Rather than ranking these books, "101 Essential Texas Books" calls the reader's attention to the wealth of good books about Texas, most of which are written by Texas writers. For readers who are interested in building a modern library of Texas books or who just want to read some books they might not know about, this list suggests a place to begin.

Each book on the list is described in a one-page summary testifying to the reason for its inclusion. In addition to the 101 books that head the listing, another 250 or so Texas books worthy of attention are mentioned and indexed.