Ima Hogg, Houston philanthropist and patron of the arts, once said that Houston was lucky because the first Houstonians who got rich gave their money for schools, parks, hospitals, and the arts.
She also sketches in warm detail the gentle life of a Southern town and portrays a people of intellect and a natural elegance. In this book, Johnston brings to light unpublished letters and diaries from those who served with Perry in Japan, who helped Maximillian design Mexico City, who acted for Woodrow Wilson at Versailles, who helped Roosevelt restore the national economy, and who, by conceiving and negotiating the Marshall Plan, saved Western Europe from collapse. It traces Houston's first families through interlinking marriages, charitable associations, and business partnerships. This fascinating social history grew out of Marguerite Johnston's forty years of friendship with the city and its people. It is a history marked by murder, mutiny, and the ironies of war, by comedy and high jinks, by heroism and a remarkable generosity. This is the story of these people, their descendants and like-minded successors, and their city, up to the end of the Second World War. They were adventurers and builders they were citizens of the world. In their willingness to leave home and country to create a new city and a new nation, the first Houstonians were a special breed.
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