S. C. Gwynne
Sam Gwynne has worked for TEXAS MONTHLY in a variety of capacities since 2000. He is the author of Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Tribe in American History, which is a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Features
Git Along, Lonesome Ranchers
Cattle ranching in Texas has been endangered almost since its inception. Has the harsh economic reality finally caught up with our most iconic business?
Luv and War at 30,000 Feet
Somehow, as every other major airline went bankrupt, slashed its workforce, or grounded planes, Southwest Airlines kept flying high. Today, Southwest is the country’s largest domestic carrier. So how does a feisty underdog vanquish its competitors and dominate a thoroughly beleaguered industry? One Kick Tail-a-Gram at a time.
The Ups And Downs And Ups of The National Car of Texas
When GM declared bankruptcy last year and moved all production of large SUVs to a single plant in Arlington, it looked like the end was near for the Suburban and its brethren. Instead, they came roaring back to life.
Last Days of the Comanches
In an exclusive excerpt from his new book, Empire of the Summer Moon, special correspondent S. C. Gwynne re-creates in thrilling detail the bloody 1871 battle that marked the beginning of the end for the most fearsome tribe to ever ride the plains and its mysterious, magnificent chief, Quanah Parker.
Head Case
Depending on your point of view, the firing of Mike Leach, Texas Tech’s controversial football coach, was about the state of football (the sport has gone soft), concussions (they are a potentially life-threatening condition), or celebrity meddling (Craig James was a helicopter dad). But is it possible that Leach has no one to blame but himself?
The Bucket List
Driving the River Road, in far West Texas; having a drink at the Mansion on Turtle Creek, in Dallas; fishing for bass in Caddo Lake; eating a chicken-fried steak in Strawn; searching for a lightning whelk along the coast; and 58 other things that all Texans must do before they die.
The Great White Hope
During his three terms in office, Houston’s Bill White has been one of the most popular big-city mayors in America. Now he’s just the latest in a long line of Texas Democrats trying to win a statewide election. What makes Mayor Bill think he can break a fifteen-year losing streak?
Mike Leach Is Thinking ...
And you would be too if you were an itinerant Rollerblader with a passion for pirates who’d reinvented the game of college football, brought joy to Lubbock, beaten UT, and narrowly missed a shot at a national champi- onship. And what you’d be thinking is, “Gangway!”
Come Early. Be Loud. Cash In.
How did the University of Texas build the most successful college sports program in history? One visionary coach at a time. One world-class athlete at a time. One state-of-the-art stadium at a time. And with an ambitious, aggressive business model that’s the envy of its rivals everywhere.
BBQ08
Eighteen hungry reviewers. 14,773 miles driven/flown. 341 joints visited. Countless bites of brisket, sausage, chicken, pork, white bread, potato salad, and slaw—and vats of sauce—ingested. There are only fifty slots on our quinquennial list of the best places to eat barbecue in Texas. Only five of those got high honors. And only one (you’ll never guess which one in a million years) is the best of the best.
This Land Is His Land
Jerry Patterson’s enemies make him out to be the Grinch who sold Christmas (Mountains, that is). Of course, he couldn’t give a &$%#.
The Last Drop
Texas has the country’s most precise state water plan. So how is it that every one of our major cities is still on track to run dry in the next fifty years?
The Old Man and the River
Fifty years after the mythical trip on the Brazos that was the basis for John Graves’s classic book, I followed in his wake. Literally.
The Next Frontier
How has the state’s most storied ranch managed to survive and thrive in the twenty-first century? By operating in a way that its founder, Captain Richard King, would scarcely recognize.
Lust in Space
The lovesick antics of diapered astronaut Lisa Nowak are some combination of funny and sad but seemingly not revealing of anything larger, until you realize that her tragic, tabloidy breakdown says everything you need to know about NASA’s many troubles.
Bob Perry Needs a Hug
Roundly criticized for helping to popularize “Swift boat” as a verb, the Houston homebuilder who is the nation’s largest individual political donor wants you to know he’s a sweet guy with a soft side. But don’t expect him to put away his checkbook anytime soon.
Coal Hard Facts
Facing an energy crisis, Texas is on the verge of a solution that will belch about five billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in the next forty years. Breathe deeply—while you still can.
