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Richard West

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Richard West was a Texas Monthly writer who joined the magazine in 1972, a few months before the inaugural issue in February 1973. He grew up in Highland Park and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. Before arriving at Texas Monthly, he served in the Army and as press secretary for Texas House Speaker Ben Barnes. A series he wrote for Texas Monthly won a National Magazine Award in 1979, and his story “Only the Strong Survive” won a Texas Institute of Letters award the following year. His book, Richard West’s Texas, published in 1982, chronicled his time living in and reporting on seven diverse areas of Texas. After leaving Texas Monthly at the end of 1980, West worked at New York Magazine, Newsweek, and D Magazine. He became a freelance travel writer in 1987 and worked in 52 countries over nearly twenty years.

West is an avid long-distance runner. He ran thirteen marathons when he was in his sixties, and he continues to jog regularly in his eighties. He lives in Boulder, Colorado.

Featured Articles

Being Texan

The Petrified Forest

Behind the pine curtain of deep East Texas is a world trapped in the past and hidden from the future: lush woods, poor whites, the descendants of slaves, and an aristocracy still breathing the rarefied air of the Old South.

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88 Articles

Community|
February 1, 1988

Called to Care

A friend’s illness propelled a Baptist minister from a life or though to a life of action.

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Being Texan|
March 1, 1980

An American Family

Pedro Martínez, with only his Mexican heritage, a determination to work hard, and a desire for a better life, brought his family across the Rio Grande to fine a home in a new land.

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News & Politics|
February 1, 1979

Only the Strong Survive

“There are two things to remember about the ghetto that is Houston’s Fifth Ward. One, evil usually triumphs over good. Two, in spite of that, most of its residents retain a goodness that proves indestructible.”

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Being Texan|
April 1, 1978

The Petrified Forest

Behind the pine curtain of deep East Texas is a world trapped in the past and hidden from the future: lush woods, poor whites, the descendants of slaves, and an aristocracy still breathing the rarefied air of the Old South.

By
News & Politics|
July 31, 1976

Texas Monthly Reporter

PEOPLEThe red-hot rumor, blazing from mouth to mouth in Dallas recently, had longtime radio programming genius Gordon McLendon raising $2 million for a group of Dallas investors to buy WRR-AM, the city-owned, all-news station that’s up for sale. Not so, says son Bart McLendon, manager of McLendonowned KNUZ-FM in Dallas.

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