As Texas Goes...: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda

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As Texas Goes...: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda

3.74 of 5 stars 3.74 · rating details · 414 ratings · 130 reviews

Not until she visited Texas,
that proud state of big oil and bigger ambitions, did Gail Collins, the
best-selling author and columnist for the New York Times, realize that she had missed the one place that mattered most in
America’s political landscape. Raised in Ohio, Collins had previously seen the
American fundamental divide as a war between the Republican heartla...more

Hardcover, 288 pages

Published June 4th 2012 by Liveright (first published January 1st 2012)

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May 27, 2012 Lindsay rated it 3 of 5 stars

If you pick up Gail Collins’s new book hoping for a Seamus the Dog reference, you might be disappointed.

The author and New York Times columnist is best known of late for her running gag of inserting a reference to Seamus into each of her columns, but Collins has long had other interests.

Her latest work is As Texas Goes: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda. With a title like that, you can understand that there would be precious little space to devote to the time Mitt Romney drove...more

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Dec 05, 2012 Tyler rated it 4 of 5 stars

Unless you want to be thought of as a commodity like a palate of car parts, we best start thinking of our policies from a non-free market approach.
This book is a painful look at the ways Texas has set the US on the wrong course for so many policies. Privatize everything and corporations will fill that vacuum and ruin your life. The corporations want you to buy everything from them so they are funding this free-market takeover of the government. Texas doesn't want any government help but facts s...more

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Jun 23, 2012 Wanda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well, I lived in Texas for 19 of the most miserable of my 66 years. Native Yankees who are not sorority sisters, who value education and who are unreligious feminists do not transfer well to these open spaces. Everything that Collins describes about Texas in this book is oh so true. For those who want "facts" -- well they are legion in this book. In fact there is a well referenced notes section and a bibliography (that contains both material from the left and right positions of our political spe...more Well, I lived in Texas for 19 of the most miserable of my 66 years. Native Yankees who are not sorority sisters, who value education and who are unreligious feminists do not transfer well to these open spaces. Everything that Collins describes about Texas in this book is oh so true. For those who want "facts" -- well they are legion in this book. In fact there is a well referenced notes section and a bibliography (that contains both material from the left and right positions of our political spectrum. There is also an appendix that ranks Texas on multiple indicators. This index is not a leftist document. It is compiled yearly IN TEXAS. Such gems include (50th = lowest, 1st = highest) 2nd in birth rate, 1st in CO2 emissions, 1st in toxic chemicals released into water, 43rd in high school graduation rate, 1st in uninsured children, 4th in children living in poverty, 50th (dead last) in per capita spending on mental health care, 50th in Workers Compensation Coverage. This is just a small sampling. I could go on. But get the book and be as appalled and distressed as I was.
Collins thesis is that Texas has a disproportionate amount of influence over the national agenda. In some of the chapters, she is persuasive. In some she is less so. I was less than persuaded by the financial deregulation chapter. There is plenty of blame to go around on that one that is not limited to Texas and its S&L difficulties. Ditto the global warming issue and the abstinence only education. But the textbook wars are well known and it is no secret that textbook publishers are held captive by what the yahoos in Texas dictate to them. As they know well down there, money talks. I would argue that Texas does not set the agenda, rather it reflects what is going on in much of the country, and that is that southern states that are the most religiously conservative, are also social darwinists, ruthless, and least interested in education of any kind. Texas is only one of those, not unique, but perhaps the one with the biggest and most outsized ego.
Also, I have to wonder. If Texas was all THAT influential in setting the agenda for the rest of the country, then why the crash and burn of their nitwit governor who possibly ran the worst presidential campaign in history and slunk back to the Lone Star state with his tail between his legs? Perhaps my logic is flawed, but it seems to me that they would have run someone smarter, slicker, less repulsive, and gotten a lot further in the race if they were so inclined to influence the national debate.
She points out the legacy of and the ongoing presence of racism, and the dwindling of the white population. Texas will be an overwhelmingly Latino state shortly, but is still controlled by white men. White Christian men.
Collins does a great job of debunking the Texas miracle, which has happened by keeping wages of poor Latino workers as low as possible, throwing regulation of the environment down the toilet, depriving people of health care, and importing brain power from other states.
There is no surprise here. If you keep people uneducated and oppressed and you act like China with your environment, you too will prosper.
She peppers the book with the colorful cast of characters, who could exist and prosper nowhere but in Texas. These guys (and they are USUALLY guys) are amusing until you realize that they are not all that funny. They are disingenuous at best and often dangerous -- DeLay, Armey, the Bushes, the Gramms, etc. She does a great job with her themes of illusory open spaces in a sprawling urban state, and pokes a huge deflating finger in the myth of the hapless Alamo. She is right, it is underwhelming. Having lived in Midland - I agree -- there is absolutely nothing to do. No, wait. If you are a woman, you can meet with your sorority sisters from SMU (even though you are 45 years out of college). You could also go to lunch and belong to the Junior League (reference to The Help for a thorough explanation of that phenomenon). Although I was not altogether persuaded by her thesis, the book is fun and should be read by anyone who is open minded to what unfettered capitalism has wrought in a single state. I suspect that there are equally dismal places, such as Mississippi and Louisiana to name but a few, but they don't have the outsized swagger, ego and sheer chutzpah of Texas. What other state with such dismal rankings would obfuscate reality and float the propoganda of exceptionalism that Texas does? THAT is the real story in this book. Way to go Collins.(less)

