Promotional Information
* collects Cartwright's best TEXAS MONTHLY articles from the 1980s
and 1990s, along with 1 new essay * Cartwright's "portraits of
tarnished icons, breezy individualists and outright lowlifes add up
to a gallery of contemporary Texas outlaws" * Cartwright has been a
writer since the 1950s with scores of newspaper pieces as well as
magazine articles (ESQUIRE, HARPER'S, ROLLING STONE, SATURDAY
REVIEW) and books embracing many genres: novel (THE HUNDRED-YARD
WAR), crime reporting (BLOOD WILL TELL; DIRTY DEALING), essay
anthology (CONFESSIONS OF A WASHED-UP SPORTSWRITER), history
(GALVESTON), self-help (HEARTWISEGUY)
Table of Contents
- Foreword by Robert Draper
- Acknowledgments
- 1. 1963: My Most Unforgettable Year. The gravity of that
strangest of years when JFK was assassinated in my neighborhood
weighs on everything I've written.
- 2. Back Home: Why I Had to Leave Texas, and Why I Had to Come
Back
- 3. The Snootiest Neighborhood in Texas. During its heyday, the
King William District was full of rich eccentrics, well-bred
clubwomen, nosy neighbors, and a few stray chickens. Today it's
pretty much the same.
- 4. Meet the Binions. You won't believe how the children of the
notorious Dallas gambler and racketeer Benny Binion made a mess out
of his legacy.
- 5. The Sting. Instead of rooting out corruption at NASA, the
FBI exposed its own ruthlessness.
- 6. Touch Me, Feel Me, Heal Me!: Exposing Psychic Surgery, or
the Case of the Smoking Panties
- 7. The Bad Brother. Matt Johnson and Ernie McMillan were
leaders of the old Black Power crowd in Dallas. They preached
revolution and went to jail. Fifteen years later, Ernie was wiser
and tougher, and Matt was dead.
- 8. Gila Hell. There we were, deep in the meanest, roughest
country in the Southwest, and an 83-year-old fanatic was our
leader.
- 9. The Innocent and the Damned. In 1992 Fran and Dan Keller
were sent to prison for sexually abusing a child in their suburban
Austin day care center. But parents have convinced themselves that
the couple are guilty of much worse. They believe the Kellers
belong to a cult that tortured and brainwashed their kids and
turned them into Satan's slaves.
- 10. The Longest Ride of His Life: How the Dallas Police Nearly
Murdered Randall Adams
- 11. Turn Out the Lights: Dallas Cowboys Old-Timers Reunion. I
left the Dallas Cowboys old-timers reunion wondering why Don
Meredith didn't show up, whether Tom Landry deserved his reputation
as a coaching genius, and where America's Team went wrong.
- 12. "I Was Mandarin . . ." Did Dallas policeman Roscoe White
pull the trigger on President Kennedy, or was he pulling our
leg?
- 13. How to Have Great Sex Forever. Viagra may put new life into
your old equipment, but it's up to you to keep the romance
alive.
- 14. The Last Roundup. Out in the Trans-Pecos two ranches are
fighting a new kind of range war to answer the question: Can a
ranch keep its soul and make money too?
- 15. A Star Is Reborn: Kris Kristofferson. Hollywood was buzzing
about Kris Kristofferson's powerful performance in Lone Star. But
after two decades of highs and lows the Brownsville native knew
better than to let success go to his head—again.
- 16. The Real Deal Meets the Real Meal: Holyfield vs. Foreman.
This match really was a fight for the ages.
- 17. "Nothing to It": The Life and Death of My Son Mark. That
was my son Mark's favorite expression, and it perfectly defined his
upbeat, self-assured personality—even in his last days battling
leukemia.
- 18. Willie at 65: Willie Nelson's at the Peak of His Game. What
do the years do to a rebel? Sometimes they make him even even
wilder. The Red Headed Stranger long ago went gray, but his
passion—for music, the road, and life—hasn't gone cold.
About the Author
Gary Cartwright (1934–2017) was a Senior Editor at Texas Monthly
in Austin.
Reviews
"Gary Cartwright has long been an important Texas writer, one of
the finest journalists the state has ever produced, and all of his
strengths are on vivid display in this collection." --Stephen
Harrigan