AltWeeklies Wire
Johnny Rico's Second Book Uses the Border Reality as its Shticknew
Border Crosser is the account of Rico's attempt to illegally cross from Mexico into the United States in the summer of 2007. Physically and mentally, Rico is woefully unprepared for the task he has assigned himself. Nevertheless, he sets out with testosterone-fueled arrogance and a naive, fetishized view of the border-crossing experience.
The Texas Observer |
Kirk Forrester |
10-14-2009 |
Nonfiction
'Cheap' Tackles the Fraught Practice of Buying and Selling Cheap Goodsnew
For its catchy title and relatively few pages, Cheap is a weighty book. Shell reveals the dizzying connections between price and poverty, using statistics, historical accounts, and scientific and sociological explanations. She spent two years doing research, traveling to Sweden, the birthplace of IKEA, and China, "factory to the world."
The Texas Observer |
C.B. Evans |
09-23-2009 |
Nonfiction
The Unexpected Angles and Concluding Twists in 'Mirrors' Keep Readers Hookednew
Galeano regales us with tales from our shared history in an inclusive manner, from cultural creation myths to major historical figures and inventions to significant current events. It is a truism that history is written by the victors; what if, Galeano seems to ask, history were told instead by the vanquished, the oppressed and the downtrodden of all cultures and times?
The Texas Observer |
Liliana Valenzuela |
08-26-2009 |
Nonfiction
'All My Bones Shake' Explains Robert Jensen's Personal, Alternative Theologynew
Jensen would redefine Christian religion to help himself lead a good life as a socially and politically aware human who believes and practices Jensenist Christianity. But it is difficult to call what he is doing "religion."
The Texas Observer |
Tom Palaima |
08-26-2009 |
Nonfiction
'A Saint on Death Row' is an Intervention in Public Memorynew
Thomas Cahill catalogs every disgraceful aspect of Dominique Green's experience with the justice system. His larger mission, though, is to examine the changes Green underwent after receiving his death sentence -- his transformation from a troubled teenager into what Cahill calls "a fully achieved human being."
The Texas Observer |
Todd Moye |
08-12-2009 |
Nonfiction
'That Infernal Little Cuban Republic' Dissects the Shared History of Cuba and Americanew
Lar Schoultz focuses on the Castro years, which he reconstructs in impressive detail, fleshing out such well-known events as the doomed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion with eye-opening depth. Better yet, often-glossed questions are aired with the fullness of Schoultz's four decades of wrestling with the Cuba question. Still, there's something missing.
The Texas Observer |
Mike Kanin |
08-12-2009 |
Nonfiction
'Catching Fire' Can Be Boldly Essentialist ... Perhaps Too Boldly Essentialistnew
Since the 1950s, scientists have hypothesized that the key factor bringing our ancestors down from the trees was the decision to eat meat. In this persuasively argued book, Richard Wrangham disagrees. Instead, he writes, it was the decision to cook with fire that literally made us human.
The Texas Observer |
James E. McWilliams |
07-15-2009 |
Nonfiction
New Barthelme Biography Casts Light on a 'Hiding Man'new
Tracy Daugherty has dug deeply into the work and life of Donald Barthelme, and returned from his excavations with bright nuggets of insight into just how precisely Barthelme's life does illuminate his art.
The Texas Observer |
David Theis |
06-03-2009 |
Nonfiction
For John Gibler, the Conquest of Mexico Never Ended and Neither Did the Revoltsnew
Part journalistic travelogue, part political manifesto, Mexico Unconquered recounts some of the more bewildering revolts and upheavals that have roiled Southern Mexico from the turn of the 20th century through contemporary times.
The Texas Observer |
Liliana Valenzuela |
05-13-2009 |
Nonfiction
You Have the Right to Sue. Right?new
The American citizen’s access to trial by jury—taken for granted as it is—plays a salutary role in curbing corporate abuse. It should be no surprise that such access is under attack, or that the battle reached a fever pitch during the Bush years.
The Texas Observer |
Dave Richards |
03-12-2009 |
Nonfiction
'Dynamite Club' Revisits the Bomb Heard 'round the Worldnew
John Merriman examines how an 1894 anarchist bombing in Paris kicked off the age of modern terrorism, and what we stand to learn from the bomber.
The Texas Observer |
Tom Palaima |
01-16-2009 |
Nonfiction
'Slavery by Another Name' Examines Post-Civil War Convict Labornew
Douglas Blackmon argues -- passionately, forcefully and convincingly -- that by any measure, blacks in the states of the former Confederacy saw their freedom so warped and constrained in the decades after the Civil War that the overwhelming majority were not in any meaningful way free.
The Texas Observer |
Todd Moye |
12-17-2008 |
Nonfiction
'The Big Rich' Covers Almost a Century of Texas Oilnew
For those with an interest in contemporary Texas history this is a must-read; indeed, its reach stretches well beyond Texas. The oil rich of Texas loomed large on the national horizon, and there was a time that if they pawed the earth, politicians trembled.
The Texas Observer |
Dave Richards |
12-03-2008 |
Nonfiction
'Guilty' Examines Arab Bashing on the Big Screennew
Six years into a costly war fought on Arab soil, one might expect American media to demonize the enemy, rationalizing the necessity of killing and maiming hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians. But perhaps because of popular revulsion at the war, Shaheen finds cause for hope.
The Texas Observer |
Steven G. Kellman |
12-03-2008 |
Nonfiction
Diane Wilson's Memoir of Her Fundamentalist Upbringing is a Delightnew
Holy Roller: Growing Up in the Church of the Knock Down, Drag Out; Or, How I Quit Loving a Blue-Eyed Jesus describes Wilson's Pentecostal upbringing in a tiny fishing town in Texas, where residents were ruled by poverty, labor, elaborate religious mores, and corrupt authorities.
The Texas Observer |
Emily DePrang |
11-06-2008 |
Nonfiction
