"Includes streets in Brazoria, Galveston, Montgomery, Ft. Bend, Waller, Harris and Liberty Counties."

In HISTORIC HOUSTON: HOW TO SEE IT, Lucinda Freeman brings Houstons history to life by coupling entertaining stories that highlight influential personalities and key historical events with day-trip itineraries, providing a comprehensive and useful guidebook for heritage tourists interested in the history of Houston and surrounding region. Freeman is a native Houstonian, a fifth-generation Texan, and the daughter of two parents who also wrote books on Houstons history. She relies on careful research and personal experience to offer unforgettable adventures into early Houston and Texas. She brings to light colorful historical characters like Sam Houston, Deaf Smith, and legendary cattle rustler and oilman Shanghai Pierce. Freeman also recounts stories of immigrants and highlights events from key time periods like the Texas Revolution, Antebellum Texas, and the Civil War, offering guided day-trip plans for seeing it all, including historical markers, museums, plantations, battle sites, and renovated historical buildings. HISTORIC HOUSTON: HOW TO SEE IT com bines historical facts and easy to- follow itineraries with captivating anecdotes about the famous, the infamous, the heroic, and the eccentric in order to provide a fascinating, in-depth glimpse into a forward-thinking city and region with great personality and character. For more information about the book and related projects and events, visit www.historichoustontourism.com

From NASA to the Theatre District, rodeos to drilling oil, Historic Photos of Houston is a photographic history collected from the areas top archives. With around 200 photographs, many of which have never been published, this beautiful coffee table book shows the historical growth from the mid 1800's to the late 1900's of ?the Space City? in stunning black and white photography. The book follows life, government, events and people important to Houston and the building of this unique city. Spanning over two centuries and two hundred photographs, this is a must have for any long-time resident or history lover of Houston!

The Story of Houston has not proved an easy one to write. A city is in many respects a conglomeration of units rather than an aggregate of unities. the units are of character so varying that it is hard to reduce them to a common denominator. Municipal consciousness is vague and much that happens in the development of a city seems to be fortuitous rather than teleological. Yet Houston has in many respects grown to formula and plan and has often responded heartily to conscious effort made at improvement of conditions. The foundations of the past have been used and effort has been often cumulative in results. Undeniably there is a municipal spirit, an esprit du corps of the citizens that argues well for the future of the town. This book is breathing the history of Houston in 28 stunning and detailed chapters.

The neighborhoods of Fifth Ward, Fourth Ward, Third Ward, and the Southside of Houston, Texas, gave birth to Houston rap, a vibrant music scene that has produced globally recognized artists such as Geto Boys, DJ Screw, Pimp C and Bun B of UGK, Fat Pat, Big Moe, Z-Ro, Lil’ Troy, and Paul Wall. Lance Scott Walker and photographer Peter Beste spent a decade documenting Houston’s scene, interviewing and photographing the people—rappers, DJs, producers, promoters, record label owners—and places that give rap music from the Bayou City its distinctive character. Their collaboration produced the books Houston Rap and Houston Rap Tapes. This second edition of Houston Rap Tapes amplifies the city’s hip-hop history through new interviews with Scarface, Slim Thug, Lez Moné, B L A C K I E, Lil’ Keke, and Sire Jukebox of the original Ghetto Boys. Walker groups the interviews into sections that track the different eras and movements in Houston rap, with new photographs and album art that reveal the evolution of the scene from the 1970s to today’s hip-hop generation. The interviews range from the specifics of making music to the passions, regrets, memories, and hopes that give it life. While offering a view from some of Houston’s most marginalized areas, these intimate conversations lay out universal struggles and feelings. As Willie D of Geto Boys writes in the foreword, “Houston Rap Tapes flows more like a bunch of fellows who haven’t seen each other for ages, hanging out on the block reminiscing, rather than a calculated literary guide to Houston’s history.”

A guide to the history of the Bayou City for Texans, visitors and armchair tourists alike. Houston earned its international reputation as a hub for space flight and the oil industry. But visitors don't need to search out the secrets of the stars or the depths of the earth to experience the impressive legacy of the nation's fourth-largest city. Traverse the streets of downtown and find historic treasures from antebellum Texas. Venture to the outskirts to find the world’s “Eighth Wonder,” as well as the globe’s tallest stone monument and one of its largest ports. Discover why the town’s exceptional heritage of innovation, industry and architecture has sparked a movement to uncover and embrace its historic structures. Join Tristan Smith for an in-depth exploration of Houston’s historic wards.