agglomerations.

Many outside Texas would reduce its culture to mythic characters and spaces. Yet Texas also has a large and well-funded state university system, which has made cities like Austin cosmopolitan enclaves, in addition to elite private schools like Rice (Houston). Its wealthy cities and citizens have built museums and concert halls and contributed to modern architecture. Sports are also part of Texas culture: football’s Dallas Cowboys (“America’s Team”), the basketball champion San Antonio Spurs and the Houston Astrodome represent this prominent role. Yet the small-town independence of Texas may be better captured in college and high-school football, chronicled in Bissinger’s Friday Nïght Lights (1990).

Money population and dynamism made Texas an electoral prize even before the Second World War, when the state was solidly Democrat. While Johnson kept it in Kennedy’s camp, Texas has subsequently become a powerhouse of conservative Republicans in Congress as well as the middle-of-the road Bush family. Governor George Bush, Jr.’s ability to raise $36 million in the first quarter of his campaign shows both local power and national attention that make Texas a major region and actor in the American future.

The University of Texas Press produces excel-lent works on state history and culture.