A Guide to Ancient Maya Ruins

C. Bruce Hunter

Hunter has spent 30 years leading field study trips to Maya archaeological sites for the American Museum of Natural History, and this guide is intended for the traveler but is nevertheless scholarly. Updated since its original 1974 edition, it incorporates archaeological findings of the last 20 years and would enrich any collection of Central American guidebooks. Look elsewhere for maps, transportation tips and the proper way to say “Make that margarita strawberry” in Spanish. This is a thorough guide to the history, archaeology and architecture of the more accessible Maya ruins. SK

Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Paperback: 356 pages
Illustrated

Hanging Judge

Fred Harvey Harrington

“Isaac C. Parker, the stern U.S. judge for the Indian Territory from 1875 to 1896, brought law and order to a lawless frontier region. He held court in the border city of Fort Smith, Arkansas, but his jurisdiction extended over the Indian tribal lands to the West. Pressing juries for convictions, Parker sent 79 convicted criminals to the gallows—as many as six at a time. It is said that Parker on occasion aided the prosecution, coached government witnesses and intimidated those for the defense, stretched the law and influenced the jury. It’s nice to know that some things haven’t changed. This new edition includes a foreword by Larry D. Ball, who situates Parker’s court within the context of unrest and rising crime in the Indian Territory. The book is both a scholarly treatment and a fun read, full of frontier wit and even some gallows humor.”

Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Paperback: 224 pages
Illustrated

Weathering the Storm: Tornadoes, Television and Turmoil

Gary A. Englund

Career bio of the weather king of Tornado Alley, Gary England, chief meteorologist of KWTV, Oklahoma City. “In a region where the weather really is a matter of life and death, the pressures and rewards of England’s unique role have been intense. This heartfelt narrative portrays the world behind the television camera, the man behind Oklahoma’s most trusted weather predictions… Shows how England’s career developed and paralleled the almost incredible expansion of weather prediction and television.” Includes 55 spectacular color photographs of tornadoes. GR

Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Hardback: 264 pages
Illustrated

Wind Energy in America: A History

Robert W. Righter

“For many people, assessment of wind energy is based largely on a fleeting observation from an automobile window.” This highly readable social history details the brief yet vital role of wind in American energy-generation: After World War I, mass-produced U.S. windmills (both water-pumpers and wind-chargers) signified individualism, self-sufficiency and decentralized technology, in direct opposition to government-regulated “hard” energy sources such as coal, petroleum, natural gas and nukes. The history of the Rural Electrification Administration, established in 1935, traces the high-wiring of the U.S. landscape, a transformation of both physical and economic topographies, which signaled the decline of independent farms and the growth of agribusiness. Righter concludes by examining closely the wind-generator boom of the past two decades in California, now totaling over 12,000 turbines and producing 96 percent of U.S. wind-generated electricity. HS

Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Hardback: 384 pages
Illustrated

Route 66: The Highway and Its People

Quinta Scott and Susan Croce Riley

An ode to the Mother Road. Its birth, the people, the towns and the boom-time it created. “The miracle was not the automobile. The miracle of the early 20th century was the construction of the vast network of highways that gave automobiles someplace to go.” It didn’t hurt that the black ribbon slashed from East to West, the direction America was hankering to travel. Retirees to the Golden West for their health. Okies to California for jobs. WW II vets to Los Angeles to settle down. Black-and-white illustrations include architectural curiosities like Wigwam Village (1946), the Uranium Cafe (1955), the Coral Court Motel (1940) and the U-Drop Inn (1936). GR

Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Paperback: 224 pages
Illustrated

Unsubmissive Women: Chinese Prostitutes in Nineteenth-Century San Francisco

Benson Tong

“Unsubmissive Women goes beyond the moral questions surrounding prostitutes in the Gold Rush West as working women and objects of anti-Chinese sentiment. In so doing, Tong exposes the complexity and texture of these women’s lives. He also portrays them as living beings rather than commodities. They demand our compassion and more—we must admire the human agency they exercised.”

Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Hardback: 320 pages
Illustrated