Bill Crawford

Gene Fowler

Traces the history of the border radio from the 1930s to the 1960s and describes how broadcasters pioneered direct sales advertising, used the radio as a political tool, popularized country music and rock, and introduced the electronic church.

Quacks, Yodelers, Pitchmen, Psychics, and Other Amazing Broadcasters of the American Airwaves, Revised Edition

Border Radio

A chilling catalog of the men and women who have paid the ultimate price for their crimes The death penalty is one of the most hotly contested and longest-standing issues in American politics, and no place is more symbolic of that debate than Texas. Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1977, Texas has put more than 390 prisoners to death, far more than any other state. Texas Death Row puts faces to those condemned men and women, with stark details on their crimes, sentencing, last meals, and last words. Definitive and objective, Texas Death Row will provide ample fuel for readers on both sides of the death penalty debate.

Executions in the Modern Era

Texas Death Row

“Border Radio tells the 50,000-watt clear-channel story of the most outrageous and audacious phenomenon to ever hit the airwaves.”—Los Angeles Times Before the Internet brought the world together, there was border radio. These mega-watt “border blaster” stations, set up just across the Mexican border to evade U.S. regulations, beamed programming across the United States and as far away as South America, Japan, and Western Europe. This book traces the eventful history of border radio from its founding in the 1930s by “goat-gland doctor” J. R. Brinkley to the glory days of Wolfman Jack in the 1960s. Along the way, it shows how border broadcasters pioneered direct sales advertising, helped prove the power of electronic media as a political tool, aided in spreading the popularity of country music, rhythm and blues, and rock, and laid the foundations for today’s electronic church. The authors have revised the text to include even more first-hand information and a larger selection of photographs. “The magic of [a] wildly colorful chapter in broadcast history lives on in this entertainingly informative look at the forces and the people who contributed to the rise of the medium.”—Chicago Tribune “Characters like Wolfman Jack, Reverend Ike, Norman Baker, “Dr.” J. R. Brinkley, Pappy O’Daniel and others were master showmen and tremendously successful salesmen. Secret-formula medicines, magic prayer cloths, Crazy Water Crystals, and goat-gland rejuvenations are just part of this often hilarious telling of this outrageous period in broadcast history.”—Variety “If you’re wondering where Herbalife, Home Shopping Network, No-Money-Down Seminars, and Jim and Tammy Bakker found their inspiration and techniques, look no further than this superb book.”—Dallas Morning News

A biography of Jim Thorpe, one of the greatest all-around athletes in history.

The Rise and Fall of Jim Thorpe

All American

The death penalty is one of the most hotly contested and longest-standing issues in American politics, and no place is more symbolic of that debate than Texas. Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1977, Texas has put more than 390 prisoners to death, far more than any other state. Texas Death Row puts faces to those condemned men and women, with stark and strangely engaging details on their crimes, sentencing, last meals, and last words. Definitive, objective, and compulsively readable, Texas Death Row will provide ample fuel for readers on both sides of the death penalty debate.

Dark Lenny By: Bill Crawford Lenny is the school bad boy and when Kev convinces his brother Wes to let him spend the night at his house, he realizes quickly Lenny is nuts and it might have been a big mistake. But then, he shows him something in a backyard a few blocks away that turns his world upside down. Something that would change his life as well as his brother’s and their closest friends forever, something right out of a fairy tale. As Kev is trying to believe what his eyes tell him can’t be real, Wes and his friends find out about a young girl that’s vanished from their town and are determined to help find her. All of them, along with a few local cops and a homeless vet are about to step into a war, ages old, between the very first families of good and evil. There are many innocents to save and battles to be fought. Friends will turn on friends and kids will find strength and learn to accept the unbelievable in a world they never believed could exist, the world of Dark Lenny.

Dark Lenny

Joe Nick Patoski

Traces the life of one of America's greatest guitarists, from his early years in the Texas music scene, his rivalry with his brother Jimmie, and his battles with drugs and alcohol, to his tragic death in 1990.

Bill Crawford

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