Perfect Texas

There’s no point in grousing about Texas’ minor shortcomings. Why not just roll up our sleeves and make it perfect once and for all?

by Peter Applebome

The Deluxe Down-and-Dirty Goose Hunt

In which a group of society ladies samples the thrills and chills of an essentially masculine pastime.

by Alison Cook

In the Wings

Backstage at the Houston Ballet is a world of pastel shadows, brilliant spangles, and anxious waiting.

by W. L. Taitte

“I Beat Ben Barnes and John Connally in a Fair Fight”

When Barnes-Connally Investments announced plans to build apartments in a South Austin neighborhood, the residents banded together to try to stop them. They won the battle but lost the war.

by Kaye Northcott

Texas Primer: Barbed Wire

It spelled the end of the open range and the beginning of modern Texas.

by Anne Dingus

At the Mercy of the Court

What do drunks, prostitutes, lunatics, and elevators have in common? They’re all part of the weird 24-hour-a-day world of the Dallas County courthouse.

by Jim Atkinson

Western Art: End of the Trail

A fresh interpretation of a classic genre.

by Alan E. Cober

Weather

I-10 On Ice

In five hours on icy roads the author covered 35 miles and discovered the perils of driving in a state that is unprepared for real winter.

by Suzanne Winckler

Behind the Lines

Monkeying with the schools.

by Gregory Curtis

Books

Big Oil Paranoia

Robert Sherrill’s Oil Follies of 1979-1980 leaves no detail unremarked in its effort to pin the blame on Big Oil; in Ronnie Dugger’s On Reagan the author is as unbending an ideologue as his subject is.

by Joseph Nocera and Nicholas Lemann

Movies

Mermaid Love

Ron Howard’s Splash is a refreshing frolic; Broadway Danny Rose gives us the old soft shoe; And the Ship Sails On is out to sea; Reuben, Reuben is a dark but funny double-decker.

by James Wolcott

Classical Music

Who Needs Singers?

In conductor’s opera, each of the vocalists becomes just one more instrument in the musical ensemble.

by W. L. Taitte

Jazz

Back in the Mood

A definitive Smithsonian Recordings collection sets a new standard for big band anthologies; other big band recordings prove that swing remains vibrantly alive.

by Doug Ramsey

Reporter

Texas Monthly Reporter

Looking for the essence of Texas in El Paso, the soul of Dr. Red Duke in Houston, the secrets of status in Dallas, and a quirky West Texas empire in Balmorhea.

by Stephen Harrigan

Roar of the Crowd

The kindest and unkindest cuts of all.

Touts

Seven Texas jewelers show their mettle.

by Patricia Sharpe

Puzzle

Without further introduction

State Secrets

Mesa gets an unwanted ally in its battle against Gulf; how to turn $100 million into $12 million; why 1984 is a good year for incumbents; the legal establishment takes aim at a controversial supreme court judge.

Edited by Paul Burka