For a self-published book, this isn't bad at all. If we remove it from the sliding scale, however, it leaves a lot to be desired. Lots of names and addresses, but it fails in its intended goal to tell the compelling stories of the Boerne area. Time after time, Morgenthaler misses his opportunity to flesh out these Boerne characters and give them life in the narrative. It's too bad since these people--socialists, enlightened Germans disdainful of organized religion, and idealists who kept trying to start utopian settlements--are indeed characters and are so very different than the stereotypical Texan. ( )