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Apr 22, 2013 pjreads ♫ rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

***** Goodreads giveaway *****

Texas: government of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations with the heaviest tax burden on the poorest to get more government money for corporations.

Texas: Home of Tea Partiers who hate communism but do wishful-thinking science & math like the USSR, fanatically toe the party-line like the USSR, believe their own propaganda like the USSR, and who will never recognize that they're imitating the USSR's fall because they believe St. Ronald s...more

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Feb 19, 2013 Melinda rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found this informative and thorough, but it also made me want to check the author's statistics and facts. She comes across as less-obviously biased; this is not a pure polemic. But it's pretty close, intended to poke fun at Texas as a means of getting her message across: she believes government should do a lot more than it is currently doing, and she thinks the open-spaces-low-regulation viewpoint is getting in the way of progress. I liked her clarity and the examples she chose to illustrate p...more

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Dec 30, 2012 April Reynolds rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This author though her writings are not yellow journalism they are very bias. She makes a lot of good points but is very Anti-Texas. She does not put into the book the good things that have been brought about by the political fare in Texas. My self born and raised in Oklahoma have lived in many states and I too am biased to many of them. I have lived in Texas and could not have felt more safe in any other place. though i did live in a small town at the time. Because of their fierce laws Crime is...more

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Dec 16, 2012 Sam rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history

Gail Collins never fails to collect a network of facts and anecdotes with which to build ironic and delicious skewers for some of her less-than-fortunate subjects. In As Texas Goes..., Collins undermines the myths and might of the Lone Star State in the age of Bush and Perry, with plenty of barbs for the curious characters have Gone To Texas since its audacious independence in the 19th century.

In education, economic development, the environment, health care, politics, and social equality, Collin...more

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Aug 27, 2012 Stacy Bearse rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction

A snarky look at the economic and social contradiction that is the state of Texas, birthplace of the ultra-conservative Tea Party movement which is permeating the GOP. Business is booming in Texas, thanks to a skewed tax structure and lax regulation. On the other hand, its industrial areas have the dirtiest air and water in the country. Texas' leaders abhor the Federal Affordable Care Act, yet the Lone Star State has the highest percentage of uninsured children in the nation (one-third of adult,...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Jeannie and Louis Rigod rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was attracted to this particular book when Gail Collins, the author, made an appearance talking about it on MSNBC news cable shows. She spoke of the disaster of Texas education system and the so-called "No Child Left Behind."

