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Evan Smith

Evan Smith joined the staff of TEXAS MONTHLY as a senior editor in January 1992. In February 1993, he was promoted to deputy editor, and in July 2000 he was promoted to editor. In May 2002, he added the title of executive vice president.

Since Smith took over as editor, TEXAS MONTHLY has been nominated for fourteen National Magazine Awards, the magazine industry’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. In April 2003, TEXAS MONTHLY was awarded the National Magazine Award for General Excellence for the third time in its history.

A New York native, Smith has a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Hamilton College (Clinton, New York) and a master’s degree in journalism from the Medill School at Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois). He previously held editorial positions at a number of national magazines; most recently at The New Republic, where he was deputy editor. He has written for GQ, O, The Oprah Magazine, and other national magazines. He hosts a weekly interview program, TEXAS MONTHLY TALKS, that airs on PBS stations all across Texas, and he is an occasional guest on numerous other TV and radio shows.

Smith is currently president of the board of the Austin Film Society and sits on the boards of the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin, Trinity Episcopal School, the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, the Headliners Club, and Matinee Media. He is also the founding co-chair of the Texas Film Hall of Fame. He served for five years on the board of the American Society of Magazine Editors, most recently as its vice president, and for six years on the board of Austin public television station KLRU.

In 2005, in recognition of his contributions to Austin and Texas, Smith was named Austinite of the Year Under 40 by the Young Men’s Business League and Young Women’s Business League. In 2006, he was inducted into the Medill School of Journalism Hall of Achievement.

Features

Money Talks

Wealthy Republican donor James Leininger on why he supports school vouchers and opposes apostates in his party. June 2006

The World According to Bob Inman

The former national security chief and deputy CIA director on why we're losing the peace in Iraq and where the terrorists could strike next. March 2004

One Ticked-off Grandma

You'd be one too if you were Carole Keeton Strayhorn and you thought the governor was messing with you. December 2003

Anchor Away

What Walter Cronkite really thinks about cable TV shoutfests, the length of network newscasts, and (ahem) Jayson Blair. November 2003

San Diego, California

August 2003

FLFW Will See You Now

In a rare interview, George H.W. Bush—a.k.a. the Former Leader of the Free World—disses Newt and the Dixie Chicks, muses on the restorative powers of Maine, and (who'd have imagined?) has nice things to say about the current occupant of the Oval Office. July 2003

Who's Next?

San Antonio's Marshevet Hooker is not just any old high school sprinter; she's an Olympic gold medalist in the making. Meet her and nine other women we're betting will lead the new Texas—and the world. February 2003

My Three Sons

Prudence Mackintosh's sons. September 2001

How W. Can Lose

What are George Bush’s weaknesses as he heads into the fall campaign? We asked six Texas Democrats— a former governor, a former lieutenant governor, two wannabes, and two wiseacre pundits—to make the case against him. They pulled no punches. July 2000

John O’Quinn Objects

“When a corporation does something that results in the death of people, what prison do you put them in?” asks the plantiffs lawyer Texas business loves to hate, and he’s just getting warmed up. June 2000

Entrepreneur of the Century—Michael Dell

“Entrepreneurship is the art of the possible. Anyone with money and a good idea has what it takes to write his own ticket. The hitch, of course, is follow-through. You have to execute. You have to do it. And no one has done it as well as Michael Dell.” December 1999

George, Washington

His days as a “loyalty thermometer” in the nation’s capital. June 1999

Deep Dish

Which Hollywood legend is “the bitch of all time”? Which comedienne’s daughter was a dope addict by age fourteen and came to Houston to get unhooked? Texas’ top gossips tell all. January 1999

The Lone Starr State

Independent counsel Kenneth Starr was born in Vernon, and that’s just one of the many Texas connections at the heart of his investigation of Bill Clinton. May 1998

Hooray for Hollywood, Texas

The players. The stories. A special report on our booming film business. May 1998

How They Do It

How Jim Wright schoozes, George Foreman bruises, ZZ Top trims, and Janet Evans swims, plus the straight skinny on everything else from nearly fifty other Texas celebrities. April 1993

Columns | Miscellany

Where I’m Of

The case for my Texanness. December 2005

This Blog’s Life

The Ben Franklin of McGregor. July 2005

AWOL

Are the Texas Democrats deserters? May 2004

Nice and Easy

"I have a very comfortable lifestyle as a jazz musician. Every day is a Saturday for me." April 2004

