Galveston a History by David G Mccomb

Galveston: A History by David McComb recounts the history of Galveston, Texas. The book covers a variety of subjects, including the key events that shaped the history of the city, and the key people that have influenced the development of Galveston. The Galveston book is part of the series on Texas history, which is focused on the southeastern part of the state. Galveston is a coastal city 45 miles from Houston, at the edge of the Houston metropolitan area. The book ties in elements of technological development, natural disasters and the oil industry, all of which have had a significant influence on how Galveston developed. The subject aligns with the author's prior works about Houston, as Galveston's history is linked with that city's history. The book is of interest to those with an interest in the history of Galveston, as it is largely a historical account of the city.

The Author

McComb is a writer who specializes in Texas history. He is a professor of history at Colorado State University, but is a member of the Texas State Historical Association and he was raised in Houston. He also has lived in a number of other Texas cities, like Dallas, Austin, Galveston and San Antonio (Amazon, 2016). Some of his other works on the state include Houston: A History, The City in Texas, Texas: A Modern History, Houston: the Bayou City, and Travels with Joe, referencing Joe Frantz, another Texas historian. McComb also wrote Sports: An Illustrated History as a book that was not about Texas. Though he works in Colorado, his primary area of interest in terms of his writing career is Texas. One of the frameworks that he works with is the transition of Texas from a rural area to a wealthy, urban one through the oil business and the advancement of technology. He is keenly interested in understanding the differences between how this development occurred in Texas versus in other places, as a means of understanding the state's unique character. The Galveston book is clearly influenced by the fact that he not only is from the Houston area but has lived in Galveston specifically. He notes in the foreword, however, that he was never considered to be an insider there, because the local culture emphasizes that one should be born on the island, or choose to live there, and somebody who is there permanently is not one of them. His interest in Galveston seems in part related to the natural rivalry between that city and his home town of Houston, which might explain why he choose Galveston for his second city study.

Thesis of the Book

The book on Galveston recounts the history of Galveston, as a means of explaining the city's evolution and how different factors have influenced that evolution. He seeks to provide the reader with an understanding of Galveston, its unique nature, and how that nature came about. .He is interested in those factors that make Galveston distinctly, including its position as a barrier island and its relationship with the oil industry. The unique characters that influenced the city's history as a subject favorite of his, as are the ways in which the changes in the world affected the way that the people of Galveston lived. His central thesis, however, appears to relate to his personal interest in the unique character of the city, and his desire to explore this character further, as he has a deep connection for an outsider having visited and lived there over many instances in the course of his life. His argument is that the beach, the Gulf and the fact that Galveston is an island have all contributed to its development as a place of unique culture, akin to only a few other small cities in the country, and he desires to learn more about this.

Methodology

McComb has presented his argument mainly through focusing on the 20th century history of the city. He covers the 19th century, but his argument rests on the idea that this is not the most important aspect in how Galveston has come to its present state. He outlines several elements, such as the independent nature of the city, and how that changed when it became easier to get to Galveston. He argues as well that the Great Storm was a significant factor in shaping Galveston's history. His structure is to look at key incidents involving the city or key changes in the world and to analyze how they affected the city of Galveston. He looks a lot at the people, as a city is inherently about the people who live there. This technique allows him to reflect back the changes he has highlighted in terms of their influence, and what life looked like after these changes. He works with historic data, news reports, anecdotes and other primary source material for a lot of his work, as would be expected from a historian. The book ends up being a mix of topical and chronological, loosely the latter but with influence of the former as well. His style is more analytical in nature, as he seeks to understand how and why factors changed the city. McComb relies on his resources for much of his material, seeking to present a relatively unbiased understanding of Galveston and its history.

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