Because This is Texas

Because This is Texas is the updated publication of Clara Sneed’s book-length article, which first appeared under the same name in the 1999 edition of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Review. Recognizing the quality and general interest of Sneed’s work, the editorial board chose to devote the 1999 edition to it, a rarely granted honor in the Review’s long history as the academic journal of the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum (PPHM) The PPHM is the largest history museum in Texas, and one of the first 100 museums to be accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. It remains one of only 1,099 officially accredited museums out of more than 33,000 museums in the United States.

Because This is Texas is a non-fiction account of the same dramatic story told in Sneed’s recently released historical fiction, Before We Turn to Dust (2024), a shocking and colloquial piece of literary Americana. While the historical fiction is told from three different perspectives for dramatic and immersive effect, it incorporates source material verbatim and sticks closely to known facts about events and characters. Because This is Texas provides information that Before We Turn to Dust does not, though there are ‘non-fiction’ episodes in Dust that do not appear in Texas.

Sneed is the grandniece of John Beal Sneed, one of the principals in the catastrophic love triangle that led to the Sneed-Boyce ‘feud’. Her connection to this history is intrinsic and profound, resulting in a depth in its retelling—in both versions—that a reader is unlikely to encounter elsewhere.

One might say that legacy—and desire and pride—are at the core of this family drama. Whether you’re reading Because This is Texas or Before We Turn to Dust, you feel that legacy and desire and pride, not only through the development and culmination of the story, but through the author’s words and the ways she’s found to tell it.