TAMIU Professor Thompson Wins Third Garcia Tejano Book Prize
Award-winning writer and Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) Regents and Piper Professor of History Dr. Jerry D. Thompson was selected as the 2016-2017 Clotilde P. García Tejano Book Prize winner for his “Tejano Tiger: José de los Santos Benavides and the Texas-México Borderlands, 1823-1891” (Texas Christian University Press).
Thompson has the distinction of being the only author to receive the award three times. Ten years ago, he won the award for “Cortina—Defending the Mexican Name in Texas” (2007, Texas A&M University Press) and again in 2011 for “Tejanos in Grey” (Texas A&M University Press).
“I have been working for many years on a biography of José de los Santos Benavides, one of the leading 19thCentury Laredoans who was very instrumental in influencing the history of the middle border. I had done pieces of this through the years and finally got around to putting this all together and I was fortunate that TCU published it,” said Dr. Thompson.
TCU Press not only published it, they also nominated “Tejano Tiger” for a Pulitzer Prize.
“Tejano Tiger” chronicles the life of Benavides, who in 1879, at the pinnacle of his political career, was the only Tejano in the Texas Legislature.
From the publisher: “Through strife, sweat, blood, and heroism in defense of the border, Benavides rose to economic and political heights few could dream of. As a friend and confidant of two Mexican presidents, he was one of the single most influential individuals in the 19th Century history of the border. His life was one of enduring perseverance as well as binational leadership and skilled diplomacy. He was without doubt the single most important individual in the long and often violent history of Laredo. The niche he carved in the tumultuous transnational history of the Texas-Mexico borderlands seems secure.”
The Clotilde P. García Tejano Book Prize is awarded to books about Tejano heritage that bring attention to the history and contributions of Tejanos.
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