Trillin on Texas

March 28, 2011
These 18 previously-published articles, many seen originally in The New Yorker, deal with the state to which Trillin's paternal grandparents emigrated only a few years into the 20th century, and tackle food, politics, crime, literature, and several other subjects. "By Meat Alone" deals with barbecue in general and Snow's BBQ in Lexington in particular, named the Lone Star state's top barbecue joint in 2008 by Texas Monthly. "In central Texas," Trillin writes, "you don't hear a lot of people talking about the piquancy of a restaurant's sauce or the tastiness of its beans; discussions are what a scholar of the culture might call meat-driven." Pieces on Texas politicians continue to carry weight: "The Dynasticks," "If the Boot Fitsâ¦" and "Presidential Ups and Downs," about former presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, will arguably be relevant forever. The same can not be said of "Mystery Money," about two teen-age boys who find half a million dollars, which fizzles despite promise; written in 1984, it now feels slight. The disappointments are rare, however, and these essays will impress Texans and non-Texans alike.

March 1, 2011

A collection of 18 essays, observations, pronouncements and musings on life and folks in Texas.

The earliest piece dates from 1970 and focuses on Lee Otis Johnson, a black community organizer and militant who was convicted of giving one marijuana cigarette to an undercover police officer and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. (One of the contexts of this judicial decision is that the judge's son had been convicted on a marijuana charge and been given two years' probation.) New Yorker contributor Trillin (About Alice, 2006, etc.) sensitively probes the racial situation in Houston that led to this outrage. Although he maintains the stance of an objective reporter, it's clear he's intent on exposing the inherent inequity of the system. "New Cheerleaders," a piece dating from 1971, examines the changing racial makeup of Crystal City High School and how that change impacted (among other things) the Anglo understanding that only one of the four cheerleaders would be Mexican-American, a revision that was the result of organizer José Angel Gutiérrez shaking up the local community. Some of Trillin's pieces are short and funny (on George W. Bush's mangled syntax, for example, and whether it's traceable to the wearing of cowboy boots), while others are short and moving, especially the tribute to Molly Ivins that Trillin composed as her eulogy upon her death in 2007. The longest essay scrutinizes the rise and fall of John Bloom (aka Joe Bob Briggs), whose reviews of splatter films and outrageous racial comments divided Dallas in the 1980s.

Whatever the subject—whether "high" or "low"—Trillin writes exquisitely.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

March 1, 2011
In the 15 years he covered the U.S. for the New Yorker, Trillin wrote often of Texas, its cuisine, culture, and outrageous politics. It turns out that his Russian immigrant family spent some time in Texas, having been bounced out of a New York ostensibly overcrowded with Russian immigrant Jews. That was a good enough excuse for Trillin to assemble his best writing on a state that never fails to fascinate. Trillin samples the quirkiness of Texas by sojourning to the best barbecue joint in the state, according to Texas Monthly, and scouting for rare books with Larry McMurtry. Trillin ponders the political ambitions and challenged syntax of the Bush family, tells a fantastic tale of two teenage boys arrested with money they found that may have been linked to drug trading, charts the rising political ambitions of Mexican Americans, and discusses legendarily rough Texas justice. He includes tributes to Texas icons Molly Ivins and Sissy Farenthold. Readers from Texas and elsewhere will enjoy Trillins witty style and sharp observations.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)