Audacity

Upon winning independence from Mexico in 1836, the Republic of Texas boldly set its own boundaries, reaching as far north as present-day Wyoming and westward into New Mexico. These boundaries—making Texas much bigger than it is today—still loom large in the state's mythology, even though the young Republic never controlled more than a fraction of that territory. In Audacity, Jack Woodville London sets out on a road trip with two companions to retrace those long-forgotten borders, a journey that no Texan of that time ever took. He enlightens readers, as well as unsuspecting strangers encountered along the way, about the remarkable history of the region, from the earliest Spanish explorations through the inevitable contraction of the Republic of Texas upon the Compromise of 1850. As they travel up the Rio Grande through New Mexico and on to its source in Colorado, then across Wyoming, Kansas, and Oklahoma, London and his intrepid friends pursue the history of the former boundaries of the Republic of Texas, recovering a uniquely American story—brutal, foolhardy, and truly extraordinary. Through original documents and little-seen maps, Audacity follows in the footsteps of shipwrecked sailors of the 1530s and Spanish conquistadors who subjugated the Indigenous people of New Mexico. It pursues the trails of Zebulon Pike and Comanche hostage Fayette Smith and details the murderous attempt by Texas privateers to seize the Santa Fe Trail, then continues off the beaten path to 13,000-foot peaks in Colorado, the wilds of Wyoming, the roaring waters of the Arkansas River, and the plains of Kansas and Oklahoma. In the process, the book tells a story of Spanish conquests of Texas and New Mexico, rebellions by Pueblo Natives and Anglo enslavement of Black Texans, and the destructive wars that Spain and Texas suffered at the hands of Plains Indians, most notably the Comanche. This is western history with an epic sweep. London replaces myth with unromanticized but riveting portrayals of brave and hubristic men, of glory and ignominy, and of dreams of grandeur giving way to the enduring fractures that haunt the American Southwest.