Houston Deco: Modernistic Architecture of the Texas Coast
by Jim Parsons, David Bush and Madeleine McDermott Hamm

When it comes to art deco, Houston is rarely cited in the same breath as Miami, New York, or Los Angeles, but this Texas city boasts many gorgeous examples of this early 20th-century style, some of which are in jeopardy of being forever altered or demolished. From downtown landmarks to east end industrial sites, this lavish guide captures the grace and beauty of these innovative designs with an eye toward the importance of conservation, restoration and preservation.

Cinema Houston: From Nickelodeon to Megaplex
by David Welling

Cinema Houston celebrates a vibrant century of movie theatres and moviegoing in Texas's largest city. Illustrated with more than 200 historical photographs, newspaper clippings, and advertisements, it traces the history of Houston movie theaters from their early twentieth-century beginnings in vaudeville and nickelodeon houses to the opulent downtown theatres built in the 1920s and on to the multicinemas and megaplexes that have come to dominate the movie scene since the late 1960s.

Country Houses of John F. Staub
by Stephen Fox

This ambitious study of Staub's work goes beyond a description of Staub's houses. Fox analyzes the roles of space, structure, and decoration in creating, defining, and maintaining social class structures and expectations and shows how Staub was able to incorporate these elements and understandings into the elegant buildings he designed for his clients. In the process, he contributes greatly to a fuller understanding of Houston's emergence as a premier American city. With color photographs by Richard Cheek.

America's Treasures at Bayou Bend: Celebrating Fifty Years
by Michael K. Brown

This overview of the collection of American decorative arts at Bayou Bend, the former home of Houston philanthropist Ima Hogg, includes an illustrated essay detailing the history of how the collection was formed followed by a brief showcasing of 100 of the collection's masterpieces.

Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues
by Roger Wood

Houston blues was and is the voice of a working-class community, an ongoing conversation about good times and hard times, smokin' Saturday nights and Blue Mondays. Since 1995, Roger Wood and photographer James Fraher have been gathering the story of the blues in Houston. In this book, they draw on dozens of interviews with blues musicians, club owners, audience members, and music producers, as well as dramatic black-and-white photographs of performers and venues, to present a lovingly detailed portrait of the Houston blues scene, past and present.

An original work of high distinction indeed: as fine a historical novel as any within recent memory, and far and away Harrigan's best book yet. (Kirkus)

We have the first great novel of the 21st century. ... Has the potential to join history-based novels such as Gone With the Wind and Lonesome Dove as eternal bestsellers as well as critically acclaimed titles. A stunning literary achievement. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

The First Texas News Barons

This book investigates how newspaper owners such as A. H. Belo and George B. Dealey of the Dallas Morning News, Edwin Kiest of the Dallas Times Herald, William P. Hobby and Oveta Culp Hobby of the Houston Post, Jesse H. Jones and Marcellus Foster of the Houston Chronicle, and Amon G. Carter Sr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram paved the way for the modern state of Texas.

Forty-two fully illustrated chapters cover all aspects of preservation, from repairing historic materials to restoring vintage signs.

Preserving the World's Great Cities: The Destruction and Renewal of the Historic Metropolis
by Anthony Max Tung

Tung, a former New York City Landmarks Preservation Commissioner, has written an innovative historical and theoretical study of architectural and cultural preservation efforts in 20 cities across the world. Tung visited each of the 20 sites himself and relies on exhaustive archival research. He presents difficult problems fairly such as whether the Elgin Marbles should be returned to Greece despite Athenian pollution, the battle over air rights in Manhattan, and whether the reconstruction of Warsaw has destroyed the history of its destruction during the war always attempting to find a solution that relies on common sense, historical integrity and balancing practical needs with preserving heritage. This is an important contribution not only to the literature of urban studies and city planning, but to architectural history and sociology.

The Elements of Style: A Practical Encyclopedia Of Interior Architectural Details from 1485 to the Present
Stephen Calloway and Elizabeth Cromley, editors

This magnificent volume covers more than 500 years of architectural styles from Tudor to Post-Modern using more than 3,000 drawings and engravings and 1,400 photographs. Compiled by a team of experts headed by Stephen Calloway and Elizabeth Cromley, The Elements of Style is the first book on architectural styles that is comprehensive, incredibly thorough, and accessible in its presentation of individual details.

Stories in Stone provides history along with images of a wide variety of common and not-so-common cemetery symbols, and offers an in-depth examination of stone relics and the personal and intimate details they display-flora and fauna, religious icons, society symbols, and final impressions of how the deceased wished to be remembered. Keister has created a practical field guide that is compact and portable, perfect for those interested in family histories and genealogical research, and is the only book of its kind that unlocks the language of symbols in a comprehensive and easy-to-understand manner.

What Style Is It?: A Guide to American Architecture
by John C. Poppeliers, S. Allen Chambers and Nancy B. Schwartz

Designed for easy identification of buildings on the road or at home, What Style Is It? gives a unique overview of America's architectural styles. Individual chapters on 22 of the most important styles provide a concise look at the history and appearance of each.

If you're confused by the differences between Stick and Shingle, or Queen Anne and Italianate, you may need What Style Is It?, a picture-and-prose handbook (that) strips away the mysteries of architectural nomenclature. (Chicago Tribune)

This slim, pocket-sized guide, with its many photographs and illustrations, should be of value to anyone interested in identifying and enjoying the architectural assets of a building. … What Style Is It? concisely gives the details and design features needed to identify a building's style. (The New York Times)