Kay & Britt Rice Lecture Series - 4/16/2003
T. R. Fehrenbach
T. R. Fehrenbach was born in the Sam Robertson House, San Benito, Texas in 1925 to a pioneer South Texas family. He attended schools in Texas and California and graduated from Princeton University in 1947.
Serving in World War II and Korea, Fehrenbach saw combat as platoon leader, company commander, and battalion staff officer with the 2d Infantry Division, retiring as a lieutenant colonel.
Best known for his writing, since 1961 he has published 18 nonfiction books, mainly on historical subjects. These include This Kind of War – considered the classic military history of the Korean War and used by US ground forces for officer instruction; Lone Star – the most widely read history of Texas and basis for the PBS 1986 miniseries; Fire and Blood: A History of Mexico; Comanches: The Destruction of a People; and Texas: A Salute from Above – a photographic essay of the state. He served as senior author-consultant for Prentice-Hall’s new Texas history text, approved by the Texas Board of Education in 2002.
He has contributed fiction and articles to a wide range of periodicals including Atlantic Monthly, New Republic, Texas Monthly, etc. Fehrenbach has written for the London Sunday Times, Paris L’Express, Zurich Woche, and many foreign magazines and papers. He is a Sunday editorial columnist for the San Antonio Express-News.
Fehrenbach has chaired the Texas Historical Commission and Texas Antiquities Protection Committee, was reappointed to the Historical Commission by then Governor George W. Bush in 1995 and appointed commissioner emeritus in 2001 by Governor Rick Perry. He is Presiding Officer of the Texas Historical Advisory Committee for the State Capitol.
Mr. Fehrenbach lives in San Antonio with his wife, Lillian.