The Texas coast attracts everyone—children playing in the surf and building sand castles; high school and college students partying at spring break; adults easing workaday stresses by beachcombing, birding, fishing, or just watching the waves roll in one after another. In the coast's elemental landscape of low dunes, sandy beaches, salt water, and sea breezes, life itself seems simpler. There's time to watch the seagulls fighting over a fish, bodysurf in the waves, pick up shells on the beach, and reconnect with the healing rhythms of nature.
This beautiful book combines Laurence Parent's magnificent photographs with Joe Nick Patoski's entertaining text to create a one-of-a-kind portrait of the Texas coast. Parent's images capture Texas beaches, bays, estuaries, and salt marshes from Sabine Pass near the Louisiana border to Boca Chica, where the Rio Grande (sometimes) enters the Gulf of Mexico. He records all the familiar and distinctive scenes—sunrise over the Gulf of Mexico and sunset over the bays, sand dunes covered in goat-foot morning glories, historic lighthouses, shrimp boats and sailboats in harbor, and our favorite destinations of Galveston, Port Aransas, Corpus Christi, and South Padre Island. He also highlights lovely, lesser-known places you may not have discovered yet, such as Brazos Bend State Park.
Joe Nick Patoski takes you on a verbal tour of the Texas coast. He describes the irresistible allure of this undramatic yet somehow unforgettable chain of barrier islands and bays. He also acknowledges the human activity that has always been a part of the coastal story—the arrival of immigrants to settle Texas; Civil War battles at Sabine Pass, Galveston, and Palmetto Ranch; towns, such as Indianola, that flourished and then suddenly folded after devastating hurricanes; the building of a huge petrochemical industry; and the successful effort to create wildlife refuges to sustain migrating birds and endangered species such as whooping cranes and Kemp's ridley sea turtles.
Together, Parent and Patoski make it plain why people return to the coast as regularly as waves lap the beach. Looking through Texas Coast may well be where your next visit begins.

Texas Coast

Arts & Photography

Patoski, Joe Nick

Parent, Laurence

Individual Artists

University of Texas Press

Big Bend National Park is one of the few places left in America where a person can literally get away from it all. Nestled in the great bend of the Rio Grande that forms one of the most distinctive features of the silhouette of Texas, the park is several hundred miles from any large city. Within its 1,250 square miles of mountains, canyons, desert, and river, Big Bend National Park offers visitors respite from the stresses of urban living—a place for taking stock and charting new courses. That's one reason why many people return to the park year after year.
This book is the first and only comprehensive photographic and word portrait of Big Bend National Park. Laurence Parent presents a magnificent photo gallery of park scenes. He portrays the mountain ranges—Chisos, Dead Horse, Rosillos, and Sierra del Carmen—from first light to moonrise and in all seasons and weather. He includes dramatic images of Santa Elena, Mariscal, and Boquillas canyons, as well as landmark features such as Mule Ears Peaks, Elephant Tusk, and the Chisos Basin Window. Parent also portrays the ephemeral beauty of Big Bend wildflowers, including giant bluebonnets and blooming prickly pear cactus, as well as the traces of human habitation at ghost towns scattered around the park.
Joe Nick Patoski complements Parent's images with a masterfully crafted word portrait of Big Bend National Park. Patoski describes the powerful geologic and volcanic forces that created the awe-inspiring landscape of the Big Bend. He reviews the park's natural history and also its human history, from the prehistoric hunter-gathers who ranged over the region to Cabeza de Vaca, who was probably the first European to see Big Bend, to the creation of the national park in the 1930s and 1940s. Patoski also summarizes recent conservation efforts that have led to the protection of 2.1 million acres on both sides of the Rio Grande.
Although no single book could ever hope to contain the vastness of Big Bend National Park between two covers, this one beautifully captures its essence.

Big Bend National Park (Bill and Alice Wright Photography Series)

Shortlisted, Finalist, "Mountain Image" Category, Banff Mountain Book Festival, 2002 Southwest Book Award, Border Regional Library Association. 
Some of the most beautiful views in Texas are also the most remote. Seemingly endless miles lie between the isolated mountain ranges of the Trans-Pecos and the more populous parts of Texas and New Mexico, ensuring that only those who really crave the solitude, rugged loveliness, and hundred-mile vistas of the mountains will ever make the trek. In this book, Laurence Parent and Joe Nick Patoski join forces to offer breathtaking views of the Texas mountains. With magnificent images and words, they take us on a journey not only through the familiar Guadalupe, Davis, and Chisos mountains, but also through lesser-known ranges with evocative names such as Sierra Diablo, Eagle, Chinati, Beach, and Christmas. Capturing the Texas mountains from first light to the glowing rays of sunset and from winter snows to summer droughts, Parent's photographs reveal many hidden treasures—pine forests, waterfalls, old forts, aspens, movie sets, Indian pictographs, and red-rock pinnacles. Patoski's text ranges as widely as the photos, using places from Marathon to El Paso's Franklin Mountains as starting points for "field notes" that explore the myriad ways in which the land has shaped and been shaped by the people who live on it. For everyone who longs for mountain views and wide-open spaces, Texas Mountains comes as close to being there as you can get without endless driving.

