Day Trips: Four Books for Daytrippers

Four books to inspire, guide, and inform the daytripper:

Viva Texas Rivers! Edited by Steven L. Davis and Sam L. Pfiester (Texas A&M University Press, 256 pp., $29.95)

It's no coincidence that John Graves' Goodbye to a River is a Texas literary classic. The book continues to inspire Texans' love affair with their 15 major rivers since its publication in 1959. In this collection of essays, Texas writers new and old sing love songs to our waterways. As Wes Ferguson writes of the Sabine River, and by extension all Texas rivers: "Because it's our river, and we should celebrate it. We should know it."

Explore Texas: A Nature Travel Guide by Mary O. Parker, photos by Jeff Parker (Texas A&M University Press, 288 pp., $28)

This guide to natural areas around the state identifies with beautiful prose and photographs Texas wildlife, and where and when to find them. It's a storehouse of valuable information.

100 Things to Do in Texas Before You Die (Second Edition) by E.R. Bills (Reedy Press, 192 pp., $22.50)

The author doesn't plow much new ground here, but he hits all of the high points of iconic locations around the state. This is a great guide for new arrivals to Texas (an estimated 1,000 per day), but if you've been around the pasture awhile, you probably know most of the 100.

Unsettled Land by Sam W. Haynes (Basic Books, 464 pp., $35)

Haynes tells the story of the founding of Texas with all its greed, bigotry, heroism, and self-sacrifice. The accomplishments of William Goyens, a Black pioneer and entrepreneur in Nacogdoches, signify the diverse society that Texas could have become, while William Wharton, a prominent plantation owner, exhibited the hate and duplicity that polluted the future. Seeing the whole picture of the founding of Texas makes the story stronger, not weaker.

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1,632nd in a series. Everywhere is a day trip from somewhere: Follow “Day Trips & Beyond,” a travel blog, at austinchronicle.com/daily/travel.