“Paul Barba’s new book engages [conversations about the history of slavery and violence in Texas with] deep research, analytical precision, and an impassioned argument. . . . Unflinching.”—Paul Conrad, Journal of Southern History
"Barba's work provides a meaningful contribution to the literatures on Texas history and American slavery."—William S. Kiser, Western Historical Quarterly
"Country of the Cursed and the Driven is a welcome addition to the scholarship on the subject and a must-read for everyone interested in the history of the US borderlands."—Jorge E. Delgadillo Núñez, H-LatAm
"A thought-provoking book."—Alice Baumgartner, Hispanic American Historical Review
"Barba makes a forceful argument that challenges existing scholarship to not excuse kinship slavery as less inhumane than chattel slavery nor to divide them into different histories."—Noelle Buffo, Chronicles of Oklahoma
“Deeply researched and covering a vast chronology, Country of the Cursed and the Driven offers a powerful new interpretation of Texas history through a narrative centered on the enslavement of both Natives and peoples of African descent.”—Karl Jacoby, author of Shadows at Dawn: An Apache Massacre and the Violence of History
“Texas history is too often broken into Spanish, Comanche, Mexican, and Anglo eras. Paul Barba demonstrates that the trauma of slavery sewed all of these ragged pieces together like a suture. A dark, deep, compelling book.”—Brian DeLay, author of War of a Thousand Deserts
“This is a detailed, unrelenting history of how violence, especially slaving and slaveholding violence, shaped Texas. Paul Barba’s work provides excellent environmental and geopolitical contexts, especially in explaining the dynamics of Native intergroup relations within Texas and on the periphery.”—Alan Gallay, author of The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South, 1670–1717
“By focusing on the overlapping slaving practices of Anglo Americans, Comanches, and Hispanic society from the colonial to national periods, Country of the Cursed and the Driven provides a new lens for viewing the transformation of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. . . . It effectively brings together ethnic history through a borderlands framework while providing a comprehensive history of Texas.”—Todd W. Wahlstrom, author of The Southern Exodus to Mexico: Migration across the Borderlands after the American Civil War
“[In addition to] meticulous research, Barba shows that all too often historians separate Anglo, Hispanic, and Comanche histories when, in fact, the only way to truly understand any of these borderlands cultures is through their interconnectedness. His specificity regarding semantics is quite helpful, as is his knack for making readers think outside the box.”—Whitney Snow, Kansas History
