Bum Steer Awards 1983

Presenting blazing barbecue, bumbling Bush, blaspheming Baptists, and 118 more of the best of the worst of Texas.

God’s Happy Hour

Every year communities scattered across Texas hold wet-dry elections. Each one pits the forces of fundamentalism against the forces of realism. This is the story of one such election.

by Dick J. Reavis

The Grand Tour

Houston’s the ticket to a trip around the world. In that one city you can now eat, shop, drink and dance across the continents of Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Americas.

by Alison Cook

Texas Primer: The Dallas Model

The sweetheart of the Apparel Mart: where she came from and where she’s going.

The Making of a Congressman

Twelve ran, Mike Andrews won. A saga of ambition, money, power, courage, and the nature of urban politics in Texas.

by Victoria Loe

Movies

Nolo Contendere

Paul Newman stars as an existential ambulance chaser in The Verdict, a dismal study of law and disorder. Best Friends will alienate you; Heartaches will make you feel good. 48 Hrs. is dirty talk and deja vu.

by James Wolcott

Behind the Lines

Negative utopias.

by Nicholas Lemann

Books

A Monumental Man

In The Path to Power Robert Caro brings the Texas of the twenties and thirties to hot, scrubby life, but tries to fit the young Lyndon Johnson into a prefabricated and constricting mold.

by Paul Burka

Art

The Quixotic Theotokopoulos

A spectacular show at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts reexamines the genius of El Greco.

by Michael Ennis

Lifestyle

A Home Away from Home

Thanks to indulgent parents, many of today’s wealthy kids are disdaining dorms for UT-area condos - and forfeiting what may be the best part of a college education.

by David Seeley

Reporter

Texas Monthly Reporter

Two newspapers in search of nothing in particular; a fish story with a happy ending; an eleven-letter word for “crossword puzzle whiz”; the cutting edge of Corpus Christi’s minority politics.

by Peter Applebome

Roar of the Crowd

Banned in the schools, school kids in the band.

Touts

Animal magnetism.

by Patricia Sharpe

Puzzle

A slice of life.

State Secrets

One giant step for wives; one small step for John Glenn; why oilmen will never rule the world; why the new Texas congressmen won’t either.

Edited by Paul Burka