Books
‘Trust Me’ Tackles Politics, Power, and Perception
The 30 Best Texas Books of The Decade, from Amarillo to Utopia
As you scramble for a holiday gift or ponder what you’d like to peruse by the fire, we’ve got 10 years of Texas books to suggest.
The twists and turns of these 30 Texas novels, nonfiction narratives, and other works published between January 2010 and December 2019 reveal undercurrents that...Read More
A World Without Immigrant Prisons
Law professor and author César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández wants you to believe it’s possible.
“I imagine a future that looks more like United States history than United States present. I imagine a future in which immigration prisons do not exist.” Th...Read More
Two New Books Explore the Limits of the #MeToo Movement in Texas and Beyond
Two years after women started speaking out and revealing powerful predators, are too many Texas secrets still locked away in a “whisper network”?
In 2017, women nationwide began sharing painful and personal stories of harassment and abuse in what became known as the #MeToo movement—starting a national c...Read More
I’ve Lived in East Austin for 60 Years, and I Don’t Recognize it Anymore
As gentrification reshapes my neighborhood, I fear we’re losing something of real value to our city.
As the cost of living in Texas’ cities continues to climb, gentrification is reshaping neighborhoods across the state. These changes might be starkest in East...Read More
American Cities Weren’t Revitalized by the White ‘Creative Class.’ Immigrants Made Them Great.
Barrio America weaves together several strands of urban studies to tell a story that transcends what might seem like irrevocable barriers of race and class.
In the 1960s, the Chicago neighborhood of South Lawndale—also known as Little Village—was one of the country’s most extreme examples of white flight. Pro-...Read More
Short Story Contest Winner: ‘Dear Mr. Gottlieb’
Alan Sincic’s story is a searing indictment of corporate America.
The winning entry in our ninth annual short story contest is unlike anything I’ve ever read. Alan Sincic’s “Dear Mr. Gottlieb” is written in an absurdis...Read More
Author William Lopez on How Immigration Raids Inflict Long-Lasting Trauma
“There are 364 other days in the year when people’s lives are shaped by the possibility of deportation or a raid.”
On a cold Thursday morning in November 2013, Santiago (a pseudonym) was leaving his apartment on the top floor of an auto repair shop in Washtenaw County, Michi...Read More
An Observer Staff Guide to the 2019 Texas Book Festival
It’s an embarrassment of riches.
The 24th annual Texas Book Festival, happening this Saturday and Sunday in downtown Austin, is expected to draw approximately 50,000 curious readers to hear fro...Read More
A Bold New Memoir Struggles to Reconcile Faith and Feminism
Cameron Dezen Hammon’s memoir asks how many ways there are to be a Christian woman—and explores the sexism deeply embedded in evangelical churches.
When Cameron Dezen Hammon first becomes a Christian at age 26, she tries to make sense of historical conflicts like the Crusades. How can God be good when his h...Read More
