Lon Tinkle

Who was Lon Tinkle?

Julien Lon Tinkle was a historian, author, book critic, and professor who specialized in the history of Texas. Tinkle spent most of his life in Dallas, Texas, where he graduated from and later taught at Southern Methodist University. In 1942 he became a book editor and critic for the Dallas Morning News. His first book, Thirteen Days to Glory: The Siege of the Alamo, was published in 1958. The book was well received and was later adapted into a made-for-television movie. Tinkle won awards for this book, and a for biography that he wrote of historian J. Frank Dobie. He is the namesake of the Texas Institute of Letters' lifetime achievement award.