Texas

Résumé

Michener's latest combination of mam moth research, history, and fiction ex udes all the color, courage, villainy, vi olence, and independent spirit expect ed from the Lone Star state. The book's organizing principle is a governor's task force created to study the state. It is composed of stereotypical Texans: oil man, rancher, genteel descendant of Southern aristocracy, Chicano, etc. Their ancestors are Texasevery one an adventurer, from a Spanish mission ary to Scots-Irish and Germans hungry for land and freedom, to a minister sent to civilize Comanches, to Mexican ban dits and Texas Rangers. Interspersed among these sagas are task force meet ings in various Texas cities to study lo cal geography and natural historya far more accessible approach than pre vious Michener tomes that lump them in heavy opening chapters. Purists may object to the overabundance of dramat ic incidents, but they make exciting reading. Highly recommended. Cyn thia Johnson Wheall er, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, Mass.