Texas Books

I am eighth grader. This memoir tells you how Kathi Appelt misses her old life when her loving father and mother were together and happy. It goes through many feelings and emotions of a young teenager and how she copes with change. Kathi gains a new family and loses part of her old one. this book also talks about how her dad included her and her sisters with his new family and how difficult it was for them. I recomend this book to any teenager or anyone who is experiencing change in their life.

I teach sixth grade, and my students and I love this book. What a great book to spark writing. There are many vignettes that can be read aloud in isolation or in patterns. Sensory details, concrete language, and a poetic style make this book a winner for many purposes. I often use its passages to get my students writing. Kids like reading it because of the shortness of each vignette. But don't let the shortness fool you--they pack a wallup.

When you look back at your childhood, you remember the great things, the bad things, and even sometimes the unusual things. The book My Father's Summers: A daughters Memoir by Kathi Appelt, is a fascinating arrangement of Kathi's childhood memories. While reading this memoir you know all of Kathi's feelings and emotions when she is going through anything, such as staying with her dad and new mom and brothers. The memories are the good, bad and random things she remembered about her life. All ages would enjoy reading about Kathi's ups and downs in her early days. What I loved about this book is that it made me feel as if I are watching Kathi live her life because of the wonderful format her life as been presented in this book.
Each page is a different day in Kathi's childhood that narrates a different amazing adventure that Kathi takes you on. The adventure started on her 11th birthday when her dad sent her a letter from Arabia saying happy birthday. It ends with a great black and white photo of her young dad hold her as a baby, still loving her, more than ever. "It's clear he is happy to be holding me, hanging on to me. Despite everything, that was always clear." There are remarkable black and white photographs placed through out the book helping the reader recognize what Kathi is explaining and gives a good image of what life was like when the story is taking place.
When you read autobiographies of people who are reflecting on their childhood, they usually cover only happy and sad points in their life. However, in My Father's Summers: A daughters Memoir, Kathi writes about anything that she can pull out of her mind to put on paper. On every page that goes by, a day goes by and more events happen to her. She includes every bit and end of her life. This memoir keeps you on your toes about what event is going to happen next, or what her next birthday will bring. Nothing is boring and everything is so real.

The memory of our childhood is like a collection of snap shots that capture not only high points but unrelated odds and ends that are preserved for reasons we can not even suspect any more. An autobiography tries to connect all the dots and provide a smooth narrative flow, filling in gaps the way the scientists in "Jurassic Park" spliced in other genes to make a complete strand of DNA. However, the artificiality of such life stories and the way they lose reality but making all the pieces fit is revealed by Kathi Appelt's "My Father's Summers: A Daughter's Memoir." What we have here are a series of prose poems that provide brief glimpses at the bits and pieces of a life more vividly than would a complete autobiography.

"My Father's Summers" are created for Kathi and her two younger sisters when the absence of her father working half a world away in Arabia turns to a smaller but more devastating move across town to a new life with another woman her sons, suddenly stepbrothers for a little girl who cannot understand what has happened to her family but who can appreciate the emotional pain. Against such stark moments as the whispered insinuations that her mother was not a good wife or the constant connections between life in general and what had happened with her father (e.g., the idea that crabs leave one shell to find another), there are touches of wonder, such as the sweet boy with brown hair and deep brown eyes who made sure Appelt had been kissed before her 16th birthday.

There are a couple dozen black & white family photographs scattered throughout the book, some tied specifically to the prose poems and others just showing Appelt, her sisters and her parents (but, somewhat surprisingly, none of Karen, the best friend of which she often writes). While there is a rough chronological structure to the arrangement of the prose poems, the topics go where memory takes and other tenuous connections take them; at one point the photographs of Appelt are going backwards in time. Memories are unstuck in time.

