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With the Bark Off Wins Non-Fiction Book Prize

Updated: Feb 23, 2023

“SPELCE HAS WRITTEN AN UTTERLY SPLENDID BOOK”

- Philosophical Society of Texas













WITH THE BARK OFF, A Journalist’s Memories of LBJ and a Life in the News Media has received a literary prize in the category of “Best Book of Non-Fiction about Texas” for 2022 from the prestigious Philosophical Society of Texas, (organized in 1837 by Sam Houston, Mirabeau B. Lamar, and other early Texas founders).

For purposes of this literary award, Texas is defined as having the border of the Republic of Texas as set forth by the Congress of the Republic in 1836, extending into parts of what are now New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Wyoming.

It is written by Neal Spelce, with Thomas Zigal.


The Society at its annual meeting in February 2023 praised the 311-page book as “a highly readable memoir that gives gripping firsthand accounts of many historic events of recent generations.” The 250-member organization specifically singled out two events: “the 1960 presidential campaign and the 1966 UT Tower shooting, where, under fire and in real time, the author showed the world the horrors of a mass shooting.”


“Spelce has written an utterly splendid book,” it concluded.

To receive this recognition from such a distinguished organization prompted Spelce to say “Frankly, I never thought of our book in such high-falutin’ terms. Sure, we were pleased with the memoir. We wrote it as if we were having a casual conversation with the reader. And we appreciated it when readers enjoyed the stories, maybe they were even entertained.”


“But now, there’s confirmation for what one book authority indicated to me earlier when she said it was also ‘an important’ historical work. Let me tell you, this is somewhat humbling to be placed into well-regarded company at such a high level,” he added.


The well-received WITH THE BARK OFF is now in its second printing and is published by the University of Texas Briscoe Center for American History and distributed by the University of Texas Press.


With the Bark Off is available in hard cover, ebook and audiobook at amazon.com, and at all major booksellers. Signed copies may be ordered through nealspelce.com



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Neal Spelce in Texas Coop Power Magazine

November 2022

November Issue Texas Coop Power

Excerpt of the article, A Mighty Bulwark: LBJ made more prosperity possible by bringing dams to his beloved Hill Country written by Neal Spelce, published in the November 2022 issue of Texas Coop Power. For many years, outsiders had no idea that Austin and the Hill Country were hidden gems deep in the heart of Texas. Wasn’t the Lone Star State all about cowboys, sagebrush, and rattlesnakes—the John Wayne Western movie image? People elsewhere couldn’t imagine bountiful lakes and rolling hills covered in green woodlands anywhere in Texas.

But Lyndon Johnson grew up surrounded by those woods and grassy farmland, and that’s where he felt at home. Soon after winning the seat in the sprawling 10th U.S. Congressional District of Texas in 1937, his first elected office, he made it a priority to support President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs and bring hydroelectricity and power lines to rural Central Texas.


I had met LBJ historian Doris Kearns Goodwin on several occasions, and in her book Leadership: In Turbulent Times, she nailed what I heard LBJ say many times about “how he had brought electric power to the Hill Country, and how electricity had changed the daily lives of thousands of farm families, letting them enjoy such modern conveniences as electric lights, refrigerators, and washing machines for the first time.”

Excerpt by Neal Spelce in Texas Coop Power Magazine

Read the article in its entirety here: https://texascooppower.com/a-mighty-bulwark/

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With the Bark Off is available in hard cover, ebook and audiobook at amazon.com, and at all major booksellers. Signed copies may be ordered through nealspelce.com



1 min read

Check Out These Audiobook Reviews for With the Bark Off

With the holidays upon us and an ever-growing list of hard-to-buy-for folks may we recommend Neal's 5-star rated audiobook as perhaps the easiest gift you can give this year?



"More important than a book. Real History Heard Here"


"Tremendous history with truth & humor"


"#1 bio in my 300-book AudibleBook library"


"Great Stories, Lived and Well Told By the Author"


"Neal Spelce narration is amazing!"


Scan the QR code or click this link to order yours today:





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