Tag Archives: Books
Announcing the Eighth Annual Observer Short Story Contest
Send us your stories, writers!
In “Muriel,” Wendy Lerner Lym’s 2017 Texas Observer Short Story Contest prize-winning story, the narrator spends full days watching YouTube videos and the...Read More
Chasing Tornadoes and Drama in ‘The Man Who Caught the Storm’
Dallas author Brantley Hargrove’s new biography of storm chaser Tim Samaras is a streamlined primer in tornado science — and a hell of a story.
At least he died doing what he loved. Brantley Hargrove doesn’t write a single sentence so crassly clichéd in The Man Who Caught the Storm. (He also doesn’...Read More
The Laugh Ceiling: A New Book on Women Comics Misses the Show
Hysterical! builds a big tent for women in American comedy, but stops short of looking forward at some of the most innovative work.
My reward, earlier this year, for convincing myself it would be worthwhile to find some stage time at a stand-up comedy open mic in San Francisco, was a beer th...Read More
‘Under Surveillance’ Author on the Hidden Costs of Being Watched
Randolph Lewis’ new book focuses on the “soft-tissue damage” caused by living in a surveillance state.
Photo by Ghost Presenter from Pexels There’s a moment in Under Surveillance — Randolph Lewis’ accessible, ruminative, anxiety-ridden new book on American ...Read More
‘Last Sheriff in Texas’ Tells True Story of State’s Deadliest Lawman
James P. McCollom’s "The Last Sheriff in Texas" paints the South Texas town of Beeville as a microcosm of Texas politics and policing — past, present and future.
James P. McCollom’s The Last Sheriff in Texas paints the South Texas town of Beeville as a microcosm of Texas politics and policing — past, present and futu...Read More
A New Book on Jellyfish is Filled with Wonder and Climate Change Woes
Berwald pops between scientific conferences and labs, fishes for giant jellyfish off the coast of Japan and dives with a swarm in Israel.
Jellyfish drift. It’s practically their defining feature. Many creatures have hard parts of one kind or another; jellies are 95 percent water, and look it. Th...Read More
An Observer Staff Guide to the 2017 Texas Book Festival
Seven author events our reporters and editors are excited to see....Read More
Bill McKibben’s ‘Radio Free Vermont’ Is an Activist’s Lark
Not so much plotted as rendered as a Hardy Boys caper, “Radio Free Vermont” is a fond fantasy of liberal values.
Not so much plotted as rendered as a Hardy Boys caper, “Radio Free Vermont” is a fond fantasy of liberal values....Read More
In ‘The Second Coming of the KKK,’ a Timely Lesson in the History of American Hate
Historian Linda Gordon isn’t shy about connecting the dots between the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and the resurgence of hate groups today.
Historian Linda Gordon isn’t shy about connecting the dots between the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and the resurgence of hate groups today....Read More