The description on the front flap of "My Father's Summers" describes it as a "memoir of coming-of-age in Houston, Texas" and sometimes it is difficult to think of it in those terms because the title and the revelation that Appelt's father found a variety of ways of being absent from his daughter's life becomes the dominant element of the book. Even when she does not write explicitly about her father and his absences, he is a presence, even when the death that ends the story is not his own. The poignancy of Appelt's work will have a resonance beyond that for the daughters of divorce or those who grew up in Houston or some similar place, because these remembrances combine the bitter disappointments and unforgettable delights that make up the life of any child.

I stayed up reading this book and then stayed up another night re-reading it. Often, I felt the pang of something so profound and felt on the verge of tears, even in its funniest moments. The book is hilarious, and yet heartbreaking. It offers a glimpse into a time and the people and the bit of America that seems filled with dreams and nostalgia. It's an addicting read.

I loved this book. It was about where my mother as born a raised. We readed it aloud to each other. We laughed all weekend. I could just see all the people he wrote about. My mother knew some of them. I readed it a couple of times. Laugh every time.

Mr. Swift has written a humorous, pathos filled and somewhat haunting view of a young man growing up in a very remote cultural part of Texas called 'The Big Thicket'. The stories of his family members, characters within the community and his journey with all these people in becoming the individual author that he is today are compelling and touching. The photos by Lynn Lennon are reminiscent of Eudora Welty's during the depression. This is a must read for lovers of Southern literature. Ed Swift presents a riveting study of this uniquely classic portion of Texas.

This is a poignant memoir but not at all in the sappy, cliched way. Mr. Swift eloquently brings a sense of place and culture for this area of the South. His portrayals of his characters are entertaining and are real tributes to their individualities. Even if you don't know eccentrics like these, you will finish reading this story deeply appreciating unique traits of those who are influential to you.

The book is about a 12 year old girl named Jill and she goes to her grandmother's texas ranch every summer and expects to see her best friend B.J , but this summer she is in for a big suprise. She finds out that B.J not only looks better , but is into boys , nailpolish , make-up , and not into climbing trees and riding bikes. Jill is going through a rough time this summer and gets talked into doing alot of things she does not want to do , but she learns that their is alot more to growing up then boys and make- up , you also learn lessons. So I would recommend this book to anyone. I loved it i read it 3 times.

The book is about a 12 year old girl named Jill and she goes to her grandmother's texas ranch every summer and expects to see her best friend B.J , but this summer she is in for a big suprise. She finds out that B.J not only looks better , but is into boys , nailpolish , make-up , and not into climbing trees and riding bikes. Jill is going through a rough time this summer and gets talked into doing alot of things she does not want to do , but she learns that their is alot more to growing up then boys and make- up , you also learn lessons. So I would recommend this book to anyone. I loved it i read it 3 times.

Jill goes out to the country to visit her grandma every summer. She has a friend out there namesd B.J. Their best friends. They tell stories to eachother and the latest information about the ranch. Jill is mad at B.J. because she is acting more mature by wearing lipstick, dresses and nailpolish. She is also hanging around with boys. All the things Jill doesnt do yet. So Jill doesnt really hang around with B.J. because she is haning around with the new boy in town Trey. Jill is just doing her own thing. Trey was looking for B.J. one day and Jill was the only one there so Trey hung around with her and she found out that Trey was pretty cool. So Trey showed Jill some of his stuff on astronomy which was his hobby. And Jill thought it was really cool. The fourth of July is a big thing where Jill's grandma lives. There are fireworks a party and lots of fun. Well something happens to Jill and Jill told B.J. her secret. Jill and B.J. havnt been very close this summer so you'll have to read the book to find out the end.

Being from Hawaii, I feel the author does a good job of bringing the situation to life. It's as if I were there with the characters. I recommend it to teachers, librarians and parents.:>

To watch my child enjoy reading Christian novels gives me great joy! I have always enjoyed my own and when I discovered the wholesomeness in a children's book for my childs age...Woo Hoo! Simple reading with great lesson.

I think your books are great they are so cool!!!!! I think you should write more of these books I learned alot from these books.

