ustxtxb_obs_1997_05_09_50_00023-00000_000.pdf

TiF5Wki4;’,WA PUBLIC POLICY AND COMMUNITY ACTIVISM AND GOVERNANCE IN TEXAS FAi,M by Robert H. Wilson / ,ngialir4CY<: 4;' 46AIA:Azafe' 'FeCOMIO CRIME IN TEXAS N AN01611SON -iminal Justice System True Facts, Tall Tales, and Pure Fiction By Larry L. King "1-le does it all so well. He could, as they say in Washington, make a conservative cry, a liberal laugh. . . . Every page is a story, every word is a gem." from the Foreword by Jim Lehrer The essays and short stories in this volume, some previously published and others appearing in print for the first time, all bear the trademark humor and style that characterize King's hit Broadway plays, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and The Night Hank Williams Died. This collection proves once again why award-winning Larry L. King is one of America's preeminent, and funniest, essayists. Southwestern Writers Collection Series $15.95 paperback, $34.95 hardcover Your Complete Guide to the Criminal Justice System By Ken Anderson Using simple language that any citizen can understand, District Attorney and courtroom veteran Ken Anderson provides a complete overview of the criminal justice system in Texas. Anderson describes all aspects of the system including officials \(police, prosecutors, nal law, criminal punishments, victims' rights, and the juvenile system and illustrates his points with reallife stories of crime and punishment. Throughout the book, Anderson emphasizes two facts that crime prevention programs, stricter law enforcement, and increased prison space have dramatically lowered the crime rate in Texas and that citizen activism is very effective in bringing reform to the criminal justice system. $12.95 paperback, $25.00 hardcover Crime in Texas The Texas City Disaster, 1941 By Hugh W. Stephens The author draws on official reports, newspaper and magazine articles, personal letters, and interviews with several dozen survivors to provide the first full account of the Texas City explosions of 1947 America's worst industrial accident in terms of casualties. This gripping cautionary tale holds important lessons for a wide reading public. 18 b&w photos, 4 maps $16.95 paperback, $30.00 hardcover Shadowed Ground America's Landscapes of Violence.and Tragedy By Kenneth E. Foote From the battlefield at Gettysburg to the Oklahoma City block where the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building once stood, sites of violence and tragedy have left indelible marks on the American landscape. Some have become places of pilgrimage while others became empty places where nothing remains to commemorate or even to mark the occurrence. In this pioneering book, the author explores how and why Americans have memorialized or notthe sites of tragic and violent events. Foote deduces that Americans usually react to the scenes of tragedy in one of four ways. Many places undergo public sanctification, such as Memphis' Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated. Some are simply designated with a marker, while others are rectified and returned to normal use. Those that produce shame and revulsion are often obliterated and left empty. These differing reactions to sites of violence offer an important new perspective to the debate over violence in American society. 142 b&w photos $19.95 paperback, $45.00 hardcover Public Policy and Community Activism and Governance in Texas Edited by Robert H. Wilson Due to a variety of factors, lowincome citizens have long been denied a meaningful role in the public life and governance of our country. By contrast, the essays in this volume explore how lowincome citizens have successfully affected public policy. The book is built around six case studies, all from Texas, that cover education finance and reform, local infrastructure provision, environmental protection, and indigent health care. $18.95 paperback, $40.00 hardcover After the Cold War Essays on the Emerging World Order Edited by Keith Philip Leper In this book of specially commissioned essays, twenty world leaders assess the possibilities and perils of the new strategic, political, and economic interrelationships that are emerging around the world. The contributors include James A. Baker III, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, Nelson Mandela, Muammar El-Qadhafi, and Boutros Boutros-Ghali. $34.95 hardcover At bookstores, or call 800-252-3206. University of Texas Press Box 1819 'Austin, TX 18713 MAY 9, 1997 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 23