This book not only fully discussed Texas education systems, but their (the state's) attitude on a whole litany of current issues that affect the political and social lives of each of us daily. It covered, weather, food, education, sex-ed, jobs, banking, scandals, wins and...more

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Aug 20, 2012 Marty rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've known for a long time how Texas influences textbooks because Texas makes a statewide decision on textbooks so all of the companies have to please Texas in order to get a big order. There are also other ways that Texas influences the nation. No Child Left Behind was based on a new education plan that Texas put in place. But that plan had not been used very long, and as it turns out, was not effective. But now we're all stuck with it. The author talks about how Texas has a "wide open spaces"...more

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Jul 10, 2012 Emily rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Wow! This author, Gail Collins really knows what she is talking about! I think everyone should read this book, especially Texans so people are more educated about the state they are actually living in. As a Houstonian, I found this book insightful, thoroughly researched, and for the most part unbiased. Collins really attempts to give you the whole picture without being overly rude or condescending. But be ready for a healthy dose of sarcasm. Most of the things she discussed in the book (healthca...more

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Aug 22, 2012 Tad Hopp rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am hanging my head in shame after reading this book about my home state. I didn't think it was possible for me to be any more embarrassed by my home state than I already have been but Gail Collins reveals just how low things have sunk back there and sadly, I fear it may be impossible to fix at this point. She completely nails it with her depictions of Rick Perry and George W. Bush. This book, more than anything, illuminates for me why I had to get out of Texas. It just didn't fit me and where...more

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Dec 31, 2012 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Disclosure: I won a free copy of this on Goodreads. I'm also a long-time resident of Texas.

Regarding the facts and arguments of her case, for the most part I accept them. I believe her portrayal of Texas as the wackiest of the states sells short so many others - I was in Louisiana for the David Duke/Buddy Roemer/Edwin Edwards election, and certainly Florida has plenty of hijinks for us all to laugh and/or cringe about - but it is probably fair to say that Texas does currently have a disproporti...more

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Dec 30, 2012 Jared rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

Given the general insistence in this country to only acknowledge those facts supporting our preferred worldview, if you don't already agree with Ms. Collins' views, I doubt you will be persuaded at the end of As Texas Goes. That said, as a former resident of Texas for more than twenty years, I enjoyed learning some new stories about my birth state. The book is a useful summary of so many of the policies that liberals find disconcerting about the modern Republican Party (from crony capitalism to...more

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Jun 24, 2012 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a super-abridged review. You can read the full thing here.

As a Texan, I had the misfortune of being governed by Dumb and Dumber way before they decided to take their circus to the (inter)national level. And as an educator and a feminist, I've always tried to stay informed and keep up with the shenanigans going on in my state. Naturally, when I saw that Gail Collins had penned a new book about Texas's impact at the national level, I had to get a hold of it.

From financial deregulation, to...more

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Feb 24, 2013 Reuben added it

She brings up some good points, and if you're from Texas, nothing new is being addressed. However, I can't finish this. She's too much of a talking head, a columnist driven by reaction and web traffic, and I'm tired of it. Whether the left or right, I'm done with books that spend more time vilifying people they don't agree with and less time discussing possible solutions and common ground.

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Sep 15, 2012 Karan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really enjoyed this book. Gail Collins is a great storyteller, and this book is even more fun to read than her last two.

I am a lifelong Democrat, born and raised in Texas, have lived all over the state - in Houston for the past 20 years - and I agree with Ms Collins' dismal view of state government policies/priorities since Bush became governor. There are some great big train wrecks on our horizon if the electorate continues to show little or no interest in the quality of public education,...more

I really enjoyed this book. Gail Collins is a great storyteller, and this book is even more fun to read than her last two.

I am a lifelong Democrat, born and raised in Texas, have lived all over the state - in Houston for the past 20 years - and I agree with Ms Collins' dismal view of state government policies/priorities since Bush became governor. There are some great big train wrecks on our horizon if the electorate continues to show little or no interest in the quality of public education, the availabilty of healthcare and other social services, and the way our state and some of our cities whore themselves out to the business community for the promise of a few hundred low-wage jobs.

