The National Car of Texas

It’s big, it’s fast, it’s powerful, it eats gas, it’s the Suburban.

by Paul Burka

Mack Wallace, Railroad Commissioner, Wants to Save the World

Tapped by destiny, one man in Austin is forging an unlikely alliance between Texas oilmen and the friends of Israel.

by Emily Yoffe

The Madman on the Tower

In a ninety-minute reign of terror, gunshots rang out that still echo in the history of Texas.

by William J. Helmer

A Midsummer Night’s Gleam

Of fireflies and summer romance.

Dark Victories

Dusky colors and smart shapes are the winners for fall fashion.

Why I Didn’t Attend Farm Aid II

Thank God I’m sort of a grown-up.

by Michael Corcoran

Free Enterprise U.

Let’s hear it for Dallas’ Northwood Institute, where entrepreneurialism is second only to high society fundraising.

by Peter Applebome

Western Art: The Yellow Rose of Texas

by Dugald Stermer

Texas Primer: Big Red

Its passionately loyal following may make this drink the last Texan soda pop on the planet.

by Joe Nick Patoski

Behind the Lines

by Gregory Curtis

Art

The Blood-red Maya

At the heart of this ancient culture were cruelty, self-mutilation, and ghostly visions.

by Michael Ennis

Books

Texas, In Short

The characters in Prize Stories and South by Southwest often dwell on the past while living out their lives in an anxious present.

by Jan Reid

Travel

Waco’s Secrets Revealed

Cradled on the Brazos, this central Texas town yields its pleasures ever so grudgingly.

by Joe Nick Patoski

Popular Music

Deep Ellum’s Summer of Love

Dallas’ new late-night club scene is daring and diverse, a showcase for pioneering bands.

by Joe Nick Patoski

Movies

Dagwood As D.A.

Legal Eagles is guilty of being humdrum and hokey; Mona Lisa has some fine, gracing touches; Vagabond finds purity within the dirtiest packaging.

by James Wolcott

Reporter

Texas Monthly Reporter

Life after TECAT in North Forest; Joe Rinelli gives his beauties a shot at the crow; Kerrville residents have a winter’s worth of tall tales.

by Jan Jarboe Russell

Roar of the Crowd

State Secrets

A cap for San Antonio that wouldn’t look good on Henry Cisneros; long-term pessimism hits the oil market; Texas cities finagle their way around the tax reform.

Edited by Paul Burka

Shopping

Elliott’s is the Louvre of hardware stores—it’s got flyshooters, fan blades, and three aisles of screws. In other words, it’s heaven.

by Mimi Swartz

Touts

Dabbling in the spot market.

by Patricia Sharpe

Puzzle

The Quidnunc

Desperately seeking the Cadillac Couch; reading Carolyn Farb’s mail; cowboy cologne strikes again.

by Mark Seal

Downtown

Dallas cracks the whip on weeds and litter.

by Jim Atkinson

Post-Modern Times

UT is testing this device that works like a BB gun, only it’s a little more powerful—it’ll be able to shatter a Soviet warhead speeding through space.

by Michael Ennis