Promotional Information

Earl Fornell makes the charming, colorful, cosmopolitan, contradictory city of Galveston the focal point of his study of the Texas Gulf Coast on the eve of the Civil War. The years 1845-1860 were crucial for this area; during that period the economy became more and more dependent upon slave labor, and thus the stage was set for secession.

Table of Contents

• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Part One: A Profile of Galveston
  • Chapter 1. The Island City: An Introduction
  • Chapter 2. Formal and Informal Institutions
  • Chapter 3. The Social Scene
  • Chapter 4. Editor-Publisher Politicians
• Part Two: Texas Crescent Cotton Expansion: Avant-Garde of Secession
  • Chapter 5. The Railroads: Transportation for Cotton
  • Chapter 6. The Problem of Slave Labor
• Part Three: The Climax
  • Chapter 7. Secession in Galveston
• A Commentary on Sources
• Bibliography
• Index

About the Author

The late Earl W. Fornell, a native of Wisconsin, held B.A. and M.A. degrees in political science from the New School for Social Research, the M.A. degree in political history from Columbia University, and the Ph.D. degree in political history from Rice University. He taught at Columbia, Amarillo College, Rice, and Lamar State College of Technology.