But there's no need for Ms Collins to be so snarky about it. The "man beats woman with frozen armadillo" story in the introduction sets the tone for the rest of the book. She too obviously enjoys marching out the most embarrassing news stories - asinine quotes from nitwits who've had little or no influence on state policy. And some of the generalizations she makes - "Texas presidents have led us into every land war we've been in since Vietnam." What? I'll assume that's true, and not quibble about what makes a "Texas president" a Texas president. (You could just as easily say that guys who "summer" in Maine have led us into every land war since Vietnam, and neither one of them was born here.) What does that mean? That people "from" Texas are prone to sending young people off to die in foreign countries? Does she know about some additional US presidents, enough to give her a sufficiently large sample from which to draw her conclusions - whatever they are?

She also distorts facts when she really doesn't need to - eg, pointing out that Texas has more workers earning federal minimum wage ($7.25/hour) than CA, IL, and FL combined. This is true - because all three of those states have minimum wage laws that set the minimum wage higher than $7.25/hr. Employers in those three states would be breaking the law if they paid their workers 7.25/hr. Wouldn't it have been enough to point out that Texas ties the state minimum wage to the federal law, and that the federal minimum wage law wouldn't feed a family of four, even if they were living under a bridge. Probably not, because then she might have felt like she needed to point out that 4 states (including Minnesota!) have minimum wage laws that set the rate BELOW $7.25.

My last gripe - and i really did enjoy the book, though it's starting to sound very much like i didn't - she praises Houston for the way its mayor and residents welcolmed a couple hundred thousand Katrina refugees, but in the very next paragraph, quotes a single state congressman who said, a year later, "It's time for these people to go home." Like that one comment nullified every act of kindness that had gone before. A few pages later, she's telling us that Houston is a vibrant, energetic city with plenty of affordable housing, BUT there are "several downsides" - and they are (1) it's a "stupendously ugly" city and (2) the suburbs have a "mind-numbing sameness." Maybe Ms Collins' picture isn't on the jacket because she's stupendously ugly herself. And we all know that that one fact would outweigh her ability as a writer, a story teller, and whatever else she might have going for her.

If you lean the same way the author does, read it. You'll enjoy this book. But PLEASE, don't pass it off to your conservative buddy when you're done, thinking it'll make him rethink his enthusiasm for the Texas Miracle or any other delusions from which he suffers. This thing has more holes in it than a sieve. She may be right, but she's much more entertaining than she is convincing. (less)

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Aug 04, 2012 Fredrick Danysh rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: political, texas

Ms Collins is definately anti-Texas. She attacks everything about the state from politics to guns to right to life. She doesn't appear to like that Texas is a right-to-work state where union membeership is just to get a job as in strong union states. She feels that the ideal of embracing constitution rights and freedom should give way to submitting to a strong cental [federal] government Her hatchet job just uses evidence from souces biased toward her viewpoint instaead of trying to present a ba...more

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Aug 02, 2012 Schnaucl rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: august, library, non-fiction, read_2012, recommended_reading

This was a highly informative book. It covers a wide range of topics from how Texas influences what goes into textbooks, sex ed, financial deregulation and the "Texas miracle" of job growth.

Some of the things I knew before, including the stuff on how it influences textbooks.

I also knew that deregulation is a big thing in Texas but I hadn't realized just how much Texas relies on other states to allow it to have the business climate it does. In general, the Texas education system is in serious tr...more This was a highly informative book. It covers a wide range of topics from how Texas influences what goes into textbooks, sex ed, financial deregulation and the "Texas miracle" of job growth.

Some of the things I knew before, including the stuff on how it influences textbooks.

I also knew that deregulation is a big thing in Texas but I hadn't realized just how much Texas relies on other states to allow it to have the business climate it does. In general, the Texas education system is in serious trouble. They have a low graduation rate. Their are more out of state than in state tuition payers in their top colleges (I think it's just the top colleges and not state wide).