Calie cat

This book is so funny, I read it several times! In this book, Patience, the three cousins, third cousin, is telling tall tales. When she tells a tall tale about dancing angels, Timothy, Titus, and Sarah-Jane, don't believe her. Have they stumbled upon another mystery or is this just another one of Patience's tall tales?

This is the best book that Elspeth has made!

Three cunning ten year olds try to solve the mystery of the dancing angels... read this book to find out more!

I'm almost finished reading this book and I must say that it is one of the best books about the Kennedy assassination. It has everything from the detailed history of the Zapruder film to a 16 page color section that includes the famous photos by Mary Moorman, James Altgens and Phil Willis, to over 100 black and white photos and diagrams of Zapruder frames and rarely seen photos and still frames from other movies made that day. I took the advice of another review on this board and bought the book with the DVD 'Image of an Assassination'. When the book references frames from the Zapruder film you can view the DVD to see exactly what it is the author is talking about. What else can be said about a book that comes in it's own wrapper. Probably a lot. A treasure.

Richard Trask's objectivity must be maddening to the conspiracy nuts since he clearly doesn't give credence to their silly theories, while at the same time he doesn't openly criticize their ideas. He isn't looking for a fight. He simply researches the objective photographic history and refuses to jump on the bandwagon of insanity currently awash in the country by those claiming the Zapruder film has been altered. I was glad that he did not spend a lot of time in this arena, it would have cheapened the high quality of work Trask is known for. ALong with "Pictures of the Pain" Trask must be ranked among the great photographic historians of this case. I highly recommend this work

I whole-heartedly agree with Mr. Von Pein's extremely comprehensive review. If you are into the photographic and film record of the Kennedy Assassination, as I am, than Mr. Trask's published works will satisfy your desire for an in-depth analysis of the major photos and films taken during the November 21st-November 22nd period of time. All three of his books are worth the investment for the wealth of photos they contain and the analysis of those photos.
As to NATIONAL NIGHTMARE, I liken it to that first cup of cold water after a long run. It is satisfying and quenches the thirst. Mr. Trask approaches the history of the film and his analysis of it with no agenda. He is not out to change anyone's mind as to "who dun it," unlike David R. Wrone, who does a good job of describing the history of the film in THE ZAPRUDER FILM: REFRAMING JFK'S ASSASSINATION, but then goes off into the wacky world of Zapruder film tampering by unknown conspirators. I consider myself a historian, an as such, am much more impressed with Mr. Trask's objective approach to his subject. One gets the impression that he discounts the conspiracy theories in favor of the Warren Commission findings, but it serves as an undercurrent, not as a presumptious raison d'etre for the existence of the book. Mr. Trask simply presents the photographic record in wonderful detail, leaving the theories for the reader to muddle over.
This is really an extaordinary book, and my hope is the Mr. Trask (I hope you're reading this, sir) publishes a book of all 400+ frames of the Zapruder film in the largest, clearest, most colorful format that technology can provide and takes a page to analyze each frame of the film. One frame per page accompanied by a page of analysis would amount to a holy grail of sorts for me and no doubt for all those who understand the importance of analyzing the history of November 22, 1963 through the numerous photographs and films taken on that day.

I love reading Richard Trask's books about the JFK assassination; and this one, published in late October 2005, is certainly no exception. It's very informative and definitely a worthy addition to anyone's collection of written materials surrounding the shocking murder of President John Kennedy in November of 1963.

"National Nightmare On Six Feet Of Film: Mr. Zapruder's Home Movie And The Murder Of President Kennedy" is a softcover volume containing 392 pages packed with just about every conceivable piece of information revolving around the infamous 26-second color motion-picture film taken by Dallas dress manufacturer Abraham Zapruder on November 22, 1963, which is a film which shows, in all its morbid detail, the assassination of an American President in broad daylight on a city street in Dallas, Texas.

Mr. Trask details the full history of the film and provides a good deal of background and biographical information on Mr. Zapruder, an ordinary Dallas businessman, born in Russia, who, by pure happenstance and coincidence, turned out to be the amateur filmmaker whose name will forever be associated with the death of JFK.

