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Texas
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Twentieth-Century
Texas:
A Social and Cultural History
John W. Storey
and Mary L. Kelley, eds.
((Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2008.)
Illustrated. 480 pages. Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-57441-246-8
Book Review
by Dr. Kirk Bane |
"By
the outset of the twenty-first century Texas had essentially shed
its frontier heritage, but Hollywood films, local rodeos, state fairs,
urban cowboys, dance halls, and museum exhibits still provide nostalgic
snapshots into its storied past. Even so, the image of a rural, male-dominated,
homogeneous society no longer rings true with the reality of an urban,
diverse, heterogeneous state. The social and cultural changes of the
twentieth-century-ethnic, racial, and religious diversity, changing
gender roles, environmental concerns, urban sprawl, high-tech industries,
expanding educational and philanthropic opportunities, and cultural
and artistic expression-have transformed the state, making it more
like other cosmopolitan parts of the nation. For the near future these
trends will likely continue as Texans of all stripes and backgrounds
put their stamp on the Lone Star State." So assert John W. Storey
and Mary L. Kelley in this valuable collection of essays on recent
Texas history.
Comprised of an insightful introduction and fifteen solidly researched
chapters, this is a superb anthology, scholarly, inclusive, and readable.
Lamar University professors Storey and Kelley have recruited an impressive
team of contributors. Chapters include Gerald Betty's "Manifestations
of the Lone Star: The Search for Indian Sovereignty," Anthony Quiroz's
"The Quest for Identity and Citizenship: Mexican Americans in Twentieth-Century
Texas," Cary D. Wintz's "The Struggle for Dignity: African Americans
in Twentieth-Century Texas," Angela Boswell's "From Farm to Future:
Women's Journey through Twentieth-Century Texas," Storey's "Pagodas
amid the Steeples: The Changing Religious Landscape," Ralph A. Wooster's
"Over Here: Texans on the Home Front," Gary Hartman's "From Yellow
Roses to Dixie Chicks: Women and Gender in Texas Music History," Mark
Busby's "Goodbye Ol' Paint, Hello Rapid Transit: Texas Literature
in the Twentieth-Century," Don Graham's "Lone Star Cinema: A Century
of Texas in the Movies," Michael R. Grauer's "Wider Than the Limits
of Our State: Texas Art in the Twentieth-Century," Bill O'Neal's "The
Games Texans Play," Kelley's "Private Wealth, Public Good: Texans
and Philanthropy," Gene B. Preuss' "Public Schools Come of Age," Tai
Kreidler's "Lone Star Landscape: Texans and Their Environment," and
"The Second Texas Revolution: From Cotton to Genetics and the Information
Age" by Kenneth E. Hendrickson and Glenn M. Sanford. What a splendid
collection of articles.
While every essay deserves reading, the contribution on movies and
Texas by Dr. Graham, J. Frank Dobie Regents Professor of American
and English Literature at the University of Texas, is especially enlightening,
opinionated, and entertaining. (I suppose this betrays my intense
interest in motion pictures!) The first films shot in the state were
Edison newsreels which captured the devastation of the
Great Storm at Galveston in September 1900. "Oddly," Graham observes,
"the image of Texas in the movies began with a documentary of a disaster,
not with the soundless puffs of smoke from blazing six-guns." Moreover,
he offers perceptive commentary on early western movies and films
about the Alamo,
the first of which, The Immortal Alamo, was shot at San
Antonio's Star Film Ranch in 1911. Assessing John Wayne's 1960
version, Graham declares that "nobody is likely to argue that this
film is remarkable in any sense except its great running time and
Wayne's presence-which is considerable. The film is didactic and filled
with historical bloopers." The most "iconic" Texas pictures, "the
ones that most powerfully defined the state as a mythic site," he
contends, are Red River (1948), Giant (1956), Hud
(1963), and The Last Picture Show (1971), which acted "as a
coda on the Big Three." According to Professor Graham, "no Texas films
before or afterwards, are as rich as these, though some academics
would plump for John Sayles' Lone Star (1996)." He points out,
however, that "in a century of Texas in the movies the state has changed
drastically, and many of its regional characteristics seem to have
largely disappeared…With 82 percent of its population residing in
cities and suburbs, and with its steady influx of citizens from other
parts of the U.S., the Texas that is seen in films like Red River,
Giant, and The Last Picture Show seems to belong to
another age." Also intriguing is Dr. Graham's consideration of the
movies released in the aftermath of the JFK assassination in Dallas.
These include Dr. Strangelove (1964), Billion Dollar Brain
(1967), and Executive Action (1973), which portrayed Texans
"as dangerous buffoons, rightwing fanatics, and threats to American
democracy."
Every student of Lone Star history should read Twentieth-Century Texas;
it is a commendable compilation, skillfully assembled and thoughtfully
written.
Review by Dr. Kirk Bane (Blinn College, Bryan campus)
October 3, 2014
More Book Reviews by Dr. Kirk Bane |
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