There's a problem with access to medical care, too. The Medicaid reimbursement rate is among the lowest and you have to be desperately poor to qualify for state aid. So basically the rest of the country gets to subsidized the poor, un(der)educated women with children. Soon Texans will make up 10% of the work force and it won't be an educated work force.

The deregulation really is terrible. Worker's comp in particular sounds awful. After they instituted draconian tort reform and allowed companies to opt out of the state system, it became very difficult to find an attorney to take worker's comp claims. Their are harsh limits on damage awards and the number of worker's comp attorneys went from in the thousands to I think 30 (it may be 60, but I think it was 30). The average attorney fee is $790 (I think it was $790 and not $690) for 9 weeks work plus a trial. That's really not enough to make a living.

One of the biggest things I got from the book was the "open state" mentality which is the idea that basically people who live around a lot of other people, e.g. people in cities, want regulation so that everyone can live in peace. People in less crowded areas decry regulation because they have enough space to do their own thing without infringing on other people so they figure they don't need regulations. (Of course, that doesn't work when it comes to things like polluting water downstream, etc.)

Texas has an empty spaces mentality even as it becomes more populous and more people live in cities. Sometimes that means politicians are surprised because the empty spaces rhetoric goes over well until it comes up against reality where people want their neighbors bound by regulations (such as how and whether they are allowed to water their laws during a drought, for example).

It's an informative book and written in a very readable style with a fair bit of dry humor. (less)

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Aug 31, 2012 Vickie Buenger rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Gail Collins taught me more than one thing in As Texas Goes.

The biggest epiphany was that something has happened to journalism since the advent of 24-hour news networks. The events, quotes, personalities, and misfortunes of each news cycle quickly displace the previous events, quotes, personalities, and misfortunes. Everything flickers by--just like your Facebook wall or Twitter feed. With out the context, analysis, and broader story arc, the dots remain unconnected and even important things fa...more

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Jun 24, 2012 Jim Razinha rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Excellent....but I can't help but wonder if I'm succumbing to confirmation bias. Hmm.... nope. It's still an excellent read.

Well researched, well documented, very well composed. It should appeal to - and scare the hell out of - non-Texans. Maybe. Maybe not.

Ms. Collins skewers the players and hypocrisies (she's a little more gentle...calling them "ironies") an even handed, if harsh, journalistic approach. I suspect the natives would view the perpetrators as heroes and the policies as triumphant e...more

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Jul 07, 2012 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

First, a warning: If you are a member of the Tea Party, or a die-hard Republican, you will not like this book. In fact, you will probably throw it across the room in a frustrated rage after the third or fourth chapter. If you are one of those people who drive around with a bumper sticker on your dualie pickup truck that reads "I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as soon as I could", the same likely goes for you.

Gail Collins is so funny, and she has Texas pegged. I am not a native Texan, but...more First, a warning: If you are a member of the Tea Party, or a die-hard Republican, you will not like this book. In fact, you will probably throw it across the room in a frustrated rage after the third or fourth chapter. If you are one of those people who drive around with a bumper sticker on your dualie pickup truck that reads "I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as soon as I could", the same likely goes for you.

Gail Collins is so funny, and she has Texas pegged. I am not a native Texan, but some unnamed individual at the engineering firm my father worked for sealed my fate when a decision was made to transfer my father to Houston, Texas in the 1980's. I found myself nodding in recognition at many of her experiences. She's very good at pointing out the irony that is Texas- on gun rights, she points out that "states' rights" is overridden by Texas' congressional delegation's support for a "national concealed carry" law that would require all states to honor permits issued by other states.

The overarching point her book makes, although she never comes out and says this exactly, is that the Texas economic "miracle" is based on externalities- economic and social effects that business and companies never have to pay for. For example, environmental regulation is poor and for the most part, dictated by business. If industry had to foot the bill for the growing number of children with asthma, or cleaning up polluted water, there would be no economic miracle. No issue is ever resolved- the costs of managing the environment, or education, or health care, are simply passed on to others who may not be able to afford them or remedy them on their own. Ms. Collins addresses mental illness benefits, and this is acutely true for disability assistance in Texas- if you are disabled, or have a family member with a disability, your benefits are constantly on the chopping block. She does make the case that those of you who live in other states will be absorbing the cost of Texas' poor policy decisions at some point- when our graduates move to other states, or our untreated chronically ill move to, say, Minnesota, and need medical care.

