God Save Texas: A Review
EVERY TEXAN SHOULD HAVE THIS BOOK IN THEIR LIBRARY!!
God Save Texas is a book written by Lawrence Wright. He has written for the Dallas Observer, Texas Monthly, The New Yorker, he has published a number of books both fiction and non-fiction, the guy is pretty established. This review is divided in two parts, I first talk about the documentary, and I later lean into the book.
The Documentary:
I recently within the last 6 months completed the God Save Texas Documentary, which he produced. Each episode was directed by Texans that are native to the film’s locations, which truly makes it authentic. My favorite episode was “The Price of Oil” which takes place in a Huston Suburb because I really related to it living in the deeper Southern region. Many Texans also live in oil field country, or have family working these plants, they suffer the consequences of the profit. It covered a predominantly working-class Black Neighborhood who has suffered at the hands of things like Environmental Racism. Many people chuckle at me when I mention it, but it’s a very real thing. The mood often shifts when they find out they are victims of it. Enviromental racism doesn’t just affect ethnic minorities, but those in poverty, like in Laredo, or the Rio Grande Valley, Hell, even College Station suffers from oil fumes. I will say at first, I was not a big fan of the Frontera episode, but that is not to say it did not make me cry. I felt like the Frontera issues are a little deeper than they displayed, though reflecting on it, I am glad they kept it simple. There is a lot of negative connotations that come with being Latin American and existing on the border. If you’re not careful it can give viewers the wrong impression. I absolutely loved the documentary, there is also an episode about the prison industrial complex in Texas, I won’t talk about or spoil more of this documentary, but it was very eye opening to me. I bring it up in conversation fairly often now. The documentary made me want to buy the book and inspired me to write about my struggles as a Texan on here.
The Book:
The book and the documentary cover Texas history and current issues; however, the book dives deeper into it from the perspective of Wright, covering interviews, Texan personalities, popular events, as well as his own experiences. The man is a true patriot. Lawrence lived though most of what he wrote, which made me appreciate the book much more.
Wright talks about a once blue Texas, he covers the effects of the oil fields throughout the years, current events, anything Texan, you name it. He talks about Texan Presidents like LBJ and his beef with the Kennedys (they can never make me hate you LBJ) Lawrence even writes about his short-lived acquainted relationship with George W. Bush, and I really like the way he humanized Bush despite the fact the ex-president is essentially a war criminal. He talks about the alt right in Texas from Alex Jones douchebaggery to science denying teachers running for office to influence education.
There is this one chapter that I found Hilarious “Sausage Makers” There is this one excerpt that talks about a man named Rob Morrow and boy, is he a character! The author wrote that Morrow influenced one of Trumps tweets with a book called “The Clintons' War on Women” and shortly after Rob Morrow stood outside a Texas Rally holding a sign stating Trump is a Pedophile. Is that not GOLD?! If you are a conspiracy theorist and followed some of Pizza Gate, this can’t not be hilarious. I also found out we have some Texan politicians in Dancing with the Stars found, is that not bizarre? This book obviously has a lot more Texas chisme/tea than what I mentioned on politicians, influencers, and companies.
Ultimately, I think Lawrence’s point is that Texas has a huge influence on this nation and it’s far from perfect when we struggle to tackle things like clean water, cleaner air, replace or repair infrastructure such as pipes, not having enough public resources to tackle mental health or homelessness, the list goes on. Texas is growing at such a fast pace but can’t keep up despite having the time to prepare for this. We invest into the wrong things, for example we have slowly been investing less and less into education over the years. On average Texas spends about 18 billion dollars less on public schools despite being one of the nation’s most populous states.
The entire God Save Texas Series from the movie to the book, it left me in awe. Despite all the wonderful and awful things, us Texans endure this series gave me a lot of hope. It does not always feel this way, but there is a collective of people out here and they are here trying to be the change they want to see in the world. This series is proof of that. May GOD save us, may we save ourselves.