[Reading line] Extraordinary events and notable characters from the Lone Star StateFrom the murder of French explorer La Salle to the impressive career of the state's first female black senator, It Happened in Texas looks at intriguing people and episodes from the history of the Lone Star State.Discover why a group of migrant farm workers marched nearly 500 miles in sweltering summer heat to meet with Texas's governor.Find out how the annexation of Texas into the United States led to the first war Americans ever fought on foreign soil.Learn what prompted ranchers of South Texas to bombard the sky for hours with hundreds of explosives one starry night in the fall of 1891.Relive the last days of outlaw couple Bonnie and Clyde, from an endearing family reunion to their violent deaths in an unrelenting hail of gunfire.James A. Crutchfield is the author of more than fifty books dealing with various aspects of American history and biography, and is the creator of the popular "It Happened In." series.

He and his wife, Regena, reside in their pre-Civil War home in Franklin, Tennessee.