Historians have long believed that the "frontier" shaped Texas plantation society, but in this detailed examination of Texas's most important plantation region, Sean M. Kelley asserts that the dominant influence was not the frontier but the Mexican Republic. The Lower Brazos River Valley---the only slave society to take root under Mexican sovereignty---made replication of eastern plantation culture extremely difficult and complicated. By tracing the blending of cultures, races, and politics in the region, Kelley reveals a distinct variant of southern slavery -- a borderland plantation society.

Sean M. Kelley is an associate professor of history at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York.