Bound in Twine by Sterling Evans has received the 2007 Theodore Saloutos Memorial Award for the best book on agricultural history from the Agricultural History Society. The society will honor Evans at a luncheon at the Organization of American Historians Conference tentatively schedule for Saturday March 28, 2009, in Seattle, Washington.

Before the invention of the combine, the binder was an essential harvesting implement that cut grain and bound the stalks in bundles tied with twine that could then be hand-gathered into shocks for threshing. Hundreds of thousands of farmers across the United States and Canada relied on binders and the twine required for the machine's operation. Implement manufacturers discovered that the best binder twine was made from henequen and sisal—spiny, fibrous plants native to the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico.

Bound in Twine analyzes the international dependencies among Canada, the U.S., and Mexico created by the growth, manufacturing, and use of binder twine between 1880 and 1950, or what Evans terms the henequen-wheat complex.

To read more about this book, visit:
http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2007/evans.htm

Testing American Sea Power: U.S. Navy Strategic Exercises, 1923–1940, by Craig C. Felker, received an Honorable Mention for the 2007 Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize. The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute awards the prize annually in cooperation with the Theodore Roosevelt Association and the New York Council Navy League of the United States. The awards were presented at the annual Roosevelt Naval History Prize Luncheon on June 5, 2008 at the New York Athletic Club.

For more information on this book, visit http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2007/felker.htm

Gary Hartman, author of The History of Texas Music is involved in a new radio program entitled "This Week in Texas Music History." The 90-second show airs each Monday morning on Austin's KUT 90.5 FM during NPR's Morning Edition at 6:33 a.m. and 8:33 a.m. Hartman expects many other NPR affiliate stations across the state to pick up the show and begin broadcasting it on a weekly basis. Hartman, who writes and hosts the show, is considered one of the nation's pre-eminent scholars on the subject of Texas music.
"'This Week in Texas Music History' has had a very positive response from audiences," Hartman said. "Some listeners have compared it to Garrison Keillor's nationally popular 'Writer's Almanac.'".
To read more about Hartman's book, visit http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2008/hartman.htm

As spring arrives and wanderlust sets in, make taking advantage of beautiful days a little easier by keeping a list on hand of places to visit and things to see.

A fun item for your list could be spotting the exotic animals living in your state, and the award-winning book Exotic Animal Field Guide can help you plan your day trip.

From axis deer to zebra, an estimated 230,000 or more foreign hoofed mammals live in the United States. These "exotics"—animals native to other places—can be found in Texas, Florida, New Mexico, Maryland, California, New Hampshire, Hawaii, and other states on ranches, in wildlife preserves, at safari parks, and sometimes just behind high fences or on a mountainside along the byroads of America.

Author Elizabeth Cary Mungall explains how these species got here, tells where people can go to view them, and gives a few simple guidelines for responsible ownership.

Exotic Animal Field Guide was recently named a winner of the 2007 Publication Award for Outstanding Authored Book by the Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society.

To read more about the book and start planning your trip, visit http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2007/mungall.htm