From the Republic of the Rio Grande - A personal history of the place and the people
by de la Garza, Beatriz
pub by - University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas - isbn 978-0-292-71453-3 - - LCCN = 2012 024688 - - Contents p. vii - - Preface p. ix-xiii - - Works cited p.205-211 - - index p.213-225 - - total book length 225 p.

I picked up this book just to read the first chapter, then found it interesting enough to read it through to the end.
The author, Beatriz de la Garza, was born in (old) Guerrero, which is now covered by Falcon Lake, which was created by Falcon Dam on the Rio Grande (in Mexico called the Rio Bravo). Her early life was lived in Guerrero. Her family had lived in and around there for many generations. After the dam was built, and as the lake filled, when she was in 3rd grade, in 1950 her family moved to Laredo, Texas where she finished her growing up and schooling, eventually going to the University of Texas in Austin, which is at the end of this book.
She found a small trunk which had various family papers, photos and rememberences going back over 100 years into the past. She used these as a beginning to tell the tale of life in Mexico and along the border in Texas through the time period from as early as 1820 on through the 1950s. This book is heavily researched well beyond the information from the trunk.
This is a fascinating view into the history of this area, basically from Laredo to the mouth of the Rio Grande, including activities from farther afield which affected this area.
A few of the later chapters reiterate some of which was covered in some of the earlier chapters, but these chapters do approach the information from a slightly different perspective.
This is an interesting read for anyone who would like to understand this area, from the point of view of a person who grew up on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo.
And, yes, it does have significant information on the short lived Republic of the Rio Grande.

~ 2018-10-31 ~

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