Background Reading

Czech Pioneers of the Southwest by Estelle Hudson and Henry Maresh and published by South-West Press, Dallas, 1934.

[This is the "first" book. Provides background information and information on specific families. Narratives detail the hardships of early Texas-Czech settlers including establishing homesteads and enduring the American Civil War.]

Krásná Amerika: A Study of the Texas Czechs, 1851--1939 by Clinton Machann and James W. Mendl and published by Eakin Press, Austin, Texas; 1983.

[As the title states, this is a study of the Texas Czechs. Chapter titles include: Emigration from Europe and Early History in Texas, Movement and Growth, Social Structure, Religion, Folk Culture, Czech Language, Journalism, and Literature, and Czech Identity and Assimilation. This is a thorough, footnoted book.]

We're Czechs  by Robert L. Skrabanek and published by Texas A & M University Press, College Station, 1988.

[On the dust-cover jacket of this book it states, "Robert L. Skrabanek was born into the Czech community of Snook, Texas, when it had no electricity, no running water, and nor hard-surface roads. With warmth and familiarity, he describes how immigrants and their families held on to their cultural heritage by attending worship services conducted in the Czech language, choosing friends and spouses from the Czech community, working the land in the traditional ways, baking kolaches, and dancing the polka."

 I found this an easy-to-read book that provides so very specific details as to how the Texas Czechs of Snook lived their lives in the 1920's and 1930's.]

 Czech Voices, Stories from Texas in the Amerikán Narodní Kalendár translated and edited by Clinton Machann and James W. Mendl Jr." and published by Texas A & M University Press, College Station, Texas, 1991.

[This book contains ten, first-person accounts of early Czech immigrants to Texas. The accounts start in the 1850's. The articles were first printed in the Midwestern Czech-language journal Amerikán Narodní Kalendár. According to the dust jacket themes include "hardships of the immigrants, religious conflicts, the American Civil War, farming practices, and attitudes toward the land." I actually found a great deal of background information in this book. It is one of my favorites.]

 The Decline and Fall of the Habsburg Empire: 1815-1918  by Alan Sked and published by Longman Publishing, London and New York, 1989.

[This book details the "big picture" of what was going on in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire side. Although I have not found a book that truly addresses the issues that affected the peasant class, this is the most useful that I have found.]

 The First Polish Americans: Silesian Settlements in Texas  by T. Lindsay Baker and published by Texas A & M University Press, College Station, 1979.

[For a vivid look of very similar circumstances of the peasant class, I highly recommend this book. Although Silesia was under Prussian rule at that time, the freeing of the serfs, separation from the manor, the revolutions of 1848, and the pressures of "Germanization" are very much the same there as for the Moravians just across the border. The book First Polish Americans presents a tight, fact- filled first few chapters. You might check it out at a library for a first reading.]

Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans  written by T. R. Fehrenbach and published by Collier Books, New York, 1986.

[For the Texas history aspect, this book is my all-time favorite and the one I most use as a reference. With this book, I recommend you read the chapters, which apply to the time periods, which affect the Texas Czechs. Use this book in conjunction with a more specific book such as <b>Krásná America. Be warned though, Texas History buffs tell me that this text is becoming dated based on newly uncovered information.]

German Seed in Texas Soil Immigrant Farmers in Nineteenth-Century Texas  by Terry G. Jordan, and published by University of Texas Press, Austin, 1994.

[This book presents a detailed study of the Germans in Texas. It also includes strong information on settlement patterns in Texas. Since this book you may want to check out at a library first for it is so specific to the Germans.]

Our Czech-ered Past  by Bessie Ancinec Sisson and published by Millenia Press, Lubbock, 1996.

[This book provides an up-close and personal view of what the world and life was like for the early Texas Czech immigrants, I recommend it as one, which helps you, get a "feel" for the time and the people.]

I am always on the look out for more reference books. If you know of one, please share the information.