“[A] linguist . . . takes readers on a tour across the state, using names and language to tell its history.” ―Alcalde Was Gasoline, Texas, named in honor

A collection of Courtney's columns from the Texas Monthly, curing the curious, exorcizing bedevilment, and orienting the disoriented, advising "on such things a

248 pages, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2, 144 illustrations, bibliography, index. Nearly 1,000 name entries in 11 chapters.

To see Weeping Mary you've got to head to Texas. The grand state even boasts a Little Hope. Texas Towns is a smart volume full of peculiar places. Author Don Bl

Was Gasoline, Texas, named in honor of a gas station? Nope, but the name does honor the town’s original claim to fame: a gasoline-powered cotton gin. Is Paris