But, if it weren't for the prodding of his secretary, Lillian Rogers (who encouraged Zapruder to go back home and retrieve his 8mm Bell-&-Howell movie camera shortly before the President's motorcade arrived in Dealey Plaza), that brief and awful 26 seconds in history would probably have never been captured through Mr. Zapruder's lens.

Like Richard Trask's other books on the JFK assassination which focus attention on the photographic aspect of the tragedy, the text of "National Nightmare" is ever-readable, easily-understood, and refreshingly-non-biased when it comes to taking a "Conspiracy vs. No Conspiracy" position by the author. Mr. Trask lays out the facts and leaves it at that.

This book's endnotes/footnotes are all positioned at the back of the book in one separate section, so as to not clutter up the main text of the volume. (So keeping two bookmarks handy is recommended, because a lot of interesting info can be gleaned from some of these endnotes too.)

One big surprise to this writer when perusing this book was seeing a COLOR version of the Robert Croft photograph printed on Page 67 (within a 16-page spread of mostly all-color photos and Zapruder Film frames). I had never seen the Croft picture in color previously. And it's an excellent-quality print of that famous amateur photo that I found in this volume, too. The picture is needle-sharp and the color is virtually perfect.

The Croft photo, by the way, depicts the President's limousine on Elm Street, just after the car has made its sharp left turn from Houston Street in front of the Texas School Book Depository. It was taken at a point equivalent to Zapruder frame #161 (per this book's text and captions), which is just about the time the first gunshot was being fired in Dealey Plaza.

Other highly-recommended publications authored by Richard B. Trask (centering on the photography of President Kennedy's assassination) ..... "Pictures Of The Pain" (1994) and "That Day In Dallas" (1998). The latter is a condensed version of the former, focusing attention on just three of the photographers who took pictures in Dallas on the day JFK was killed (Cecil Stoughton, James Altgens, and Jim Murray).*

* = Although condensed into a smaller number of pages than that of its predecessor "POTP", "That Day In Dallas" does contain "revised and enlarged" material throughout its limited number of chapters. And the specific photographs represented within that volume are unrivaled in their clarity and quality of physical presentation, in this writer's personal opinion.

I truly enjoyed both of those books, and was very glad to see "That Day In Dallas" come out a few years after "POTP", because "That Day" provides a larger-print format for many excellent-quality assassination-related photographs, including several pictures you're not likely to see in any other book on the subject.

As a companion piece to "National Nightmare", I would also recommend highly the MPI Home Video DVD "Image Of An Assassination: A New Look At The Zapruder Film" (released in the summer of 1998), which contains four "digital" versions of the entire 26-second Zapruder Film in various formats, including "zoomed-in" variants and a previously-unseen "Widescreen" version of the movie, which includes the imagery between the "sprocket holes" from Mr. Zapruder's "camera original" film.

That DVD also contains some valuable and collectible "bonus" video programming, including interviews with Zapruder associates, as well as the March 1975 "Good Night America" program (hosted by Geraldo Rivera), during which U.S. audiences first saw the horrifying images of Mr. Zapruder's movie. The DVD also has a crystal-clear video copy of the Live interview that Abraham Zapruder gave on WFAA-TV just hours after he had filmed the assassination.

Many of the above-mentioned items from that "Image Of An Assassination" DVD are also referenced by Mr. Trask throughout the well-written pages of "National Nightmare".

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In "National Nightmare On Six Feet Of Film", Richard Trask has admirably filled in yet another in a seemingly-never-ending series of pieces of subject matter that comprise the wide and varied fabric that form the mosaic of literature covering the topic of the John F. Kennedy assassination.

Nowhere can be found a more detailed and fact-based history of Abraham Zapruder's historic film than that which resides within these 392 pages.

This book has been very tough to read but God has used it to encourage so many. The authors did such a fantastic job of giving the reader a comprehensive understanding of what took place at Wedgwood by weaving numerous eye witness accounts. The picture they provide is very rich and inspiring. I am very grateful for their work and how they tell the world how Christ was proclaimed.

