Edward L. Stratemeyer (1862-1930) was an American publisher and writer of children's fiction. He was one of the most prolific writers in the world, and a founder of the Stratemeyer Literary Syndicate, where he hired journalists to write stories based on his ideas. Stratemeyer created many well-known fictional book series for juveniles, including The Rover Boys, The Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew series. Excerpt: "Primarily the struggle of the Texans for freedom did not form a part of our war with Mexico, yet this struggle led up directly to the greater war to follow, and it is probably a fact that, had the people of Texas not at first accomplished their freedom, there would have been no war between the two larger republics. The history of Texas and her struggle for liberty is unlike that of any other State in our Union, and it will be found to read more like a romance than a detail of facts. Here was a territory, immense in size, that was little better than a wilderness, a territory gradually becoming settled by Americans, Mexicans, Spaniards, French, and pioneers of other nations, a territory which was the home of the bloodthirsty Comanche and other Indians, and which was overrun with deer, buffalo, and the wild mustang, and which was, at times, the gathering ground for the most noted desperadoes of the southwest."