I have children in the public school system, and the testing is horrendous. My older child, a straight A student, was reduced to tears at one point over the stress of the state mandated testing.Her school robo-called us the night before her 3rd grade tests to remind us to "make sure your students gets a good night's sleep and a healthy breakfast" the day of the test (my mental response was "yeah, because normally I let her stay up all night and eat candy bars for breakfast"). Fortunately, it seems that the leadership of some progressive school districts, mine included, recognize the ridiculousness for what it is, and are looking for creative ways to mitigate the damage. Ms. Collins does recognize the senior Bush in a positive way for his policy of "disaggregation", meaning that they must show that the poor, African-American and Latino students are also making progress, and the overall score of the school is based on that progress as well as the progress of the entire student body. The book is not all Bush bashing, all the time.

"As Texas Goes" is an enjoyable read, and her descriptions of Texas and the people she encounters really make this place come to life; you'll almost be able to imagine yourself driving through the gridlock that is any major highway through any major city at rush hour.

(less)

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Jan 15, 2013 Temple Dog rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Unfortunately, what I have to say about this book is not kind. It has an ambitious start and I had high hopes for it in total. I was sorely disappointed beyond the opening chapter.

First, a large portion of the content is purely from the author's perspective with little basis in actual fact and more based in her anecdotal diatribe.

What is even worse, is that there is nothing new here. I am not a native Texas, but I have lived here long enough to know the majority of the content of the book.

It is...more

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Jul 06, 2012 Christian rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: current-events-issues, politics

This was a pretty good read, if you are a political junkie. As the title indicates, the author describes how Texas politics and economics affect and to some extent determine the national agenda. Whether its No Child Left Behind or the 2008 financial meltdown, the author shows a Texas version that preceded it. In spite of its outsized role in shaping national issues, Texas feels put upon by an overbearing federal government. Indeed, Texas holds itself as a model for all other states and Washingto...more

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Jan 18, 2013 Robyn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hearing Gail Collins read from this book in Houston and then meeting her and having her sign it, was one of the few highlights of my time living there! (She inscribed it, after I told her I was a New Yorker adrift, "Keep the faith.") Excellent and really quick read encapsulating policy development in Texas over the past 40 or so years and how it's impacted the rest of the country. My one quibble is that while she went over lots of Texana, in using the phrase "don't mess with Texas," she didn't c...more

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Aug 12, 2012 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Gail Collins has written a whole book on politics without once referencing Mitt Romney's dog! Collins takes on the state of Texas - its low level of social service,its negative contributions to the environment and the banking industry, its lackluster educational system. She takes on the state with humor - although if you disagree with her you probably won't find her funny.(Witness the other reviews on this site!)I share her biases, so I laughed a lot. Collins does not purport to be objective, an...more

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Jul 25, 2012 Kathleen Hagen added it · review of another edition

As Texas Goes: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda, by Gail Collins, narrated by Gail Collins, Produced by random House Audio, Downloaded from audible.com.

I love Gail Collins’ columns in the New York Times, and this book would have maintained her famous sharp wit if someone else had narrated it. But here is a case when the author, in my opinion, shouldn’t have narrated the book. Some of her funniest points are made by quoting the Texans she discusses, in the same way that Molly...more

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Jan 29, 2013 Meg rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“Only one state in the union doesn’t require large employers to take part in a state-regulated workers’ compensation system, which provides people with medical benefits and support if they’re injured on the job. We will take a moment’s rest here while everybody guesses which state that is.

“Not Vermont. Be serious.”

