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.
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.
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 Richard West
Miles from their nearest neighbors, beset by drought, debt, insects, and government, Panhandle farmers gamble everything to keep alive a tradition they can’t abandon.
By Richard West
The pioneers who came to tame the West met their match in the land of ‘Giant.’
By Richard West
Your jet’s lagging. You’re sick of reading and people-watching. Cheer up: just a gate away might be great chili, a shopping mall, or even a place to pray.
By Richard West
A friend’s illness propelled a Baptist minister from a life or though to a life of action.
By Richard West
Blessed art thou, who hath created Tex-Mex.
By Richard West
What to eat, how to shop, and where to boogie in the most enchanting corner of Texas.
By Richard West
Welcome to Highland Park, a small town right in the middle of Dallas where the living is easy and time stands still.
By Richard West
Okay, we heard that snicker. But give the place a chance. You’ll find plenty to enjoy.
By Richard West
Four years ago we brought you the Best of Texas. Now we do it again— only better.
By Richard West
Texas’ most glamorous mall has all the comforts of home and then some. So why not move in?
By Richard West
There’s more for the traveler in San Antonio than meets the Alamo.
By Richard West
You can still find it in these great small towns.
By Richard West
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 find a home in a new land.
By Richard West
Why subject yourself to the dreariness of impersonal, prefab hotels when these country hostelries are just down the road?
By Richard West
Wise up: that insipid supermarket sugar-water you’ve been putting on your toast isn’t honey. The real stuff—Texas honey—is as full-bodied and distinctive as the nectars that go into it.
By Richard West
Waltzing across Texas.
By Richard West and William Broyles
Grab your beach towel and bathing suit, but leave your car in the garage.
By Richard West
Simmering pots of soul food. That’s what we love about the South.
By Richard West
Although Texans make good friends, they make even better enemies.
By Richard West
The former boy wonder of Texas politics has found a new career. Still, old habits die hard.
By Richard West
“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.”
By Richard West
If working hard builds character, these people must be saints.
By Richard West
The newest style of manly hatwear.
By Richard West
Miles from their nearest neighbors, beset by drought, debt, insects, and government, Panhandle farmers gamble everything to keep alive a tradition they can’t abandon.
By Richard West
Texas is cattle, oil, Stetsons, peaches, branding irons . . . peaches?
By Richard West
Why let Roy Rogers have all the fun? Waltz across Texas this summer along these eleven good-time trails.
By Richard West
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 Richard West
The pioneers who came to tame the West met their match in the land of ‘Giant.’
By Richard West
We just rate them. You voted for them.
By Paul Burka and Richard West
Out of the Texas melting pot comes a food hot enough to melt anything.
By Richard West
By Richard West
Some boarding house-style restaurants where they can dish it out if you can take it.
By Richard West
By Richard West
All this, and the Legislature wasn’t even in session.
By Richard West
By Richard West
By Richard West
By Richard West
By Richard West
By Richard West
Can Texas Democrats find happiness? In New York, maybe—
By Richard West
By Richard West
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.
By Richard West
You may disagree, but we know we’re right.
By Richard West
By Richard West
By Richard West
By Richard West
By Richard West
By Richard West
We spotlight the follies and foibles of our state that will go down in history—way down.
By Richard West
By Richard West
By Richard West
By Richard West