Film & TV
December 1, 1997
His Perfect World
Growing up in Longview and Texas City, John Lee Hancock dreamed of a life in the movies. Today, he’s one of L.A.’s hottest screenwriters.
153 Articles
Travel & Outdoors
July 31, 1996
To Dive For
For breathtaking snorkeling in subterranean rivers and caverns, take the road out of Cancún and head for the Yucatán rain forest.
Reporter
December 1, 1994
War Games
Finally, a toymaker that isn’t just kidding around: A new Alamo playset gets things right.
The Culture
May 31, 1993
Holding the Fort
In 1731 the Spanish presidio of Los Adaes became the first capital of Texas. Today no one recognizes the name.
Film & TV
May 31, 1993
Deconstructing Willie
Carnality, Castration Anxiety, and Jouissance in Willie Nelson’s Taco Bell Commercial.
Way of Life
February 1, 1993
Some Things Never Change: A Cut Above
Eating a hunk of beef at Brenner’s is not as politically correct as it used to be. But that doesn’t stop me.
Travel & Outdoors
April 1, 1992
My Underwater Self
From the YMCA pool to the ocean blue, I’ve always been at peace in the deep.
The Culture
June 30, 1991
Lights! Camera!
Action abounds in the new slide show at the San Jacinto Monument, but the view of history falls a bit short.
Texas History
January 1, 1991
Highway 1
Retracing the trail that tamed the Texas wilderness—the Camino Real.
Books
April 1, 1990
The Man Who Never Stops
Robert A. Caro has spent fifteen years writing his monumental biography of Lyndon Johnson. He is halfway through.
Critters
January 1, 1990
Swamp Thing
Snapping turtles are cantankerous, grotesque, and savage. And those are just a few of the reasons I like them.
Travel & Outdoors
December 1, 1989
Wild Forever
Once the private preserve of an oil executive, the 300,000-acre Big Bend Ranch, with all its desert grandeur, has now entered the public domain.
Being Texan
October 1, 1989
Vigil at Treaty Oak
To the people of Austin, the poisoning of an ancient tree was more than a crime; it was a blasphemy.
Art
July 1, 1989
The Temple of Destiny
In downtown Mexico City are the ruins of the great Aztec pyramid, the site where one empire ended and a new world began.
Texas History
February 1, 1989
The Lost Tribe
They were the classic Texas Indians—fierce, majestic, and free. Today’s Comanches find their lives defined by legends and bitter truths.
News & Politics
October 1, 1988
Worked to Death
The allure of Galveston Bay is not natural beauty but the determination of nature to survive ugliness.
Sports
September 1, 1988
Football? What’s the Big Deal?
As much as I hated playing football, I hate watching it more.
News & Politics
July 1, 1988
Nature of the Beast
A tiger, a zoo, a terrifying death.
Film & TV
May 31, 1988
Extra! Extra!
In which the author becomes a star—for three seconds.
Lovers
February 1, 1988
My Wife’s Husband
We were in love in a way I didn’t quite trust. There was nothing grand or electric about it, just a steady, deepening insistence.
Books
December 1, 1987
Growing Up With George and Martha
By turning two tiny dots into two huge hippos, James Marshall made an indelible mark on children’s literature, and little people laughed happily ever after.
Being Texan
December 1, 1987
Texas Primer: The Balcones Escarpment
The blackland prairie of the old South meets the wide-open spaces of the wild West at Texas’ great geologic divide.
Being Texan
November 1, 1987
Head, Heels, and Heart
For team ropers on the All-Girl circuit, the true reward is the happiness of pursuit.
Politics & Policy
September 1, 1987
The Time of His Life
Henry Cisneros has the vision and charisma of a born leader. Does it matter that he has the soul of an Aggie?
Health
January 1, 1987
The Coronary Bypass
In Texas, survivors of this life-and-death operation wear their scars like medals of honor.
Film & TV
November 1, 1986
The Ballad of Fess Parker
He was the definitive Davy Crockett, and with good reason.