This is pretty far into As Texas Goes, Gail Collins fantastic overview at Texas politics and how it has influenced the rest of the nation. Which is alarming. Hilariously written, she...more

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Nov 06, 2012 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Amy by: Zahir

Shelves: audiobooks, down-south, health-care-related, politics, non-fiction

As a Democrat who shares next to none of the enthusiasm for the policies and ideas that Gail Collins says more recent Texas politicians espouse, I found most of this book to be horrifying. There was a lot of information in here that I didn't know before, and I think that Collins laid out and supported her thesis well.

I had three problems with this book, though:

1) I'm afraid that the people who really need to hear what's in this book won't ever read it, which means that Collins' ideas are just b...more As a Democrat who shares next to none of the enthusiasm for the policies and ideas that Gail Collins says more recent Texas politicians espouse, I found most of this book to be horrifying. There was a lot of information in here that I didn't know before, and I think that Collins laid out and supported her thesis well.

I had three problems with this book, though:

1) I'm afraid that the people who really need to hear what's in this book won't ever read it, which means that Collins' ideas are just being said in a big echo chamber. She's preaching to the choir. Those of us who are most likely to read this book will read it because we're already suspicious that Texas throws it's weight around nationally a bit more than is maybe strictly necessary or strictly desirable, and this book unabashedly confirms our suspicions.

2) Collins' ideas and her very eye-opening facts become diminshed by her often times snarky, perhaps even condescending tone. I listened to this book on auidobook, and it was narrated by the author herself. So when I say this book had a snarky tone, it did--the author read it out loud with that tone in her voice. Her words, her voice, her tone. As a liberal I can't say that I didn't appreciate the sentiment behind that tone, but it did work to counter the gravity, and frankly objectivity, of what Collins was presenting.

3) I would have appreciated it more if the book had talked more about why people in other states buy so readily into what Texas politicans and the billionaires behind them are selling, even when those ideas work counter to their own best interests. Is it them, or is it us? Are Texas politicians and billionaires irrestibly charismatic, or is the population disinclined toward independent thought? Or maybe it's something else altogether. And for pity's sake, is the future as bleak as Collins seems to intimate, or can something actually be done to check the disporportionate power issuing from Texas? She never really says.

The book did have strengths, though. The "open-spaces" theory that Collins laid out seemed just as plausible to me as anything else. She articulated that well, and gave me food for thought. I believe that the book was meticulously researched, and her chapters on education (particularly with regard to text books) and her final chapters on health care and statistics were nothing short of eye-poppingly shocking.

As a liberal Democrat and an on-again-off-again political junkie, I liked As Texas Goes. But ultimately, I have to be honest and say that reading this book did make me think for the first time that maybe there is something to this "liberal media" stuff. Less snark would have aided this book immensely.(less)

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Jul 15, 2012 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Collins' tone was a bit off-putting (and clearly not entirely objective) which prompted me to to a bit of fact checking throughout the book. Snark aside, her research holds up and she has put forth an easy to follow and factually accurate (at least as far as the randomly selected facts I checked out seem to imply) picture of the state of affairs in Texas and its impact on the rest of the nation. In spite of what might seem like a dull or tedious topic, it's a relatively quick and easy read that...more

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About Gail Collins

Gail Collins was the Editorial Page Editor of The New York Times from 2001 to January 1, 2007. She was the first woman Editorial Page Editor at the Times.

Born as Gail Gleason, Collins has a degree in journalism from Marquette University and an M.A. in government from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Beyond her work as a journalist, Collins has published several books; Scorpion Tongues: Gos...more

More about Gail Collins...

Books by Gail Collins

When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present

America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines

William Henry Harrison (The American Presidents, #9)

Scorpion Tongues New and Updated Edition: Gossip, Celebrity, and American Politics

Grit, Courage and Change: Women in the Last 50 Years

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title link	preview: As Texas Goes...: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda
avg rating	preview: As Texas Goes...: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda Goodreads rating: 3.74 (414 ratings)
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13812160-as-texas-goes?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1340238814l/13812160.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13812160-as-texas-goes?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]As Texas Goes...: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda by Gail Collins[/url]

As Texas Goes...: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda

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