A while back I discovered an amazing book called Place Names of San Antonio by David P. Green.  Anyone who has ever driven through San Antonio can appreciate the mind-boggling complexity of the City’s layout.  The City planners seemed to have had either a twisted sense of humor or a complete disregard for logic.  This is the City where a street will run for a few blocks, and then, for no apparent reason whatsoever, all of a sudden change names–only to reappear a few blocks later under the original name.  There are streets that have been completely closed off by buildings, so that now they are essentially large, well-paved smoker’s areas.  There are Polish towns with German names and streets named after snake attacks and high schools named after non-existent towns and even a little town nearby named after a pipe lost in a creek during an Indian attack.  It’s a tangled history, but Green’s book goes a long way towards mapping it.  This book gives such a detailed history of San Antonio, and from such a unique perspective, that it has become one of my most frequently consulted reference guides.  Highly recommended.