Art
October 1, 1986
The Eye of the Beholder
A museum in Texas is the last place Jacques-Louis David would expect to find his late masterpiece, but we’re glad it’s here.
Travel & Outdoors
September 1, 1986
Wide Open Spaces
The Chihuahuan Desert is a place of extremes, where the visitor not only observes but participates in the struggle for life and death.
Reporter
April 30, 1986
Texas Monthly Reporter
Somervell County suffers an identity crisis; an Alamo freak takes twenty years to build a diorama; Merlin Tuttle is batty.
Texas History
April 1, 1986
Eighteen Minutes
Unlike the Alamo, which can seem as remote and mysterious as Stonehenge, the San Jacinto battlefield has few secrets. Its history lies close at hand.
Books
November 1, 1985
Dense as a Clootie Dumpling
It had to happen. Novelist James Michener has finally trained his macroscope on Texas, and the result is, well, long.
Texas History
August 1, 1985
Isle Without End
An early castaway described Padre Island as “a wretched, barren sandbank.” It’s better known today as the Gold Coast of Texas, but its identity is still rooted in wildness and age-old solitude.
Reporter
April 1, 1985
Texas Monthly Reporter
The Max factor of Dallas; the tacos of Paris; the tales of Urrutia; the Hemingway of Texas; the good word from Houston; the mysteries of the Hueco Tanks.
News & Politics
March 1, 1985
Looking for Trouble
Fred Cuny, sixth-generation Texan and uncompromising disaster-relief consultant, takes his expertise to the ends of the earth.
Art
September 30, 1984
Coppini the Great
Pompeo Coppini’s heroic sculptures and European air were just what Texas’ fledgling gentry was hungry for in 1901. Since then his name has faded from memory, but his works endure.
Recipes
September 1, 1984
My Quest for the Perfect Biscuit
It all started at my grandmother’s when I was seven years old. No biscuit has since measured up, but my lonely search for that sublime confection continues.
Being Texan
May 1, 1984
First Light
Texas’ morning glory by thirteen photographers.
Texas History
April 1, 1984
Texas Primer: The Yellow Rose of Texas
If it wasn’t for the song, no one would remember Emily Morgan, but she launched a nation by diverting Santa Anna at San Jacinto.
Reporter
March 1, 1984
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.
Being Texan
February 1, 1983
Main Street
It’s Houston's driveway, a twenty-mile kaleidoscope of bankers, punkers, strippers, surgeons, students, grackles, and cars.
News & Politics
November 1, 1982
Mr. Hannah’s Rocket
His first spacecraft blew up on the pad and his primary investor died, but the first free enterprise rocket finally flew from Matagorda.
Being Texan
July 1, 1982
What Texas Means to Me
God created Texas, and then He created people who would love it.
Business
December 1, 1981
Let’s Get Serious About Toys
They used to be virtuous and wooden and they were good. Now they’re commercial and plastic and they’re great.
Travel & Outdoors
August 1, 1981
The Perfect River
From giant freshwater prawns to bikini-clad coeds, from ancient Indian artifacts to swimming pigs, there’s something for everyone on the San Marcos River.
Politics & Policy
May 1, 1981
The Governor’s New Clothes
Bill Clements, unmasked at last.
Travel & Outdoors
April 1, 1981
Grin and Bear It
Camping gets you back to the basics: blisters, chiggers, and, yes, deep satisfaction.
Lifestyle
March 1, 1981
Somebody Turn on the Lights!
Monsters aren’t nearly as scary as the night they go bump in.
Books
March 1, 1981
Paper Cowboys
Southwest Fiction might make you think that the region is mostly metropolis and no mesquite. The Guadalupe Mountains of Texas hits a lot of high spots.
Critters
February 1, 1981
Life Behind Bars
Zoos are fine for people, but they make animals go crackers.
Books
February 1, 1981
Blood Luster
Aztec is gripping buts so gory you may have to read it with you eyes closed; Darlin’ Billadds patina to the Wild Bill Hickok legend; as a major American writer, Thomas McGuane has An Outside Chance; Louise Gluck again proves her power as a poet.