Nancy Nusser
In ‘Houston on the Move,’ the Bayou City Wakes Up
A pictorial history of Houston as it transformed, over and over again, between the 1930s and the 1990s.
A new book provides a pictorial history of Houston as it transformed, over and over again, between the 1930s and the 1990s. Read More
‘A History of Violence,’ a Plea for the Comprehension of Terror
Salvadoran journalist Óscar Martínez’s harrowing new book is a plea for comprehension of the terror that drives people from Central America to the U.S. Read More
The Interview: Anthony Graves
Life after death row and the search for justice.
Graves spent 18 years in prison, 12 on death row. Now that his former prosecutor has been disbarred, Graves talks about forgiveness and life going forward. Read More
Captive Genius
From the isolation of a psych ward, Mexican immigrant Martín Ramírez became a 20th century master.
From the isolation of a psych ward, Mexican immigrant Martín Ramírez became a 20th century master. The content of Ramírez’s drawings shows that he was driven by a strong need for expression, communication, and recognition. Read More
Five Books We Loved in 2015
The Observer’s criteria for book reviews is intentionally vague, so we can include anything with a connection to Texas that’s well worth reading. In 2015, Observer reviews covered fiction, essays, poetry, politics, economics, sociology — even cooking. Here are our five favorite books we reviewed in 2015. Read More
‘Don’t Suck, Don’t Die,’ Kristin Hersh’s Raw, Post-Mortem Plea
The book is a love letter between friends and a raw, post-mortem plea, all the more wrenching for its futility. Hersh writes:“We all tried to keep you talking, because shutting up is shutting down, and we were already a little lonely knowing how close you were to checking out.” Read More
Returning Southern Cuisine to the Women Who Created It
In 'The Jemima Code,' Toni Tipton-Martin introduces readers to the African-American women who created Southern cooking.
In The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks, Tipton-Martin describes Southern cooking as a fusion of African, European and Caribbean cooking created by blacks but credited to white people. Read More