Texas Border Business
1. Line in the Sand: A History of the Western U.S.–Mexico Border
A highly regarded history of how the U.S.–Mexico border evolved after the Mexican-American War and through acquisitions like the Gadsden Purchase.
2. Slavery, Scandal, and Steel Rails by Kathryn Currier
Covers the politics and railroad ambitions that underlay mid-19th-century territorial expansion, including the region impacted by the Gadsden Purchase.
3. Domesticating the Border: Manifest Destiny and the “Comforts of Life” in the U.S.–Mexico Boundary Commission and Gadsden Purchase, 1848–1854
Academic treatment of how the border was negotiated and rationalized in the decades around 1853.
Broader Histories of the Southwest & Borderlands
4. The Spanish Frontier in North America by David J. Weber
A classic study of Spanish and Mexican influence across the Southwest.
5. The Mexican Frontier, 1821–1846 by David J. Weber
Focuses on the northern Mexican territories before the Mexican-American War.
6. El Norte: The Epic and Forgotten Story of Hispanic North America by Carrie Gibson
A sweeping narrative connecting Spanish colonial history through the Hispanic experience in North America.
Wider U.S.–Mexico Borderlands Perspectives
7. U.S.–Mexico Borderlands: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives edited by Oscar J. Martínez
A collection of essays and primary documents that place the borderlands in long-term historical context, including treaties and evolving interactions.
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