June 25, 2019
From the Archives: After the Apollo Program Ended, NASA Settled on a New, Less Glamorous Mission
The shuttle age commences, becomes routine, and draws to a close, while Mars beckons.
Politics & Policy
May 13, 2013
The Afterlife
In Dallas, our newly not-so-unpopular forty-third president tries to bend the arc of history’s judgment.
The Culture
January 23, 2013
Urban Cowboys
The cities have prevailed—but we’re still rural at heart.
News & Politics
January 21, 2013
Disaster, Part One: Lubbock
West Texans are going to have to figure out what they’re going to do when the well runs dry.
News & Politics
January 21, 2013
Debating Robert Caro
The fourth volume of an epic LBJ biography stirs more controversy.
Records
January 20, 2013
A Case of the Blues
If the Southland gave birth to the blues, Mack McCormick wants to know the time and place of the blessed event.
Behind the Lines
January 20, 2013
The Uncertain Sage
A cool, brilliantly blue day in early February found me driving north from Austin on a sort of pilgrimage. I was going to see John Graves, the writer and gentleman farmer, now 73 years old, at his place on four hundred acres of rocky blackland prairie near Glen Rose. My…
Texas History
January 1, 2008
What a Crockett!
There should be no mystery about the latest artifact of “history.”…
Sports
March 1, 2004
Good-bye to a Horse
She named him Mark. I didn’t know why, any more than I knew why my daughter was drawn to riding in the first place. But I did know that she loved him—and that letting him go was the hardest thing she’d ever done.
Behind the Lines
December 1, 1999
Doomed Dome
’Dome, sweet ’Dome: Good-bye to the stadium of the century.
Politics & Policy
June 30, 1998
A Letter to the Mayor
The Honorable Lee P. Brown Mayor of HoustonHouston, Texas Dear Mayor Brown, THANKS AGAIN FOR SEEING ME the other day. I’m always happy to have a reason to go to Houston City Hall. It’s not much to look at from the outside, but inside it’s…
Politics & Policy
March 1, 1998
Smoke Detectors
Why the state’s tobacco settlement has ignited a controversy.
Politics & Policy
January 1, 1998
Who killed the Texas Democratic party?
AT LEAST DAN MORALES knew that the mere proclamation he was going to have a press conference was not likely to stop the world in its tracks. The night before and all that morning, some supporters, as well as the attorney general himself, were busy calling around to say that…
News & Politics
November 1, 1997
Love, War, and LBJ
Two new volumes signal a reawakening of interest in the former president.
Politics & Policy
September 30, 1997
Seven Women
Should Texas execute a woman? You could debate that question to death.
Texas History
May 31, 1997
The First Protester
How a man named Eldrewey Stearns began the fight for civil rights in Houston.
Politics & Policy
March 1, 1997
Scattered Applause
Everyone at the Capitol that morning in late January knew George W. Bush was at a high plateau, and they were there expecting to witness history being made. Popular and successful after two years as governor, openly discussed already as a potential candidate for national office, he was, on this…
Behind the Lines
February 1, 1997
By the Numbers
STEPHEN KLINEBERG IS A MAN WHO REVELS IN STATISTICS, finding a pleasure in them so intense it borders on the sensual. We sat at a small round table in his breakfast room as he led me through the arrays of numbers that he has worked each of the last fifteen…
Behind the Lines
January 1, 1997
Testy Mail
IN NOVEMBER WE PUBLISHED A RANKING of 3,172 public grade schools in Texas, giving each school one of five grades, from four stars (the best) to no stars (the worst). This article provoked an unusual amount of mail. Some of the letters were barely restrained victory whoops from people connected…
Behind the Lines
December 1, 1996
The Church on the Hill
Why the big fight between a small town and a small church wound up in the Supreme Court.