Kings of Texas: The 150-Year Saga of an American Ranching Empire

by Don Graham

Praise for KINGS OF TEXAS

""Kings of Texas is a fresh and very welcome history of the great King Ranch. It's concise but thorough, crisply written, meticulous, and very readable. It should find a wide audience.""
-Larry McMurtry, author of Sin Killer and the Pulitzer Prize--winning Lonesome Dove

""This book is about the King Ranch, but it is about much more than that. A compelling chronicle of war, peace, love, betrayal, birth, and death in the region where the Texas-Mexico border blurs in the haze of the Wild Horse Desert, it is also an intriguing detective story with links to the present-and a first-rate read.""
-H.W. Brands, author of The Age of Gold and the bestselling Pulitzer Prize finalist The First American

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Westerns

Paperback

First published December 20, 2002

About the author

Don Graham was the J. Frank Dobie Regents Professor of American and English Literature at The University of Texas at Austin. He was the author or editor of numerous books and articles, including Kings of Texas: The 150-Year Saga of an American Ranching Empire (2003), which won the Carr P. Collins Prize from the Texas Institute of Letters as best nonfiction book of the year, No Name on the Bullet: A Biography of Audie Murphy and Lone Star Literature: A Texas Anthology (2006). He was a past president of the Texas Institute of Letters and a writer-at-large for Texas Monthly.

Reviews

[McKay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the content about the history of the ranch and of Captain King and how the ranch came to be. It's amazing to learn about the challenges faced in the early days and the perseverance that it took to put together the empire that is the King Ranch. As it got towards the end of the book my interest was lost quickly as it mostly discussed a lawsuit in depth that the author didn't even wait to conclude before publishing which leaves the reader hanging.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is 3.5 stars, and I can't decide whether it should be 3 or 4 stars. I might even change it after a while. There were portions that I thoroughly enjoyed. There were portions that were thoroughly painful. Painful because, though I knew the history of Texas, including the theft and racism against the Tejanos, I hadn't spent so much time in it. I felt I was witnessing this difficult history in great detail. These are the portions of the book that deserve 4 stars.

But there is a lot of detail. I mean, you'll be off on tangents about so and so's cousin, lists of birds, etc. Maybe that's par for the genre, but still.

[Robert Scholl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story

I enjoyed this book and learned quite a bit. Stylistically I hoped it would have been more linear in the chronology. Also wished there had been more on the heirs of Captain King. I'd say the perspective is maybe a little one sided; I imagine that's to counter previous books on the King Ranch

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

So disappointing. Such an incredible topic but the author completely fails and does a disservice to the history of Texas. The book is convoluted, biased, and worst of all boring. The characters lack life and the backdrops are stale. The author should have spent more time immersing the reader in this story rather than providing his opinions or facts to support his opinions.

[Catherine Carr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good history of South Texas, which time and memory often confuse with today’s concerns. Its fascinating characters prove why Texas holds such interest. Richard King and his descendants give us an understanding of the term “dynasty.”

[Casan Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating read about the King Ranch and Texas History

I loved this book. The author frames the story in historical context alongside Texas history, the Civil War, Mexican-American relations, economic evolution, and land ownership.

[Chuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more a book about the history of South Texas and the Brownsville area than it is about the King Ranch and Richard King. It is well written. At one point Richard King was the richest man in Texas but he seems more an after thought in the book.

[David Kemp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super compelling, very well researched, comprehensive history of the people and historical events that created America's biggest ranching operation. This book reads us much like a history of the Texas-Mexico border region as it does as a history of the ranch and its founders.

[Ken Beissner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent history of the King Ranch and Texas in the 1800's

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting twist regarding some shady legal representation.

[JV · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected more as the story is better than the book.

[Michele Lawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed the book as the history of King Ranch is truly fascinating; however, once the book passed into the portion relating to the lawsuit filed by Chapman descendants in the late 1990's, the author began to impose his own personal points of view into what should have remained a historical thesis.

[Ann Rieth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned some info re Texas history, but the book got totally bogged down in the lawsuit which was still in progress after publication. I didn't particularly care about the Kings, but Henrietta was someone I would have liked to meet. All the people I would recommend read this book also read it for the same Texas book club.

[Catherine Mcguinness]

I loved this book. Loved learning about early Texas history, which surrounds King Ranch and the King family. Interesting to me, some of the current political issues were hot topics way back then, too.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very readable book about the King Ranch. Also interesting to read about the troubled relations between the Anglos and the Mexicans in S. Texas and the role the Texas Rangers played in the Nueces Strip.

[Priscilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-researched book chronicling various aspects of Texas history with respect to the King Ranch. Very readable, although it reminded me of a college textbook at times. The author peppered in a few anecdotes that made me laugh.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! I would love a day to get into the King Ranch Archive.

[Frances · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good history of Richard King and the King Ranch. The King Ranch would not open its archives for the author's research but in spite of this, the book is well written and well researched.

[Claudia]

Thank you Jonathan and Don Graham for a very happy birthday read

[Debra Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Highly recommended to me. Good history. Slow read.

[Maya Houston]

Gotta love Texas!

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Any book on Texas usually receives a little better rating due to my being biased; however I was somewhat disheartened by the ending. It just leaves you wondering what happened. Even if it isn't over the writer should have summarized the ending or a least prepared you for its continuation. The overall book was good.

[Austin High]

976.4 GRA