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In every corner of the sprawling enterprise that is the University of Texas at Austin, you will find teaching, research, artistic creation, and sports achievement that are among the best in the world. Mandated by the Texas constitution to be “a university of the first class,” UT Austin strives for excellence across the curriculum, from the most traditional of liberal arts disciplines to the cutting edge of science and technology. For Texans interested in progress, whether students of the university or members of the public, there are few pleasures greater than uncovering the intellectual treasures that can be found by exploring the university’s “Forty Acres” and all that they contain.

The Texas Book, edited by Richard A. Holland and published in 2006, offered the first in-depth exploration of UT’s history and traditions through a collection of profiles, histories, and reminiscences. Now The Texas Book Two continues the story, with a variety of contributors recalling particular events and personalities that have helped shape the university and the people whose lives it has touched. Twenty-one essays present personalities such as John A. Lomax, Anna Hiss, J. R. Parten, Harvey Penick, John W. Hargis, and Jorge Luis Borges; accounts of legislative battles and debates over campus architecture; histories of crown jewels such as the McDonald Observatory and Austin City Limits; and the reminiscences of Barbara Smith Conrad, Sam Hurt, and Cat Osterman, among others.

As the University of Texas at Austin celebrates its 125th anniversary, it can justly claim to be a "university of the first class," as mandated in the Texas Constitution. The university's faculty and student body include winners of the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, the MacArthur "genius award," and Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships, as well as members of learned societies all over the world. UT's athletic programs are said to be the best overall in the United States, and its libraries, museums, and archives are lauded in every educated part of the world. Texas alumni have made their marks in law, engineering, geology, business, journalism, and all fields of the sciences, arts, and entertainment.

The Texas Book gathers together personality profiles, historical essays, and first-person reminiscences to create an informal, highly readable history of UT. Many fascinating characters appear in these pages, including visionary president and Ransom Center founder Harry Huntt Ransom, contrarian English professor and Texas folklorist J. Frank Dobie, legendary regent and lightning rod Frank C. Erwin, and founder of the field of Mexican American Studies, Américo Paredes. The historical pieces recall some of the most dramatic and challenging episodes in the university's history, including recurring attacks on the school by politicians and regents, the institution's history of segregation and struggles to become a truly diverse university, the sixties' protest movements, and the Tower sniper shooting. Rounding off the collection are reminiscences by former and current students and faculty, including Walter Prescott Webb, Willie Morris, Betty Sue Flowers, J. M. Coetzee, and Barbara Jordan, who capture the spirit of the campus at moments in time that defined their eras.

This engaging memoir details Bill Cunningham’s seven years as president of the University of Texas at Austin and his eight years as chancellor of the UT System. Along the way, he relates accounts of the important issues UT faced during that time, including fraternity hazing, affirmative action, the demise of the Southwest Conference and the creation of the Big 12, apartheid and divestment protests, the future of higher education in Texas, and many other issues.

The Texas Way outlines how money, power, politics, and ambition all play roles in the business of running the state’s premier university system, particularly in its relations with the state government. As president and then as chancellor, Cunningham dealt with conflict from all sides of the political spectrum, always striving to protect the university’s interests.

Bill Cunningham was at the center of many important issues during the fifteen years he served as president and chancellor. The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin is pleased to publish Cunningham’s detailed and insightful memoir, which serves as a reminder of how these issues continue to resonate and affect higher education in Texas.