Big Wonderful Thing

August 19, 2019
Harrigan (The Gates of the Alamo) describes post-Columbian Texas in novelistic style in this eloquent homage to the Lone Star state. He follows many figures—among them the 19th-century Mexican general and politician Antonio López de Santa Anna, Comanche chief Quanah Parker, and “Mother of Texas” Jane Herbert Wilkinson Long—and makes smooth transitions between landmark events, such as the 16th-century Spanish expeditions and the Alamo. Lesser-known but powerful stories, including that of the devastating 1963 natural gas explosion at a New London school, pepper the colorful narrative. Despite the author’s love of Texas, he’s also frank about the horrific violence that figures throughout its history, including the experiences of Native Americans and enslaved people. Harrigan jauntily describes unexpected connections: he recounts learning later that his seemingly average childhood neighbors included WWII hero Joe Dawson and civil rights champion Dr. Hector Garcia. Texan politicians such as H. Ross Perot, Barbara Jordan, Ann Richards, and the Bush presidents receive attention without political analysis; Harrigan recalls getting to know George and Laura Bush as fellow parents of young daughters. Scenes of dusty West Texas and the pine-laden eastern forests add a travelogue touch. History lovers will enjoy this packed, fascinating account of a singular state. Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM Partners.

Starred review from July 1, 2019
Austin-based novelist Harrigan (A Friend of Mr. Lincoln, 2016, etc.) serves up a lively history of the nation-sized Lone Star State. The title comes from the painter Georgia O'Keeffe, who marveled at Texas but wound up making her fortune in next-door New Mexico. Of course, Texas has many next-door neighbors, each influencing it and being influenced by it: the plains of Oklahoma, the bayous and deep forests of Louisiana, the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico itself, all where South and West and Midwest meet. Telling its story is a daunting task: If the project of the gigantic centennial Big Tex statue with which Harrigan opens his story was to "Texanize Texans," it was one in which women, ethnic minorities, the poor, and many other sorts of people were forgotten in the face of stalwarts like Sam Houston, Judge Roy Bean, and Davy Crockett. Not here. The standbys figure, but in interesting lights: Houston was famous and even infamous in his day, but his successor, Mirabeau Lamar, mostly known only for the Austin avenue named for him, was just as much a man of parts, "a poet and classical scholar with a bucolic vision of the empire that his administration aimed to wrest from the hands of its enemies." Harrigan's story of the Alamo is also nuanced: It is not true that there were no survivors, but the fact that the survivors were slaves has rendered them invisible--as is the fact that many Mexican officers who served under Santa Anna pleaded with him to show mercy to the rest. The Alamo has given a Texas flair to all sorts of things, including a recent golf tournament, highlighting Texans' tendency toward "a blend of valor and swagger." Just so, Harrigan, surveying thousands of years of history that lead to the banh mi restaurants of Houston and the juke joints of Austin, remembering the forgotten as well as the famous, delivers an exhilarating blend of the base and the ignoble, a very human story indeed. As good a state history as has ever been written and a must-read for Texas aficionados.

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Starred review from October 1, 2019

Best-selling novelist Harrigan (Gates of the Alamo) is well positioned to provide a new take on Texas history, presenting a narrative that not only covers the legends of popular lore, such as Davy Crockett and the siege of the Alamo, but also presents a more nuanced view of the traditional mythologies through the perspectives of people who have often been marginalized. Essentially, this is Texas history as seen and discovered by Harrigan through his experiences as a child and a scholar of the state, providing "behind the curtain" glimpses of his process of crafting the work. VERDICT Harrigan is a master storyteller and weaves a highly enjoyable tale of Texas that is sometimes tall but always big. A must-read for all Texans and those who are curious about more than the legend of the state.--Michael C. Miller, Austin P.L. & Austin History Ctr., TX

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