Galveston: A History Summary

Tamara Lee

2301-702

April 30, 2017

David G. McComb, Galveston: A History, 1986 The University of Texas Press, Austin. Texas.

Galveston A History was written by author David G. McComb and published on January 1st 1986. In his book Galveston: A History McComb, tries to address the issues of how technology plays a role in transforming Galveston away from the way the European explorers encountered to the grand tourist attraction that it is today. In the book Galveston’s history is also told through using maps, pictures and phrases that describe. The book was more than likely written in this format to possibly to bridge the connection among individuals that actually know the history of Galveston at all. David McComb is able to paint

His way of doing this was he began by giving the reader a description of the island in a geographical way. Although in the book he does not provide a topical map for us to reflect on, he instead gives us an image of the first map that was ever documented of the island. He then tries to portray a picture showing how the island was initially formed, as well as how the very first explorers and Native Americans that founded the island may have seen it through their eyes. The way that McComb decided to do this in his book to me was an appropriate technique since McComb said that a shipwrecked Spaniards were some of the first individual to acquire the island. But, warfare and trade also found its way to the region and the Galveston then began to show its utility. Galveston, was used as a camp for war prisoners, but the island was slowly transformed into a small town. As McComb continues to tell the history of Galveston in his book, he begins to bring into play the ongoing rival between Galveston and Houston. He tries to show how advanced technology persuaded the advancement of trade, that ultimately brought the two cites to be in competition with each other. “Railroad building had several secondary effects for Galvestonians. It created, for instance, a forty-two-year bitter argument with Houston over the ‘differential,’” (McComb 53). This depicted how

One critic stated “With Galveston: A History David McComb has produced his second “urban biography" of a major Texas city. He contends "that technology is the dynamic element in human development" (p. 2). His approach requires acknowledge of the people and of the city's special "'character"' (p. 2), an understanding of the geography, the natural resources, and the limitations imposed by nature”. (The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 55, No. 1 (Feb., 1989), pp.