The Other War

They dislike us. They really dislike us. February 2004

Pro vs. Chron

How the new editor of the Houston Chronicle is trying to turn the page on the paper's past. September 2002

Johnny “Lam” Jones

Evan Smith on Johnny “Lam” Jones. September 2001

The Ex-Speakers of the House

September 2001

Robert Strauss

Evan Smith on Robert Strauss. September 2001

Beavis and Butt-Head

September 2001

The Ex-Governors

Polling the ex-governors. September 2001

GSD&M Class of 1981

September 2001

Grand Designs

A new Texas Monthly by design—and necessity. April 2001

Great Expectations

Where we go from here. August 2000

Bush’s War

Will Iraq be the president’s legacy? A conversation with eminent historians H. W. Brands and Doris Kearns Goodwin. March 2006

Laura Miller

“The problem is that there’s nobody who can put their foot down and say, ‘Yep, by God, we’re going to do this …’ It’s a city without leadership.” February 2006

Louis Sachar

“Any idea you can think up and plan out isn’t going to be that good. There’s no way I could have thought up all of Holes beforehand.” January 2006

Willie Nelson

“I’ve always felt like Abbott was a special place.” December 2005

Robert Rivard

“People speak nostalgically about family newspapers. For every decent one, there were literally hundreds of embarrassingly bad ones.” November 2005

Red McCombs

“I’ve had my failures and my mistakes. I don’t dwell on them. So I don’t have anything dragging me down at any given time.” October 2005

Anita Perry

“There have been times when I’ve said, ‘It seems like everything I’m passionate about gets cut! Stop that!’” September 2005

Edward E. Whitacre Jr.

“The worry is that we’re going to put the Bell system back together. You hear that a lot. Anybody who says that is just not informed.” August 2005

Lance Armstrong

“There are some places where it wouldn’t matter if Pope Benedict XVI was winning the Tour. They would kill him. They would say he cheats, he steals, he has sex with little boys.” July 2005

Boone Pickens

“The record’s clean. I’m sure that I haven’t done everything that everyone would like me to do. But I’ve never hurt anybody.” June 2005

Liz Smith

“Nobody doing what I’m doing is important anymore. Not in the way Winchell, Kilgallen, Hedda, and Louella were important.” May 2005

Thomas Haden Church

“I knew immediately that they’d be serving ice water in hell about the same time I’d be cast in [Sideways].” April 2005

Marsha Sharp

“A lot of people are perfect fits for universities. I’m a perfect fit for Texas Tech. I understand West Texas. I am West Texas.” February 2005

Ben Barnes

“There’s not anything that’s happened since Election Day that proves to me that Bush is going to be moderate at all.” January 2005

Gordon Bethune

“It isn’t about cheap. You can make a pizza so cheap nobody will eat it. You can make an airline so cheap nobody will fly it. It’s about the product.” December 2004

Kay Bailey Hutchison

“Texas is a huge, growing state on a border. We have some very basic issues that need addressing, and I don’t think they’re being addressed right now.” November 2004

Mike Judge

"You can't make all of TV and movies kid-safe. If you do, we're all going to be watching the Care Bears. I think there should be things that are just for adults." October 2004

Larry McMurtry

"I like to go out at night. I like to sit in a nice room and look at beautiful women. I don't want to just sit on my back porch drinking scotch, and there isn't much more to do in Archer City." September 2004

David Carr

"We're a real NFL football team, and we can go out and make plays. We have talent. We can beat teams. It's not a fluke if we beat the Cowboys." August 2004

Susan Combs

"Billy can go to a 7-Eleven and buy a soft drink and must pay sales tax, but Billy goes to school, buys a soft drink, and pays no sales tax." July 2004

Bill Moyers

"War is always a great reinforcer of secrecy, but a war on terror is the most insidious threat to openness—you can always claim, without having to explain why, that something can't be public." June 2004

Michael Dell

"You get some people who say, 'I really want to know all the things you do when you're not working.' Well, I really don't want to tell you those things. Go away." May 2004

STRAIGHT TALK

January 2004

Women On The Verge

The Latinas in the Democrats’ sights. July 2000

The Law Won

Emilio Navaira and Gloria Trevi get their days in court. May 2000

Estranged Bedfellows

The politics — and semantics — of the Mosbacher divorce. April 2000

Regarding Henry

Henry Kissinger versus UT. March 2000

Toney Curtis

March 2000

W is for "Whew"!

