"Jean Louis Berlandier and the Exploration of Northern Mexico and Texas"

Our guest on this edition of ST is Russell Lawson, a professor of history at Bacone College in Muskogee. Prof. Lawson has written several books on exploration over the years, including "The Land Between the Rivers: Thomas Nuttall's Ascent of the Arkansas, 1819" and "Passaconaway's Realm: Captain John Evans and the Exploration of Mount Washington." Today's we're talking about his newest volume, "Frontier Naturalist: Jean Louis Berlandier and the Exploration of Northern Mexico and Texas" (University of New Mexico Press). It's the fascinating biography of a French naturalist who, in the 1820s, took part in a multi-national, multi-ethnic expedition into what is now northern Mexico and the Gulf Coast of Texas. As Prof. Lawson tells us, he is quite frequently, in his ongoing scholarship and research, drawn to important yet little-known historical figures --- such as Jean Louis Berlandier --- who have truly added to our understanding or our culture in some way, yet who've never been written about before. As a historian, Prof. Lawson says he likes to "pioneer" into the lives, records, accomplishments, and contexts of such individuals.