The ACU Century: One Hundred Years of Faith and Excellence (review)

Abstract

2007Book Reviews123 The ACU Century: One Hundred Years ofFaith and Excellence. Edited by Ron Hatfield. (Abilene: Abilene Christian University, 2005. Pp. 192. Illustrations, acknowledgments , index. ISBN 0977128105. $35.00, cloth.) This volume celebrates the centennial anniversary ofAbilene Christian University , which was founded in 1906 as Childress Classical Institute under the auspices of the Church of Christ. In 1920 the school changed its name to Abilene Christian College, becoming Abilene Christian University in 1976. Located in the Texas city whose name it carries, the university has had an enduring impact on education in the Southwest. The school openly manifests Christian beliefs, but today attracts students of many backgrounds and religious faiths from throughout the United States and the rest of the world. This book traces the history of the school across the various eras that have marked the historical milestones in its transition from a frontier, church-related college to an internationally oriented university. As such, it is an official publication of the university, edited by Ron Hatfield, who serves as director ofcreative services and editor ofthe ACUTodayalumni magazine. As editor, he supervised a team ofwriters, graphic designers, staffmembers, and friends ofthe university who assembled the book from a variety of text-based and visual sources. Additionally, some essays previously published in ACU Today are also included in this volume, most notably A. C. Green's 1965 profile of Dr. Don H. Morris, who served as seventh president of the university. The ACU Century is an oversized and glossy coffee-table style volume that, in effect, presents the one-hundred-year history of the school in the format of a centennial yearbook witfi heavy reliance on photographs and images. Many of these images are historical in nature, while others are modern photographs ofartifacts and documents of significance to the university. There is also ample text that provides a narrative accompaniment to the images, which predominately carry the flow of the volume. It must be noted that tiiis book manifests an enviable and remarkable level of graphic design that makes it far more than a publication presenting a chronological saga of the school's development in pictures. Instead, the pages of the book constitute a striking and multicolor array of images and narrative text blended together in the veiy eye-catching and innovative ways most often found in popular magazines. This notable level of graphic design makes for great visual impact on the readerwhile it gives a basic undertone ofexcitement and optimism to the telling ofACU's history. The scope of topical coverage is all encompassing and balanced, with much space given to the history of sports, academics, student life, public service, and all other aspects ofuniversity life. Each ofthe school's presidents is the subject of an essay that focuses on his specific accomplishments, while other individuals important to the school—along with a few alumni—are also the objects ofspecial focus in particularized essays. There is very thorough chronological coverage of all eras in the school's history, ensuring that alumni of the university will undoubtedly find within its pages things that they will remember from whatever time period they spent on the campus. This book is not an academic volume that asks historiographical questions, nor does it seek to be such. Instead, it is ajoyous pictorial celebration of the university's first one hundred years that highlights the positive accomplishments of its administrators, faculty, staff, students, and alumni. 1 24Southwestern Historical QuarterlyJuly There is pride ofschool on every page while agreat love ofthe university permeates the entire volume. Anyone reading this book will come to die conclusion that Texas has good reason to be proud of Abilene Christian University. Moreover, anyone affiliated with ACU will have good reason to be proud of this volume. Austin CollegeLight Townsend Cummins Texas Zydeco. By Roger Wood, photography byJames Fraher. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2006. Pp. 343. Illustrations, appendix, bibliography, index. ISBN 0292712588. $34.95, cloth.) Awelcome perspective on a musical genre usuaUyUnked exclusively to Louisiana, Texas Zydecoappears in theJack and Doris Smothers Series in Texas History, Life, and Culture and in the Brad and Michèle Moore Roots Music Series. As we know, the term "Zydeco" derives from the creolized French...