The former stripper, the tabloid, and George W. Bush. February 2000

Pretty, Good

Hooray for Hollywood's All the Pretty Horses. January 2000

Brother, Can You Spare Some Dimes?

October 1998

Situation Wanted

July 1998

Paul In The Family

October 1996

Seeing Stars

August 1996

Skip, a Beat

July 1996

Swartz and All

June 1996

Oil’s Well That Ends Well

February 1996

Reporter

Ricardo Sanchez

Ricardo Sanchez on what happened at Abu Ghraib. July 2008

Herb Kelleher

June 2008

Margaret Spellings

Margaret Spellings defends No Child Left Behind. May 2008

Avery Johnson

Avery Johnson on how to be an NBA coach. April 2008

Mark McKinnon

Mark McKinnon on John McCain’s comeback. March 2008

Diana Natalicio

Diana Natalicio on the future of higher ed in El Paso. February 2008

Dan Bartlett

Dan Bartlett is upbeat about Iraq and ’08. January 2008

Writing for a Newsweekly

Karen Tumulty on writing for Time. January 2008

Kay Bailey Hutchison

December 2007

Joel Osteen

Can Joel Osteen get an “Amen”? November 2007

Ray Benson

Ray Benson on Wills, weed, and the Wheel. October 2007

Collecting Art

Jeanne Klein on the art of collecting. September 2007

Burton Tansky

Burton Tansky on Neiman’s at one hundred. September 2007

Jody Conradt

Jody Conradt at the buzzer. August 2007

Lawrence Wright

Lawrence Wright looms and towers. July 2007

Bill Paxton

Bill Paxton on JFK and HBO. June 2007

Rick Perry

Rick Perry explains himself. May 2007

Ted Nugent

Ted Nugent shoots to kill. April 2007

At Ease

Four years later, even more of our heroes have fallen in Iraq. March 2007

Phyllis George

Phyllis George on life’s rich pageant. March 2007

Joe Ely

Joe Ely on the coming death of the CD. February 2007

Dick Armey

Dick Armey on where the GOP went wrong. January 2007

Forest Whitaker

Forest Whitaker brings Idi Amin to life. December 2006

Molly Ivins

Molly Ivins on the death of newspapers. November 2006

James Baker

James Baker stays the course. October 2006

Betty Buckley

September 2006

Joe Allbaugh

Joe Allbaugh defends you-know-who. August 2006

Eileen Collins

Eileen Collins on what’s ailing NASA. July 2006

Betty Flores

Betty Flores on border security—and insecurity. June 2006

Meet the Prez

The candidate cattle call begins. May 2006

Lyle Lovett

Lyle Lovett on acting, singing, and Calvin Klein. May 2006

Pete Laney

… on being a Democrat (but not Speaker). April 2006

John Mackey

“I used to resent the fact that people romanticize Whole Foods. I always wanted to shake them and say, ‘Gosh, we’re just a grocery store!’” March 2005

Benjamin McKenzie

Benjamin McKenzie kisses. March 2004

A Few Words with Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban shoots (from the hip). February 2004

Customer Service

Two mayors give their cities the business. February 2004

Andy Roddick

Andy Roddick avoids Tracy Austin Syndrome. January 2004

Joe Jamail

Joe Jamail rails against tort deform. December 2003

Barbara Bush

The former first lady on her new book, how she writes— and why she never liked Alice in Wonderland. November 2003

Molly Ivins

Molly Ivins goes nuts for Arnold. October 2003

A Few Words With Ron Kirk

Evan Smith talks with former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk about life after politics and, well, politics. September 2003

Clifford Antone

Clifford Antone gets back in the club. August 2003

David Clyde

His post-phenom life. June 2003

John Lee Hancock

The director of the new Alamo movie takes on the storied battle—and the eyes of Texas are upon him. January 2003

Jim Lehrer

Jim Lehrer between the covers. November 2002

Sheila Jackson Lee

Sheila Jackson Lee can take the heat (but not pulled pork). September 2002

Mike Moses

Dallas schools superintendent Mike Moses makes progress—and more money than anyone else. June 2002

The Temp

Meet our governor . . . Rodney Ellis? June 2000

Weed All About It

The knock on Matthew McConaughey’s arrest. December 1999

Gov Story

Ping-Pong balls in our governor’s past. November 1999

In Vogue

The tycoon from Texas who’s very much in Vogue. October 1999

Evitable?

