Tag: Myth

“Writers have been sizing up Texas from its earliest days, usually harshly,” says Lawrence Wright in the opening pages of his captivating new book on Texas. Big, brash and vast, Texas matters. The changing demographics of a state with a growing Hispanic population may soon present a challenge to its Republican dominance. Award-winning New Yorker writer and long-time Texas resident Wright has set himself the task of getting behind the myths, stories and politics of America’s largest state. After the second year of production, the well was producing 17 million barrels of oil a year. “Harvey calls into question the future of Houston,” Wright bluntly puts it. The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin only every other year in deference to their aversion to government, says Wright. A chapter set on the border which explores Texas’ unique relationship with Mexico is among the most powerful in the book. “Mexico defines Texas in a way that no other state experiences with any other nation,” he writes. But while Wright’s depiction of some of the powerful personalities of Texas politics and business may feel too specific for some readers, familiar names pop up – from George W Bush to Karl Rove and Hollywood heartthrob Matthew McConaughey who lived briefly across the road from Wright in Austin.