Dell Freezes Over
It’s not just the stock price. It’s not just the executive exodus. It’s not just the flaming laptops. It’s not just the lousy customer service. It’s not just the sagging employee morale. It’s all of these things—and it’s deadly serious. Inside the sudden decline of the world’s most powerful computer company.
Thank God It’s Friday
And Saturday. And Sunday. The arrival of fall means weekends spent watching football, up close and on-screen, and yet another opportunity to love the greatest game on earth for all the usual reasons. Forty-nine of them, in fact.
He’s Sisyphus, and He Approves This Message
Gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell pushes a rock up a hill.
Water, Water Everywhere
From kayaking on Town Lake to mountain biking around Joe Pool Lake, from bass fishing on Lake Fork to horseback riding on the shores of Lake Whitney, here are some of our favorite things to do in, on, and around Texas lakes.
Tree Ring Circus
Why did the feds spend seventeen years pursuing a baseless billion-dollar lawsuit against Houston financier Charles Hurwitz? To help environmentalists take away his old-growth California redwoods. Your tax dollars at work.
Retail Politics
Along a seventeen-mile stretch of Interstate 35 sits a theoretical dividing line between red-state and blue-state America. In Austin, the flagship Whole Foods attracts your typical wine-sipping, tree-hugging, Volvo-driving liberals. In Buda, the massive Cabela’s is a magnet for beer-guzzling, gun-toting, flag-waving conservatives. From these consumer preferences, voting habits are born—but appearances, like tofu dogs and duck decoys, can be deceiving.
Dr. Evil
By almost any measure of performance, including the sheer number of patients who are crippled and maimed, the medical profession has rarely seen anyone like Houston orthopedic surgeon Eric Scheffey. So why did he get to keep his license for so long?
Run With the Devils
There was a major don’t-try-this-at-home aspect to my two-day ride on this primitive and unpredictable river. But as scary as it was, it was every bit as beautiful.
Hello to a River
Fourteen of them, actually. From kayaking the Colorado and rock climbing along the Pecos to tubing the Pedernales and birding on the Rio Grande, here are the most enjoyable and exciting things to do on some of our favorite Texas waterways.
Safe at Home
Yes, I am one of those parents, the sort who takes his perfectly contented ten-year-old out of a relaxed neighborhood softball league and propels her into the hypercompetitive world of youth tournament sports. But you know what? It’s what Maisie wanted.
On the Road Again—Panhandle
South from Amarillo to Tulia, east to Turkey, west to Silverton, and north, through Palo Duro Canyon, to Amarillo.
1. Tom Craddick
The House Speaker didn’t get to be the most powerful man in Texas by selling mud.
Attack Here
The Houston Ship Channel is considered one of the top strategic targets in the U.S.—an enormous bomb waiting to be detonated by terrorists. But what happens if the bomb actually goes off? Brace yourself for a worst-case scenario of the sort the Homeland Security folks are modeling and simulating and staying up late worrying about.
The Daughter Also Rises
Her mom dissed his dad. He defeated her mom. Now Cecile Richards is helping lead the charge to send him—that would be the president of the United States—back to Texas. Nothing personal, mind you.
Peace be with you. And also with you. Unless you're gay.
The battle for the soul of the Episcopal Church, being waged aggressively in this state, is not only about the ordination of homosexuals. It's also about the future of the denomination.
The Voice of America
Is Clear Channel, the San Antonio-based radio behemoth, as patently evil as everyone says? Don't touch that dial.
Conversations With a Grasshopper
To experience the majesty and peril of the desert on my own terms, I spent a week alone in the Solitario, the most remote area of Big Bend Ranch State Park. I confronted my darkest fears—and made small talk with an insect.
James Baker Forever
In an ever-changing political world, one thing is constant: The Republican mandarin is a player—and always will be.
Weapon of Mass Communication
This was the summer of George W. Bush's discontent, when sixteen specious words in the State of the Union address threw the White House into disarray. Can his 32-year-old mediameister, Dan Bartlett, get the message and the messenger back on track?
Is "Al Gonzales" Spanish For "Stealth Liberal"?
Conservatives fear that the White House counsel is another David Souter, but he's close enough to George W. that he'll probably get a Supreme Court seat anyway—and make history.
Genius
By now we've heard plenty about how smart senior presidential adviser Karl Rove is, and how he's the most powerful political consultant of all time, and how he delights Republicans and bedevils Democrats. But how did the man who made George W. Bush famous get to be famous—and infamous—himself?