How George W. could be evitable. September 1999

Bad News

Does the Dallas Morning News discriminate? Plus: Bill Clinton between the covers. August 1999

Buy George?

The book (make that books) on George W. Bush. July 1999

Has Gramm Had His Phil?

Is Phil Gramm out of gas (and oil)? June 1999

The Obsession Thing

May 1999

Heady Lamar

Several Sundays a year, Texans wake to find not one but two GOP presidential hopefuls inside the state’s borders. April 1999

Legs

ZZ Top v. Chrysler April 1999

This Year’s Remodel

After watching their business districts wither away as companies set up shop in the suburbs, Texas cities and towns are banding together to fight back. March 1999

Aftermath

Sympathy for Jerry Hall March 1999

Purple Reign

Sandra Cisneros’ colorful victory. February 1999

Sexual Congress

Who says there is nothing funny about the Monica Lewinsky matter? January 1999

scalpers.gov

Internet profiteers target George W. Bush. January 1999

Love and Marriage

How Frank Sinatra, Jr., became a Texan-in-law. December 1998

Moody Blues

“Aunt Jimmy” sues Galveston’s first family. November 1998

Georgia O’Beef

Fort Worth art patrons fight the Presbyterians over Georgia O’Keefe October 1998

War Is Hell

Why the Austin American-Stateman’s film critic is under seige. September 1998

The Junior League

The media muff George W. Bush’s name. August 1998

Radio Daze

Gary Mauro’s bad spell. July 1998

Tax Moncrief

Inside Tex Moncrief’s IRS mess. June 1998

Written Off

LeAnn Rimes gets written off. May 1998

Anna Nicole Myth

Anna Nicole Smith’s bar mitzvah brouhaha. April 1998

Team Player

Red McCombs, still on the sidelines March 1998

The D-Files

Signs of intelligent life in Dallas. January 1998

We and Mrs. Jones

Paula Jones and Texas. December 1997

Mooned

A Houston congresswoman’s space case. November 1997

Burning Bridges

For Robert James Waller, life imitates art—and irritates wife. October 1997

Bush’s Hit Man

The governor’s media guru is accused of spousal abuse. September 1997

The Latest Buzz

Why everyone’s dazed and confused about Richard Linklater’s age. August 1997

Affair of State

A Dallas lawyer’s roman à Clinton. July 1997

Satisfaction

That’s what Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall got on their recent trip to West Texas. West Texas retailers got it too. June 1997

Ghost Story

If you’re a celebrity who wants to pen a book, who you gonna call? Ghostwriters. May 1997

Not Much Left

The Texas Observer could be on its last legs (again). April 1997

’Saw Loser

Why a great horror movie starring Matthew McConaughey and Renée Zellweger could get buried. March 1997

Tex Rated

summary: What’s the best hotel in Texas? (Hint: It’s not the Mansion on Turtle Creek). February 1997

Lars Attacks!

Why Texas’ best-known homeless writer is back on the streets. January 1997

Morris the Catch

Dick Morris’ other other woman. December 1996

CD and Book Reviews

December 1996

Stella Houston

The University of Houston thinks Frank Stella is frankly stellar. November 1996

CD and Book Reviews

November 1996

Spiel Burg

A Spielberg-backed cyberguide comes to Texas. August 1996

Her Little Secret

July 1996

Gov, American Style

Ann Richards gets ready for prime time. June 1996

Dial M for Molly.

Molly Ivins and Bob Wade on TV. May 1996

A Winters Tale

Edgar and Johnny Winter sing the blues over a comic book. April 1996

Book ’Em!

Texas writers go Hollywood. March 1996

Shoot a Basketball

March 1996

Unreal Estate

Celebrity land deals—not. February 1996

Barry Corbin

February 1996

Tyrannosaurus Ex

Gauging Barney’s Universal appeal. January 1996

Powers Boothe

January 1996

Web extras

Sen. Clinton on Texas Monthly Talks

March 2008