With humor and the biting insight of a native, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower explores the history, culture, and politics of Texas, while holding the stereotypes up for rigorous scrutiny.
God Save Texas is a journey through the most controversial state in America. It is a red state in the heart of Trumpland that hasn’t elected a Democrat to a statewide office in more than twenty years; but it is also a state in which minorities already form a majority (including the largest number of Muslims). The cities are blue and among the most diverse in the nation. Oil is still king but Texas now leads California in technology exports. The Texas economic model of low taxes and minimal regulation has produced extraordinary growth but also striking income disparities. Texas looks a lot like the America that Donald Trump wants to create. And Wright’s profound portrait of the state not only reflects our country back as it is, but as it was and as it might be.
Reviews
David Oshinsky, The New York Times Book Review (cover)
“Superb . . . [Wright’s] most personal work yet, an elegant mixture of autobiography and long-form journalism, remarkably free of elitist bias on the one hand, and pithy guidebook pronouncements on the other.”
Willard Spiegelman, The Wall Street Journal
“A love letter to a place . . . Wright writes about Texas with the fervor, knowledge, and ambivalence that comes from deep-seated familiarity.”
Michael Schaub, NPR
“Essential reading not just for Texans, but for anyone who wants to understand how one state changed the trajectory of the country . . . Wright is one of the most talented journalists Texas has ever produced, and God Save Texas is him at his best. It’s a thoughtful, beautifully written book.”
Jonah Raskin, New York Journal of Books
“Gripping . . . Whether you love Texas or hate Texas, you will likely find God Save Texas a very funny and a very informative book about a place unlike any other on the face of the earth.”
Marion Winik, Newsday
“A godsend . . . Thorough and concise . . . A brilliant analysis.”
Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times
“Vivid . . . Omnivorous . . . Affectionate and genial . . . Captures the full range of Texas in all its shame and glory . . . An illuminating primer for outsiders who may not live there but have a surfeit of opinions about those who do . . . A testament to Wright’s formidable storytelling skills…”
Cecile Richards, The Washington Post
“Compelling…timely…There is a sleeping giant in Texas, and Wright captures the frustration and the hope that reverberate across the state each time it stirs.”