This is the first episode of 2026, which means that we are at the beginning of the fifth season of this show. That's a lot of great conversations about writing history, and I want to thank you for being here for them. There are many more to come this year!

First up, in this episode I'm talking with Dr. Jeff Roche, author of the new book The Conservative Frontier: Texas and the Origins of the New Right.

Jeff is a professor of history at the College of Wooster in Ohio. Along with his new book, he is the author of Restructured Resistance: The Sibley Commission and the Politics of Desegregation in Georgia and the editor of two additional books. I'll confess to you that I wasn't entirely sure about this book when the press first reached out to tell me about it, but it blew me away. The history is fascinating, but even more, Jeff's writing is lively, smart, and often funny. I was excited to get to ask Jeff about how the book came together and how he has developed such an engaging writing voice. You'll even learn why he considered '90s hip-hop and Texas country music to be essential to his writing process.

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For links to the books we talked about and a complete transcript, visit draftingthepast.com. Sign up for the Drafting the Past newsletter for updates on the show and more.