It is sometimes harder to review books that hit close to home, but this book deserves mention. Dr. Dan Crawford did a wonderful job in putting into words what will always be a part of many people's lives. Dan catches the emotion (I did shed a few more tears), the shock,and the triumph in what happened at Wedgwood Baptist Church. To anyone reading this work it helps you to be there on that night with lights flashing and shocked expressions everywhere. Dan's book doesn't seek to mask what occured with platitudes and theories. The book tells it like it was, and what is the "Hope" that keeps Wedgwood Baptist Church going. Night of Tragedy, Dawning of Light accurately records the coming together of a community, and the reassurance that God can take the worst and turn it for good. It may not be the easiest book to read in terms of the emotions it evokes, but it is well worth the effort.

It's hard to forget the image when you turn on the news and see a mass shooting like the ones at Columbine High School or at the Jewish community center in Los Angeles. But, when you see it happen in your own community and in a church of your denomination, it makes it far worse. Dan Crawford does an excellent job over more than 375 pages detailing not only the destruction that Satan wrought on God's house at Wedgwood Baptist Church, but more importantly, shows the victory that only God is capable of providing. There are points where I got very angry, points where I cried, but at the end, I was reminded that Satan has already been defeated and our Lord has the victory. That's the true story of Sept. 15, 1999.

The Wedgwood Church shooting was a tramatic event for any evangelical church member because it eliminated one of the last safe zones for individuals and particularly for teenagers. Dr. Crawford's historical treatise captures the emotions of the events, those close to the tragedy, and the response of the entire world. This book should be read by anyone interested in current event history. The book contains the most complete record of events and is written in a very inviting style.

I'd like to see this book released in a smaller paperback edition, instead of the 'coffee table format' which is oversized, heavy and not conducive to reading. The message that the book conveys is vitally important, and should be easier to read and take along with you. The fonts chosen make the text almost impossible to read on some pages, as the color melts into the page. I'd like to be able to read this and buy copies for others to read as well. Maybe that's a strange complaint, that a coffee table book should have been published as a mass-market or trade paperback, but this is an important book that should be made widely available to encourage more people to buy it.


The photographs are simple and disturbing. The author readily acknowledges that some juveniles deserve to be behind bars, but not all of them are criminals. In Texas, as in most states, status offenders (runaways, habitual truants) are housed in juvenile detention centers with accused rapists and murderers. The child who enters the doors of the juvenile hall as a status offender may very well leave as a budding criminal, even after just a few weeks of being locked up.

The story isn't unique to Texas. Children who need mental health services, diversion programs, and drug rehab are out of luck if their families aren't well-insured. Like the adult prisons of America, our juvenile halls have become a dumping ground for children and young adults who are mentally ill or addicted to drugs. The author doesn't try to come up with pie in the sky solutions, because there aren't any to be found.

This is one of the most important books out there about our nation's children, and about correction in general. The photographs of the children are beautiful, honest, and heartbreaking. A powerful testimony to the state of our nation, which allows such hopelessnss to befall our children, their families, and our communities.

Steve's work is this book is utterly amazing. His insight into the lives of these children is insightful. The photography truly speaks to you - you feel the photos in your heart - you can hear these kids speaking to you from the pages.

Steve has done a fantastic job of showing many of us a whole different side of life.

Mr. Liss has managed to capture the humanity of this forgotten group of youth with an obvious awareness of his subject material. Having worked with similar youth, I found the book heartbreaking. I have a copy on my coffee-table, and have purchased several copies for friends and acquaintences. We should be doing better for our children...

It was good interesting book. The way the characters feelings changed they were happy then sad. There names are Joel and Tony the book started to go to Starved Rock Park, but they didn't make it. I think it was one of the best books I ever read.

This used to be my favorite book when I was younger. I would recemend it to any kid whos in 4th or 5th grade. I am in 8th grade now but sometimes when I get bored i take out that book and start to read it agin.

