This Texas Traditions Series reprint takes us back to the Lone Star
State during the Cold War at the beginning of the 1960s. The
postwar generation is in a frenzy of high living and profligate
spending. Big Texas oil is still subsidized by a federal depletion
allowance and cattle still account for much of the state's wealth.
But these longtime mainstays of Texas finance are giving way to
transistors and computers. A new millionaire class is growing up
around business mergers and electronic technology. The characters
in Shrake's novel are caught in this brave new world in one way or
another. Some are the princes of prosperity; others are victims of
it. This is a world of lobbyists, merger lawyers, small-time
politicos, sons of oil money, and the women who cheer them on or
worry about their souls. In the opening section of the novel, we
visit the Texas Gulf Coast and see the machinations of Sam Guthrie
and Waddy Morris Jr. as they attempt to take over a rival
technology company. Back in Dallas, idealistic attorney Ben
Carpenter moves to thwart the Guthrie/Morris takeover. Then we move
to Fort Worth and attend the drunken party given in honor of Ben
Carpenter's thirtieth birthday. The party moved to Mexico on Cadmus
Wilkins's bus where everyone has to confront his or her inner self.
And some are found wanting. The several vignettes of the novel
paint an accurate picture of Texas as it moves into the urban era
and as its middle class began deserting the old verities and
tasting what were once forbidden pleasures. Shrake is a first-rate
stylist who knows how the upper half lives.
General
Imprint: |
Texas Christian University Press,U.S.
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
Texas Tradition Series |
Release date: |
July 2000 |
First published: |
July 2000 |
Authors: |
Edwin T. Shrake
|
Foreword by: |
Dan Jenkins
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 28mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
378 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-87565-233-7 |
Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
General & literary fiction >
Modern fiction
|
LSN: |
0-87565-233-6 |
Barcode: |
9780875652337 |
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