Texas Mountains

Photography & Video

Before Austin became the "live music capital of the world" and attracted tens of thousands of music fans, it had a vibrant local music scene that spanned late sixties psychedelic and avant-garde rock to early eighties punk. Venues such as the Vulcan Gas Company and the Armadillo World Headquarters hosted both innovative local musicians and big-name touring acts. Poster artists not only advertised the performances—they visually defined the music and culture of Austin during this pivotal period. Their posters promoted an alternative lifestyle that permeated the city and reflected Austin's transformation from a sleepy university town into a veritable oasis of underground artistic and cultural activity in the state of Texas.
This book presents a definitive survey of music poster art produced in Austin between 1967 and 1982. It vividly illustrates four distinct generations of posters—psychedelic art of the Vulcan Gas Company, early works from the Armadillo World Headquarters, an emerging variety of styles from the mid-1970s, and the radical visual aesthetic of punk—produced by such renowned artists as Gilbert Shelton, Jim Franklin, Kerry Awn, Micael Priest, Guy Juke, Ken Featherston, NOXX, and Danny Garrett. Setting the posters in context, Texas music and pop-culture authority Joe Nick Patoski details the history of music posters in Austin, and artist and poster art scholar Nels Jacobson explores the lives and techniques of the artists.

Homegrown: Austin Music Posters 1967 to 1982 (Southwestern Writers Collection Series, Wittliff Collections at Texas State University)

Jacobson, Nels

From his first performance at age four, Willie Nelson was driven to make music and live life on his own terms. But though he is a songwriter of exceptional depth - "Crazy" was one of his early classics - Willie only found success after abandoning Nashville and moving to Austin, Texas. Red Headed Stranger made country cool to a new generation of fans. Wanted: The Outlaws became the first country album to sell a million copies. And "On the Road Again" became the anthem for Americans on the move. A craggy-faced, pot-smoking philosopher, Willie Nelson is one of America's great iconoclasts and idols. Now Joe Nick Patoski draws on over 100 interviews with Willie and his family, band, and friends to tell Nelson's story, from humble Depression-era roots, to his musical education in Texas honky-tonks and his flirtations with whiskey, women, and weed; from his triumph with #1 hit "Always On My Mind" to his nearly career-ending battles with debt and the IRS; and his ultimate redemption and ascension to American hero

Willie Nelson: An Epic Life

Humor & Entertainment

Little. Brown and Company

Willie Nelson

Back Bay Books

From his first performance at age four, Willie Nelson was driven to make music and live life on his own terms. But though he is a songwriter of exceptional depth - "Crazy" was one of his early classics - Willie only found success after abandoning Nashville and moving to Austin, Texas.Red Headed Stranger made country cool to a new generation of fans. Wanted: The Outlaws became the first country album to sell a million copies. And "On the Road Again" became the anthem for Americans on the move. A craggy-faced, pot-smoking philosopher, Willie Nelson is one of America's great iconoclasts and idols.Now Joe Nick Patoski draws on over 100 interviews with Willie and his family, band, and friends to tell Nelson's story, from humble Depression-era roots, to his musical education in Texas honky-tonks and his flirtations with whiskey, women, and weed; from his triumph with #1 hit "Always On My Mind" to his nearly career-ending battles with debt and the IRS; and his ultimate redemption and ascension to American hero

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

The definitive, must-have account of the all-time players, coaches, locker rooms and boardrooms that made the Dallas Cowboys "America's Team." Since 1960, the Cowboys have never been just about football. From their ego-driven owner and high-profile players to their state-of-the-art stadium and iconic cheerleaders, the Cowboys have become a staple of both football and American culture since the beginning. For over 50 years, wherever the Cowboys play, there are people in the stands in all their glory: thousands of jerseys, hats, and pennants, all declaring the love and loyalty to one of the most influential teams in NFL history. Now, with thrilling insider looks and sweeping reveals of the ever-lasting time, place, and culture of the team, Joe Nick Patoski takes readers - both fans and rivals alike - deep into the captivating world of the Cowboys.

The Dallas Cowboys: The Outrageous History of the Biggest, Loudest, Most Hated, Best Loved Football Team in America

History

Americas

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Patoski, Joe Nick. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Patoski, Joe Nick

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Patoski, Joe Nick. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Texas Coast

Big Bend National Park (Bill and Alice Wright Photography Series)

Texas Mountains

Homegrown: Austin Music Posters 1967 to 1982 (Southwestern Writers Collection Series, Wittliff Collections at Texas State University)

Homegrown: Austin Music Posters 1967 to 1982 (Southwestern Writers Collection Series, Wittliff Collections at Texas State University)

Willie Nelson: An Epic Life

Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson: An Epic Life

The Dallas Cowboys: The Outrageous History of the Biggest, Loudest, Most Hated, Best Loved Football Team in America

The Dallas Cowboys: The Outrageous History of the Biggest, Loudest, Most Hated, Best Loved Football Team in America