Posted on June 28, 2009 by Nayab Naseer

Texas, a 1300 plus page historical novel by the famous author James A Mitchner is Mitchner at his best.

The novel traces the history of the lone star state from the earliest days with the characters merging as the generations pass. The novel recounts in great detail the history of independent Texas, the accounts of the first Spanish explorations, the first settlers along the red river, how their survived on pecans the first winter after crop failure, the events that surrounded it becoming a part of the USA and modern history well into the recent times.

Mitchner has wonderfully exploited the style of sub-stories within a main story. The characters are a mix of both real life historical figures and fictional ones, but all the stories and plot are a result of extensive research.

Texas is easily one of Mitchner’s best work and passes off as an epic. Even people having lived in Texas all their lives would have something new to learn from this book.