I highly recommend purchasing both "On My Honor" AND "Whene'r you Make Promise" for your personal resource, OR your Service Unit Library! Both are beautifully illustrated, and great tools for learning about the history of scouting in the US. Younger girls appreciate dressing the dolls in their period Uniforms and dresses, older girls can also enjoy the personal stories included. Use these books to tie in the requirements for many patches andd badges such as "Brownie Girl Scouts Through The Years" and "Her Story" try-its, The "Juliette Low" patch, and the "Girl Scouting Through the Years" Junior Badge.No girl is ever too old for paper dolls, and these are a high quality product line! My girls particularly liked trying to imagine camping in such complicated underclothes, as well as comparing patches and awards to today's equivalents. These books deserve an "A".

For those who enjoy paper dolls, this collection is a classic.

Seven paper dolls and twelve uniforms are offered in the first of a five-part history of Girl Scout uniforms.

The text, written through diary entries, capsules the early years of scouting.

A bit of Americana worth collecting.

John McAfee has a great way of using humorous cynicism to depict life on the plains of Texas and in the jungle of Vietnam. He does so with the ultimate intent, which he accomplishes superbly, of showing how the environment of his boyhood home was destroyed and the lives of people downstream disregarded.

If you've enjoyed the work of Cormac McCarthy, then you should not miss "On Rims of Empty Moons. McAfee wanders over similar terrain as McCarthy, but he has the craziest imagination you've seen in print for years, and a wild sense of humor that finds laughs even in the midst of the goriest events and the blackest tragedies. The book takes the reader on a crazy journey from the dry landscapes of West Texas and northern Mexico to the steamy jungles of VietNam, and accomplishes all without a false note, because the author knows intimately the places and the ways of life he talks about. My personal thanks to McAfee and his publishers at Texas Tech Press for a book in which finally an Anglo author writes about Mexico without making the speech of the characters and the language they use sound like snippets of dialogue from an old Cisco Kid movie. Can't wait for the movie version! (Nahh! Hollywood couldn't cope with this kind of imagination without emulsifying and adulterating it!)

I have NEVER laughed so hard, and been so drawn into a work of fiction. Not only was I loving Johnny McBride and hating Hide immediately, but I was savoring every page...i.e: not reading it when the kids were around to bother me...this is a tremendous read with so much heart and humor:) McAfee should move to the ocean and write full time and honor all of us with further works of art!

From the opening page the humor starts and Johnny McBride begins the journey of his life. With the humor born of a lifetime of experience and the poetic use of language John P. MaAfee brings the world a book about life and making decisions. From the West Texas cow county of the west, you will travel with McBride even further west until he ends up in Southeast Asia. After that it is back west by a means almoast unbelievable that McAfee makes real. Then the questions are answered, even some that didn't seem to be questions in the first place. A truely enjoyable read, it was hard to put down and I did so only to preserve the domestic tranquility. Then it was up early to finish before going to work. McAfee has gone beyond SLOW WALK IN A SAD RAIN. This book is the must read of 1998!

This book is well-written and compelling reading. It provides a overview of the politics in Texas from the time of the "Shivercrats" in the 50's through the upheaval of campus protests in the 60's to the current landscape where Republicans occupy the majority of statewide offices. The author is an attorney who was engaged over his career in Texas in a number of lawsuits seeking equity in voting rights for minorities and in funding among public schools, among other social justice issues.

The autobiographical structure of the book provides an engaging contrast between the (potentially dry) discussion of litgation and the personal growth and escapades of the author and his rowdy and adventurous friends. The legal points are explained in terms that non-attorneys can easily grasp and the outcomes of the cases demonstrate that progess can be made, bit by bit, in dragging civilization forward to a more progessive place if you are clever and persistent and sometimes just downright lucky. It is a must read for anyone wanting to understand the political history of Texas, or for students of public affairs seeking insight into the realities of how policies are made and changed.

