Politics & Policy
November 14, 2023
The Massacre That Turned Texas Into the Most Gun-Friendly State in America
A 1991 mass shooting in Killeen inspired legislation that has made Texas America’s most gun-friendly state.
It Happened Here
As part of Texas Monthly’s fiftieth anniversary year, in 2023, we’re offering, each month, a fresh perspective on an important episode from the past half century.
Energy
October 18, 2023
The Year the Texas Legislature Changed the Energy Game Forever
In 1999 lawmakers radically altered the electricity marketplace. We can all breathe easier—literally—because of it.
Politics & Policy
September 12, 2023
Yes, George W. Bush Changed Texas. But Not the Way You Think.
His victory in the 1994 governor’s race wasn’t the election that really transformed the state.
Energy
August 15, 2023
We’re All Living in the World Enron Created
When the go-go Houston corporation collapsed in spectacular fashion, it became a punch line across the nation. But some of the bad guys had the last laugh.
Politics & Policy
July 18, 2023
Texas Is Now a Majority-Minority State. Why Haven’t Our Politics Changed?
Since 2004, non-Hispanic white residents have been outnumbered in Texas. And to the apparent surprise of many, that hasn’t worked out all that well for the Democratic Party.
Texas History
June 20, 2023
What Hurricane Harvey Taught Us (and Didn’t Teach Us)
Six years ago, the mother of all storms arrived and brought home a lesson too many of us have refused to learn: our penchant for bravely adapting to circumstances has its limits.
Texas History
May 16, 2023
Selena and the Geto Boys Changed Texas Music at the Same Time
The Geto Boys and Selena set the stage in the early nineties for the transformation of Texas music.
Texas History
April 11, 2023
The Oil Boom That Went Bust
In the eighties, petroleum prices went through the roof, and Texans, flush with cash, went a little crazy—before it all came crashing down. Will we ever learn?
Film & TV
March 14, 2023
Why 1980 Was the Year Texas Went Worldwide
The current Yellowstone-fueled “Westerncore” aesthetic is little more than a cultural blip compared to what Dallas and Urban Cowboy unleashed in 1980.
Texas History
February 14, 2023
The Killing of José Campos Torres
Decades before the recent police violence in Memphis, a brutally beaten Latino man was tossed by officers into a Houston bayou and drowned. The protests that followed continue to echo in the city to this day.