Gail Collins, the best-selling author of When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, is a national columnist for the New York Times. She lives in New York City.
"There is no one like Gail Collins: uproarious fun on every page, but with a serious point. In this wonderful book she devastates Texas for its hypocrisy, its ignorance, its worship of wealth. But you cannot keep laughing as she shows how the Texan mind works a baleful influence on the rest of the country." -- Anthony Lewis "The reader who senses a touch of sarcasm would not be wrong... [Collins] has a good eye for absurd details." -- Erica Grieder - New York Times "With wit and humor, Collins focuses on major Texas figures, from Davy Crockett to Rick Perry, to offer a portrait of an outsize state anxious to take on the task of setting the rest of the country straight and of the broader implications that has for the rest of the country." -- Booklist "Gail Collins is the funniest serious political commentator in America. Reading As Texas Goes... is pure pleasure from page one." -- Rachel Maddow "There's no funnier writer about politics than Gail Collins, and in Texas, she's found the perfect canvas. The state's record at producing some of the nuttiest characters ever to enter American public life is matched only by its recent prowess in infecting the other 49 states with those politicians' most crackpot policy ideas. Collins serves up hilarity and horror in equal measure and leaves you rooting for Rick Perry to make good on his threat to lead Texas out of the Union." -- Frank Rich "New York Times columnist Collins revels in the state's 10-gallon self-regard, Alamo-inspired cult of suicidal last stands, and eccentric right-wing pols... Much like the late Texas dissident Molly Ivins, she slathers plenty of wry humor onto a critique that stings like a red-hot brand." -- Publishers Weekly "Starred review. New York Times political columnist Collins zeroes in on what makes Texas so important and why the rest of the country needs to know and care about what's happening there...A timely portrait of Texas delivered with Collins' unique brand of insightful humor." -- Kirkus Reviews "[Collins] set off on a whirlwind tour to discover the Lone Star State and its transcendent meaning, deploying a breezy, wisecracking polemical style familiar to fans (including me) of her twice--weekly column in The Times." -- Lloyd Grove - New York Times Book Review "New York Times columnist Gail Collins makes a compelling case in As Texas Goes... that much of what ails the nation began down in the Lone Star State... her larger thesis has a chilling ring of truth. Texas represents a kind of dark bellwether for the rest of the country: a two-tiered society in which the affluent rig the system in their favor while a vast underclass struggles to pay for basic services such as medical care." -- Steve Almond - Boston Globe "Collins lays out a convincing case that many of the nation's more misguided-sometimes outright wacky-policies originated in Texas, ranging from public education to environmental regulation to teaching kids about sex... Worth a read." -- Deborah Yetter - Louisville Courier-Journal
Gail Collins explores the ways that Texas has influenced the direction of national politics, education policy, and the economy during the past 50 years. From failing schools and problematic sexual education curriculums to banking and housing scandals, she illustrates how the Lone Star State has led the United States astray. Collins's most compelling feat is capturing the mentality that seems to propel much of Texas (and to varying degrees, conservative) politics. As a narrator, Collins turns in a workmanlike performance, her tone shifting between the objective, judgmental, and critical. On the whole, she keeps the production engaging, but does falter in one major way: a certain degree of disdain and condemnation permeates her voice, particularly when she makes jokes or quotes officials. While this may not be as palpable in the print edition, her narration often feels snide and is thus potentially off-putting to listeners who might have been convinced by the evidence and not the attitude. A Liveright hardcover. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
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