Books
April 30, 1977
Soldiers of Misfortune
What happens to a mercenary when all the fighting stops?
Author
Michael Mewshaw
Right On
In their hearts, these conservative writers knew they were right. Now the rest of us know it too.
He’s Got a Secret
The Mexican pyramids are an open book compared to Peter Tompkins’s rambling account of them.
Apple and Oranges
The Oranging of America is not about the Longhorn football team taking over the government, but Max Apple’s book is only slightly less bizarre.
Prosecution Complex
Being Watergate special prosecutor was hard; writing a book about it was harder.
Presents of Mind
Turn a few new leaves this holiday season.
Testing, Testing
Dan Jenkins and Bud Shrake find the Limo scene semi-amusing.
Pall in the Family
Domestic bliss has seen better days than it sees in Shelby Hearon’s new novel.
Lend Me Your Era
Why the best years of our lives weren’t.
Sourcery and Whichcraft
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's latest book "The Final Days" is just too much hocus-pocus.
Passions of the Mine
Start fooling around with Mother Earth and you end up getting accused of rape.
Only Yesterday
America and Texas: past and present.
Help Yourself
Peter Passel and Rollo May help those who help themselves.
Fires and Brimstone
Spiritual desolation in Crawford’s The Backslider; spiritual warfare in Naipaul’s Guerrillas.
Tennessee Schmaltz
T for Texas, T for Tennessee Williams’ autobiography, and T for terrible.
Goyen, Goyen, Gone.
East Texas author William Goyen was more at home in the Fifties.
Oh Dad, Poor Dad
Donald Barthelme wrote a novel about you and it’s so bad.
Oh, What a Lovely War Book
World War II the way it really was.
Moving On
Larry McMurtry brings his Texas odyssey to an end.
A Sporting Chance
Can college athletics survive? Can short stories?
Crooked Shooters
Does crime pay?
Tortuga’s Complaint
Peter Matthiessen writes of men pursuing a dying profession and Philip Roth pursues his critics.
The Hungry I
Frederick Exley shows how to get too much of a good thing.
White Man’s Burden
Exploring the heavy price of Empire.
Family Affairs
Coupling takes many forms, as John Updike and Shelby Hearon can tell you.
Waltz Across Texas, March Into Zion
Two books on why you can’t go home again.
Old Dogs, Old Tricks
Two well-known authors prove that knowing the subject matter doesn’t necessarily guarantee a good book.