The Texas Observer’s Best Longform Stories of 2021
We collected some of our best magazine stories published this year.
Texas Observer Staff
Articles by Texas Observer Staff
The Observer Recommends 10 Texas Books of 2021
From correcting the record on racism and Texas history, to queer love on the border, to the #MeToo movement in federal courts, we rounded up some of our favorite books this year.
Envisioning the Effects of Big Oil and Gas Along the Texas Coast
These images imagine how forthcoming LNG facilities in Texas will take over the land.
Portraits of the Pandemic
The third installment of our series following ordinary Texans through extraordinary times.
2021 Texas Lege in Review: Red Meat, Broken Promises, and More of the Same Old Shit
Texas Republicans proved too busy burnishing their far-right bona fides to attend to minor matters like lethal winter storms and mass incarceration.
The Lege This Week: Bitterness and Brinkmanship
Amid the theatrics that consumed the final full week of session, lawmakers still haven’t finalized much of their already-lackluster winter storm response.
The Lege This Week: For Whom the Bill Tolls
The Texas House reached a critical deadline in rather anticlimactic fashion as dozens of bills hit the killing floor. But Republicans have already got most of what they wanted this session.
The Lege This Week: Texas House Passes Budget, Republicans Again Reject Medicaid Expansion
And a bipartisan group in the House introduces a “Smarter Justice” initiative that’s “hardly transformative.”
The Lege This Week: Elections and Abortions and Grid-Reforms, Oh My!
As the Legislature’s pace quickens, lawmakers advance “election integrity” crackdowns, attacks on abortion rights, and reforms in response to the deadly blackouts.
Portraits of the Pandemic: Part Two
Ordinary stories from an extraordinary year.