How Good Is Your Kid's High School?
Find out in our updated, expanded, and still exclusive ranking of nearly every public high school in Texas.
Did Dick Cheney Sink Halliburton (And Will It Sink Him?)
Well, the vice president of the United States was a mediocre CEO, but the company will be just fine. And, despite what you've read in the papers, so will he.
Lonesome Cowboy
A businessman with the Western virtues of courage and self-reliance. An aloof aristocrat who bought his way into Republican politics. Who is the real David Dewhurst, and why are so many people so unenthusiastic about his campaign for lieutenant governor?
How Good Is Your Kid's School?
Find out in our rankings of nearly every public elementary, middle, and high school in Texas–the most comprehensive and accurate ever done in the state.
Dr. No
Republican congressman Ron Paul, of Surfside, believes that much of our federal government should be abolished. He has voted against honoring the likes of Rosa Parks and repeatedly goes against his constituents' interests. He is a contrarian, an outsider, and an ineffectual lawmaker. And he just may be unbeatable.
Judge Not
When Senators Phil Gramm and Kay Bailey Hutchison blocked the nomination of El Paso's Enrique Moreno to the powerful Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals they triggered a firestorm of protest fueled by wounded ethnic pride.
Columns | Miscellany
Bishop Takes Castle
Fort Worth clergyman Jack Iker’s battle with the Episcopal Church has become an all-out war. And the stakes couldn’t be higher.
Boom With A View
There’s no stopping the skyrocketing growth of San Antonio—until recently the Land That Time Forgot—and there’s no going back.
Glove Story
Why an iconic sporting-goods company survived a devastating fire.
Walled Off
As a record number of demonstrators hit the streets this spring, one Texas border town was rolling the dice on a draconian method of dealing with illegal immigrants. And it’s working.
Media Culpa
Why you should distrust the press.
Pilot Error
Wondering what American Airlines CEO Don Carty was thinking when his plan to save the company blew up in his face? I certainly was. So I went to see him.
Mother Nurture
The secret to running Southwest Airlines? Be sentimental. Share. And love.
Swamped!
If you're looking for endless stretches of pristine coastline, more birds than you can count, and the state's largest concentration of alligators, then Port Arthur is your gateway to an unexpected adventure.
Bunker Hunt
Remembering the Hunt brother’s silver anniversary.
Boss Perot, Jr.
He made his name in real estate, but now Ross Perot, Jr., is running the computer services company that bears his family's name—and taking care of business with his father.
Gaining Currency
How did Laredo-based IBC become one of the most powerful banks in Texas? Here's a full account.
Reporter
Starting a Business
Sweet Leaf Tea’s founder on starting a business.
Bryan Christian
Advertising Executive
Producing a TV Talk Show
Bill Geddie, co-executive producer of The View.
Beverly Kearney
An amazing recovery on track.
How to Win An Election
Matthew Dowd on how to win an election.
The Dallas Morning Blues
Why isn’t this man smiling? If you were the chairman of Belo, the suddenly stumbling media conglomerate, you wouldn’t be smiling either. Then again, Robert Decherd is sure there’s only good news ahead.
Rain of Error
For as long as there has been a Texas, there have been dry spells when people wished it would rain. One huckster actually tried to make it happen—with the financial backing of Congress.
Grand Illusion
Deep pockets and an uphill climb: S. C. Gwynne says the last days of Tony Sanchez's campaign for governor looked an awful lot like the first.
Ray’s Quarry
Raymond C. Caballero, El Paso's feisty mayor.
Web Exclusives
Pirate Under Attack. Avast, Ye Swabs!
If Texas Tech fires Leach, there will be a mushroom cloud over Lubbock for thousands of miles and a likely revolt of Tech fans, alums, and former players.
Mountain Man
Sam Gwynne and the Texas land commissioner in Big Bend.
Toilet Tales
In summer months, Houstonians are drinking ice cold . . . toilet water. Courtesy of Dallas.
Call of the Wild
Seven images and captions—from the campsite to the view from the rim—show how executive editor S. C. "Sam" Gwynne spent seven days alone on the Solitario.
Report Card
Executive editor S. C. Gwynne tells the story behind this month's cover story, "How Good Is Your Kid's School?"
Texas Monthly Biz
Wilted
Why Austin's Garden.com went to seed.
Hello, Mr. Chips
Texas Instruments looks to cash in on its chips.
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