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Don Graham

Features

Alamo Heights

So much is at stake that we almost—almost—believe the release date of Disney's epic-to-be was delayed from Christmas Day to April for the reasons the studio claims. But given the way historical movies usually turn out, can you blame us for smirking? (December 2003)

The Secret History

Did Richard King cheat his partner's heirs out of a chunk of the King Ranch nearly 120 years ago? He may have—and if the Texas Supreme Court permits Chapman v. King Ranch, Inc., to go to trial, the past could come back to haunt the state's most storied spread. (December 2002)

Mission: Impossible

Rumor has it that director Ron Howard and screenwriter John Sayles are coming to Austin this spring to make a $100 million movie about the Alamo. It may be too much to ask that they get Texas' defining battle right (since no one knows what really happened), but I've got my fingers crossed—and a few friendly words of advice. (February 2002)

Writers Bloc

What did Graham Greene observe about crossing the border into Mexico in 1938? Would you believe Molly Ivins was born in California? Here are my picks for the fifty greatest literary moments in Texas, plus a roster of leading lights who are from here—and some who aren't. (May 2001)

Wayne’s World

A flood, a fire, a car accident, a murder, and of course, a restaging of the battle for Texas’ independence: scenes from the making of The Alamo. (March 2000)

Picture Perfect

Why Peter Bogdanovich filmed in black and white, who discovered Cybill Shepherd, which onetime soap opera diva read for the role of Jacy, and other secrets of the making of The Last Picture Show. (February 1999)

Unreality Bites

As ever, Texas looms large in the movies’ imagination—large and largely inaccurate. (May 1998)

Canon Fever

Our selections for some of the best contemporary Texas books. (March 1996)

Pen Pals

Dobie, Bedichek, and Webb were the leading Texas writers and intellectuals of their age. But as ribald raconteurs, they were ahead of their time. (March 1996)

Columns | Miscellany

Please Go Away

Cormac McCarthy’s ubiquity problem. (July 2008)

Dunces of Confederacy

What to do about those controversial statues on the University of Texas at Austin campus. (July 2007)

You’ve Got Mailer

The famously crotchety writer’s hate-love relationship with Texas. (November 2005)

All the Pretty Corpses

Cormac McCarthy’s latest is bloody good. (August 2005)

Mary, Quite Contrary

The awful truth about The Liars’ Club. (May 2005)

Fallen Heroes

One riot, one Ranger, one much-maligned historian: rereading Walter Prescott Webb. (February 2005)

Accentuate The Negative

To read a Patricia Highsmith novel is to suspend one’s moral judgments. She irresistibly persuades us to side with killers and other amoral characters. (November 2004)

White Like Me

Growing up in segregated Collin County, I was oblivious to the impact of Jim Crow—until I read John Howard Griffin's American classic. (August 2004)

Expatriate Act

While some Texas-born writers had to leave home to do their best work, for John Graves the reverse was true. (May 2004)

Nation State

Does anyone outside of Texas care about Texas history? H. W. Brands hopes so, and he's not the only one. (March 2004)

Not-So-Great Plains

Suzan-Lori Parks gets the culture and cadence of West Texas right, sort of; Annie Proulx doesn't. (October 2003)

Not Moving On

Fifteen years after Larry McMurtry announced he was through writing novels, he shows no sign of letting up. For this we should be thankful. (May 2003)

Master Class

No one took the literature of Texas or the Southwest seriously until J. Frank Dobie put it, and us, on the map. (January 2003)

Giant

Master of the Senate, Robert Caro's third volume on the life of Lyndon Johnson, is an exhaustive study of power, persuasion, and private parts. (May 2002)

Horseman, Pass By

Forty years after its publication, Horseman, Pass By is still one of Larry McMurtry's finest novels—and as groundbreaking as J. D. Salinger's masterpiece. (December 2001)

Donald Barthelme: The Genesis of a Cool Sound

A memoir conjures up Donald Barthelme—and sheds light on his talented siblings. (August 2001)

Knightmare

Aaron Latham's new novel about a cowboy Camelot gets lost in the bull. (April 2001)

The Pits

The problem with Mary Karr's latest confessional memoir, Cherry, is that she won't stop confessing. (October 2000)

Cotton Tale

Long before Lonesome Dove and other cattle-culture classics defined Texas for the world, Hold Autumn in Your Hand—a novel that wasn’t about cowboys or Longhorns—won critical acclaim. With good reason. (May 1999)

Katherine the Great

Indian Creek native Katherine Anne Porter is the finest author ever to come out of Texas. But only recently has her home state stopped writing her off. (May 1997)

Paradise

Larry McMurty's latest. (June 2001)

And The Earth Did Not Devour Him

. . . And the Earth Did Not Devour Him. (March 2001)

The Perfect Sonya

The Perfect Sonya. (February 2001)

A Prince of a Fellow

A Prince of a Fellow (January 2001)

Confessions of a Washed-up Sportswriter (Including Various Digressions About Sex, Crime, and Other Hobbies)

Confessions of a Washed-up Sportswriter (Including Various Digressions About Sex, Crime, and Other Hobbies.) (December 2000)

Strange Peaches

Strange Peaches. (November 2000)

Alpaca

Alpaca (October 2000)

The Western Edge

Blood Meridian. (September 2000)

A Soldier's Story

Sam Chamberlain's My Confession. (August 2000)

A Woman of Independent Means

My First Thirty Years. (July 2000)

Acting the Part

Rules for movies about music. (May 2000)

Trailblazer

The Log of a Cowboy. (April 2000)

Mission Impossible

Viva Max! (March 2000)

Stream of Consciousness

Rereading John Graves (February 2000)

Border Skirmish

Américo Paredes. (January 2000)

Reporter

Rain Man

The Time It Never Rained. (June 2000)

North Dallas Forty

Don Graham on Peter Gent. (December 1999)

O Pioneers!

Don Graham on Sallie Reynolds Matthews. (November 1999)

Mr. Texas

Don Graham doffs his hat to J. Frank Dobie. (October 1999)

Southern Discomfort

Don Graham remembers Willie Morris. (September 1999)

Beyond the Pale

Don Graham corrals Pale Horse, Pale Rider. (August 1999)

The Johnson Treatment

Don Graham rereads The Gay Place. (July 1999)

The First Picture Show

Horseman, Pass By (June 1999)

Web extras

Now That's Comedy

What's so funny about an oilman, a rancher, a golfer, and a carnival hobo? Watch the following top ten funniest Texas movies to find out why these main characters (and others) are so hilarious. (January 2002)