
November 2014

Features


What are the best Texas books ever written? Here’s my list—now let the sparks fly.
We asked writers around the state a series of bookish questions. Here are a few of their answers.

Never has the Waco university been so big, so rich, so athletically powerful, or so committed to becoming the country’s first elite Protestant university. What does its ambition mean for its identity?

For the past 26 years, the Pampa High Fighting Harvesters have counted on their equipment manager not only to fold their uniforms but also to keep their spirits high. Because in Pampa, there is no Friday night without Trent Loter.

Olivia Lord told Dallas police officers that her boyfriend put a gun to his head after a drunken argument. Detective Dwayne Thompson couldn’t see how the evidence—or motive—made any sense. How did Michael Burnside die on May 9, 2010?

Lone Star was just a brew for dads and cowboys, until Jerry Retzloff helped turn it into the coolest beer in the country.
Touts

Bag that buck—or quail, or oryx—and then put your feet up at one of these luxury hunting lodges.


Despite its name, Pax Americana is not exactly a tranquil space. But after one taste of chef Adam Dorris’s menu, who could stay calm?


Columns

Larry McMurtry, Bill Wittliff, and Jeff Guinn turn to familiar turf—the Old West—to challenge old-school readers.


The year we gave thanks—at least at first—for the turkeys in our town.

I thought being a landman in the Eagle Ford Shale would help replenish my bank account. I quickly got more than I bargained for.

Watch any footage from the Texas Archive of the Moving Image, and you’ll find yourself mesmerized by the unfreezing of time.

Our estimable advice columnist on poultry politesse, I-35 road rage, and a bedeviling place name.
Miscellany
Reporter

How the merger of two South Texas universities has stirred some complicated feelings about a fuzzy bronco.



Mike Modano on being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame—and embracing golf.

Some crazy stuff went down in Texas in the past thirty days. Here are a handful of headlines you may have missed.

“At Bonham, recently, Miss Jessie Bryant, while sleeping, was robbed of her beautiful golden tresses by some unknown party. Six years ago the little lady met with the same misfortune.” —Shiner Gazette, November 1, 1894 …


Advocacy groups revealed that at least ten Texas school districts received surplus material from the U.S. Department of Defense, including armored vehicles, tactical vests, assault rifles, and several thousand rounds of ammunition.
What to hear, read, watch, and look at this month to achieve maximum Texas cultural literacy.