It is also a very enjoyable read for anyone wanting to get a feel for Austin during its best years -- when the music was great and the living was laid back. Some of the anecdotes made me laugh out loud, which is one of the greatest compliments a book can elicit from me. The fact that there is much to be learned from reading it, and that it is a delightful read to boot, earned it a 5-star rating.

How is it that Texas politics could give the country Lyndon Johnson and George W. Bush, Ralph Yarborough and Phil Gramm? When Ann Richards became governor, the prison system, the juvenile justice system, and the mental health system were all to some degree under the control of federal courts because of state defaults. After her administration, all those systems were back under state control, employment was up and crime was down--yet, she got voted out. Why?

If questions like this hold no fascination for you, pass on this book...unless you are up for a string of hilarious shaggy dog stories involving the movers and shakers and noisemakers of Texas. The acid test for humor is whether you will laugh out loud when nobody else is in the room. This book passes so clearly that you might want to take it in small doses if you are prone to aches caused by belly laughs.

The reason why a first rate academic press would publish a memoir full of political anecdotes is because those anecdotes illustrate important strategy and tactics in the struggle to drag Texas toward the 21st Century. Where is it writ that you cannot learn important things and have fun at the same time?

There are a lot of reasons to read about the recent political history of Texas. To understand the current winners in American politics and where they want to take us, you've got to understand their financial, cultural, and political lineage. Dave Richards' book about Texas from 1954 to the present is a story of the dominant conflict in America today, the war between the extreme right and the moderates. It's a cautionary and instructive tale.

Richards is one of the lawyers who changed Texas from a one-party, racist fiefdom to a two-party political moiety with a less tilted playing field for Hispanics, Blacks, students, women, nature-lovers, and other ordinary people. In 1954, Richards came of age in a segregated Texas with a poll tax and no Republican party. Conservatives voted in the Democratic primaries, maintaining the white, racist, oil-field culture's hold on the state. He and his cohorts, a coalition of Hispanic and student labor, labor unions, Blacks, and women, determined to redistribute the power. With the aid of new federal laws and the fortunate appointment of a new crop of federal judges, the populist, progressive coalition were able to solve problems that had throttled Texas for a hundred years: unrepresentative voting districts, disenfranchisement of students, censorship of the press, disenfranchisement of Blacks and Hispanics, and unequal public school financing.

There have been lasting effects of the effort to remake Texas. There is no longer a poll tax, there is a Republican party, there is desegregation, and women, Hispanics, and Blacks hold office at every level of government.

But Nixon promised to turn the Supreme Court so far right we wouldn't recognize it, and with the Reagan and Bush appointees the federal courts are no longer reliably part of the solution. The Dallas east Texas oil field crowd has prevailed again, despite all the coalition building; to read Richards' book is to follow how and why.

One familiar trick, the disenfranchisement of voters who are putative "felons," played so effectively in Florida in the year 2000 presidential election, was first pulled in Texas in 1982. That time, the trick was played long enough before the election that Richards was able to get a federal injunction requiring the withdrawal of the "felons" list and prohibiting the secretary of state from doing anything that would interfere with or violate the right to vote.

Look for this trick to return to your polling place soon. For other Texas tricks, read Richards' book, and prepare to hire good counsel, or give otiose assent to the current winners.

David Richards is a legend in Texas legal circles, and anyone looking for insight into the lone star state's political culture and history would be hard pressed to find a better introduction. Texas politics has been called a contact sport, and David Richards has been an active participant for a lifetime.

The book is filled with insider stories involving everyone from President Johnson and a string of Texas governors (including his former wife Ann Richards) to farm workers. Richards has often taken on powerful interests as a lawyer for labor unions and minorities fighting for civil rights. This is by no means a dry lawyers' casebook, however. Richards has been at the epicenter of liberal culture in Texas; a patron of the long-gone Armadillo World Headquarters and friend to artists, musicians and writers.

It is also a memoir of a leader finding balance and enjoyment in life. This is a fun, enjoyable read that personalizes the turbulent times of the last half century in Texas.

If you've ever chuckled or been provoked by a Mollie Ivins book or column, you'll want to savor this book.