My First Audiobook and Season 6

Ever since I read Art Martinez de Vara's "Tejano Patriot: The Revolutionary Life of José Francisco Ruíz," I've wanted to do a podcast about it. Ruíz is the ever-present man in Texas history from about 1810 until his death in 1840: the highest-ranking Tejano survivor of the Battle of Medina, the architect of a decade-long guerilla campaign against Spain from his exile in Louisiana, the broker of an impossible peace between Lipan Apaches, Comanches, and a newly independent Mexico...not to mention one of two-native born signers of the 1836 Texas Declaration of Independence and first Tejano senator in the new Republic.

What was it that placed Ruíz at the center of all these events? What ideology and vision for Texas guided him through all these years? And what can we learn from it today?

Starting this Thursday, 11/14, and every Thursday thereafter until Christmas, I'll be publishing a podcast episode highlighting the moments of highest-drama from Ruíz's life. But I'll also be interviewing the author Art Martinez de Vara each episode, to get his in-depth perspective on what was driving this charismatic man.

And there's more! I have recorded "Tejano Patriot" as an audiobook. Hopefully our little fifteen minute episodes will whet your appetite for the more detailed narrative of Texas during these tumultuous years, through the eyes of one of its most central players.