97 episodes

Explore the history of early Texas as you’ve never heard it before, using new research and recently uncovered documents. Season 1 traces the identity of modern-day Texas to the first 160 years or so of San Antonio's history. Season 2 covers the Battle of Medina, the largest, bloodiest battle in Texas history...and the narrowing search for the battlefield itself! Season 3 tells the remarkable tale of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his journey across the North American continent. Season 4 relates the largely unknown story of the Republic of the Rio Grande. And Season 5 traces the roots of Texans' unique psychology - their "Texanity" - to the technological innovations that shaped the state. -- As seen (or heard!) on Texas Standard, Texas Public Radio, KSAT12, the San Antonio Express-News, the San Antonio Report, the Austin Chronicle, and more! --

A New History of Old Texas Brandon Seale

    • Arts
    • 4.9 • 623 Ratings

Explore the history of early Texas as you’ve never heard it before, using new research and recently uncovered documents. Season 1 traces the identity of modern-day Texas to the first 160 years or so of San Antonio's history. Season 2 covers the Battle of Medina, the largest, bloodiest battle in Texas history...and the narrowing search for the battlefield itself! Season 3 tells the remarkable tale of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his journey across the North American continent. Season 4 relates the largely unknown story of the Republic of the Rio Grande. And Season 5 traces the roots of Texans' unique psychology - their "Texanity" - to the technological innovations that shaped the state. -- As seen (or heard!) on Texas Standard, Texas Public Radio, KSAT12, the San Antonio Express-News, the San Antonio Report, the Austin Chronicle, and more! --

    Don't Mess with Texas (Horsemen)

    Don't Mess with Texas (Horsemen)

    The return of the horse to the North American continent and its domestication by people of the Texas plains redrew the map of Native North America and defined the spheres of influence of European colonial empires for three centuries. It led to the formation of highly decentralized, individualistic frontier societies that either successfully adopted the horse or suffered at the hands of those who had. Maybe “Don’t Mess with Texas” didn’t originate with a 1985 anti-littering campaign…maybe it was written the first time a native Texan hopped on the back of a horse. 

    Cover art of "Lipan Apache" available online at Star of the Republic Museum, Portal to Texas History, University of North Texas. 
    www.BrandonSeale.com

    • 27 min
    The Font of Texas Government

    The Font of Texas Government

    When Don Juan de Oñate crossed the Rio Grande on May 4, 1598 at a spot which he called “El Paso del Rio del Norte”, he didn’t just bring with him the horses that would redraw the map of Native Texas. He brought with him the Spanish model of self-government centered on a locally-managed flood irrigation system that still serves today as the philosophical underpinning of the Texas "frontier regulatory model." It was the only real competitive advantage that the Spanish had over native Texas populations...but was it enough to build a permanent civil society around?

    Cover photo of "San Juan Demonstration Farm" available online at https://www.nps.gov/places/mission-san-juan-farm.htm.
    www.BrandonSeale.com

    • 20 min
    The Republic of Cotton

    The Republic of Cotton

    When they hosted the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936, Dallas boosters had good reason to rename their football stadium and associated bowl game based on a bad pun. The "Cotton Bowl" was a nod to the unmatched roll that "King Cotton" had played in shaping the demographics and politics of Texas, where it constituted as much as 90% of the output of the state for parts of the nineteenth century. But it’s a legacy that Texans have become increasingly uncomfortable with in recent decades, favoring the image of the cowboy and cattle drives. There is something far more romantic about a man on a horse than a man with a hoe…particularly when that man with the hoe is enslaved.

    Cover art "Young Texas in Repose" available online from Yale University Library. 
    www.BrandonSeale.com

    • 29 min
    "Peacemaker"

    "Peacemaker"

    Samuel Colt certainly benefitted from the association of his revolving pistol with the state that most found widespread application for it use. And Texans, by and large, returned the love, coming to believe that "God made man, but Samuel Colt made them equal."  Did the Colt Revolver blaze the trail for Anglo immigration into the Western half of the state? Or did the power imbalance it created violently accelerate a demographic inevitability?

    Cover art is available in the Public Domain and online.
    www.BrandonSeale.com

    • 24 min
    Comanche Superfood

    Comanche Superfood

    From "terraqueous machines" (??) to air conditioning prototypes to "condensed milk," Gail Borden was nineteenth century Texas's most prolific inventor. And yet he may owe the inspiration for his most successful inventions to a form of Comanche "superfood," developed with a uniquely Texan appreciation of the power of energy density.

    Cover art by David Moore, courtesy of IllustrationOnline.com
    www.BrandonSeale.com

    • 22 min
    The Iron Horse in Texas

    The Iron Horse in Texas

    Railroads made Texans wealthier than they had ever been. They brought labor-saving and efficiency improving implements like riding plows, threshers, mechanical harvesters, and soon, tractors, which collectively lifted the standard of living of most Texans far beyond anything their parents could have imagined. And Texans hated them for it! Texans very conflicted feelings toward the "Iron Horse" exposed an irreconcilable tension between their frontier regulatory model and their unshakable conviction that land was the only proper basis for wealth.

    Cover art of Texas's first locomotive - the "General Sherman" - available online at Houston Metropolitan Research Center, HPL.
    www.BrandonSeale.com

    • 20 min

Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5
623 Ratings

623 Ratings

JohnZen99 ,

Wow !

Succinct, well articulated and comprehensively researched.

#Shaft ,

Good Story Telling

The long form story telling is really good. 1st Season is best followed by 3 & 4.. Season 2 & 5 don’t fit the flow of the other seasons.

BRnPA ,

Cabeza de Vaca!

I was excited and enthralled to listen to season 3, which focused on Cabeza de Vaca. Growing up in Florida, his name was known to us as a Spanish explorer but I had no idea the detail of his adventures. Brandon Seale does a fantastic job of narrating and providing insightful commentary. Highly recommended!

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