One mysterious disease decimated the burgeoning American beef industry, halted inter-state commerce, wrought panic of a tainted food supply, and placed the entire South under quarantine. It irrevocably altered the face of the West and the culture, economy and political landscape of the South. Pushed beyond our southern border by an aggressive eradication campaign in the early twentieth-century, America is once again susceptible.
     Bovine Babesiosis, “Texas fever,” played a pinnacle and undocumented role in the development of American agriculture and of the nation. First Line of Defense illuminates its far-reaching impact. Organized into three parts, the book first chronicles the history of the disease from colonial times to post-Civil War trail drives, culminating with the monumental discovery of the arthropod (tick) vector of disease, an event that set the precedent for medical research and made possible the completion of the Panama Canal. Secondly, First Line of Defense examines the Tick Eradication Program (1906-1943) which encompassed all of the Southern U.S. and southern California. Met with violent opposition, this USDA program served as the impetus for scientific agricultural reform throughout the South, as the model for Federal-State cooperation, and as a hotbed of political controversy. The last section reviews the role of the USDA Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program Mounted Patrol, “Tick Riders,” in maintaining the quarantine stronghold along the border in south Texas. For the last seventy years, these federal cowboys have patrolled the 900-mile Rio Grande River border, keeping “Texas fever” banished into Mexico. However, border violence, increasing chemical immunity of the tick, changing land usage, and an increased population of wildlife hosts, breaching the quarantine line at will, threaten their mission.

     Utilizing a narrative style, First Line of Defense focuses closely on individuals and their experiences, widening the lens and seamlessly melding these events into the scientific and historic context of the time. New conclusions and insights emerge, showing how one small arthropod impacted America’s coming of age, agriculturally, scientifically, and culturally. Additionally, First Line of Defense serves to elucidate the importance of vigilance in preventing reoccurrence of the disease. 

March 16                 Sunday at the Library, New Braunfels, TX 

April 4-5                   West Texas Historical Association, Canyon, TX

May 2                        Literary Lubbock, Lubbock, TX

August 8,9                Way Out West Texas Book Festival, Alpine, TX