David R. Johnson has written extensively on politics and the economics of urban development. He is the author of Policing the Urban Underworld: The Impact of Crime on the Development of the American Police, 18001887, American Law Enforcement: A History, The Politics of San Antonio: Community, Progress, and Power, cowritten with John A. Booth and Richard C. Harris, and Illegal Tender: Counterfeiting and the Secret Service in Nineteenth-Century America. Johnson is a professor emeritus at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he began teaching in 1975. He resides in North Carolina.
""How the heck did tourism become so important for San Antonio? To find out, read this assiduously researched and carefully written social and economic history."" — Austin American-Statesman “No one knows the history of modern San Antonio better than David Johnson. In the Loop perfectly reflects his deep knowledge of and engagement with the Alamo City—it’s a tour de force!” — Char Miller, author of Deep in the Heart of Texas: Land and Life in South Texas “San Antonio finally has a thoroughly researched volume on the evolution of the city’s basic political and economic structure across three centuries. This eminently authoritative book will stand as a foundational not-to-be ignored work on San Antonio.” — Lewis F. Fisher, author of Maverick: The American Name That Became a Legend