Kindle Price: $10.21

Save $5.74 (36%)

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

eBook features:
  • Highlight, take notes, and search in the book
  • In this edition, page numbers are just like the physical edition
Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Buy for others

Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group.
Learn more

Buying and sending eBooks to others

  1. Select quantity
  2. Buy and send eBooks
  3. Recipients can read on any device

These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs

Follow the author

Gail Collins
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

As Texas Goes...: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda Reprint, Updated Edition, Kindle Edition

by Gail Collins (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 163 ratings
See all formats and editions

“Gail Collins is the funniest serious political commentator in America. Reading As Texas Goes… is pure pleasure from page one.” —Rachel Maddow


A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year (Nonfiction)


As Texas Goes . . . provides a trenchant yet often hilarious look into American politics and the disproportional influence of Texas, which has become the model for not just the Tea Party but also the Republican Party. Now with an expanded introduction and a new concluding chapter that will assess the influence of the Texas way of thinking on the 2012 election, Collins shows how the presidential race devolved into a clash between the so-called “empty places” and the crowded places that became a central theme in her book. The expanded edition will also feature more examples of the Texas style, such as Governor Rick Perry’s nearsighted refusal to accept federal Medicaid funding as well as the proposed ban on teaching “critical thinking” in the classroom. As Texas Goes . . . will prove to be even more relevant to American politics by the dawn of a new political era in January 2013.
Previous page
  1. ISBN-13
    978-0871403605
  2. Edition
    Reprint, Updated
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Liveright
  5. Publication date
    June 4, 2012
  6. Language
    English
  7. File size
    1378 KB
  8. See all details
Next page

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Gail Collins is the funniest serious political commentator in America. Reading As Texas Goes . . . is pure pleasure from page one.”—Rachel Maddow
 
“There’s no funnier writer about politics than Gail Collins, and in Texas she’s found the perfect canvas. The state’s record at producing some of the nuttiest characters ever to enter American public life is matched only by its recent prowess in infecting the other forty-nine states with those politicians’ most crackpot policy ideas. Collins serves up hilarity and horror in equal measure and leaves you rooting for Rick Perry to make good on his threat to lead Texas out of the Union.”—Frank Rich
 
“Here is the WPA guide to the follies of our time. Gail Collins walks us through a vast and formerly prosperous land that has lost itself in delusions of its own magnificence; that has set itself ablaze with a crusade against learning; that has grown dizzy with free-market fantasies that no amount of real-world failure seems able to correct. Yes, Texas is a hell of a place to be a corporation, but for humans it’s a different story.” —Thomas Frank, author of What’s the Matter with Kansas?
 
“There is no one like Gail Collins: uproarious fun on every page, but with a serious point. In this wonderful book she devastates Texas for its hypocrisy, its ignorance, its worship of wealth. But you cannot keep laughing as she shows how the Texan mind works a baleful influence on the rest of the country.”—Anthony Lewis

About the Author

Gail Collins is the best-selling author of When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present and is a national columnist for the New York Times. She lives in New York City.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B007NQVU8K
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Liveright; Reprint, Updated edition (June 4, 2012)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 4, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1378 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 277 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 163 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Gail Collins

Gail Collins

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Gail Collins was the Editorial Page Editor for the New York Times from 2001-2007--the first woman to have held that position. She currently writes a column for the Times' Op-Ed page twice weekly.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
163 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Elizabeth
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a wake up call!
Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2012
Verified Purchase
This is an excellent book, well written and will definitely make you think.

I have never lived in Texas, but have been acquainted with many Texans and traveled in the state. It seemed to me that Ms. Collins nailed the state exactly. There is so much pride, exuberance, and bluster from Texans that one would think it was Nirvana. However as Ms. Collins points out with facts, history and humor the real story is more complicated and quite dark. Yes, its big. Yes, there is money there. Yes, a lot of people live there. However, the low levels of educational accomplishment, high numbers of unwanted pregnancy, poverty, lack of widely available health care and expansive religious influence tell a much broader, more complex story. Not a lot to be proud of there. In light of this the spread of Texas's influence into national programs and policies affects all of us in the other 49 states. It is obvious, with the facts presented that there are some Texas people with large amounts of money and influence and patience who will use it to try to dumb the rest of us down, make us poorer, sicker and less confident in our ideas and abilities in order to make themselve more powerful. We had best be very aware and suspicious of any ideas emanating from the lone star state--they are probably not in our best interest. One case in point, the No Child Left Behind program. The unspoken final thought is that the rest of us need to be involved and active in our local governments and schools in order to have the country we want. If we don't we may all end up like Texas!
10 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Gridley
4.0 out of 5 stars The Big Embarrassment that is Modern Texas
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2012
Verified Purchase
All right, this is a political book that leans to port if you're a sailor - to the left if you're not. Still, Collins is an excellent journalist, and this book, while perhaps biased, is as even-handed as the subject matter could be, given what the author had to work with. I have friends, colleagues, and relatives living in Texas, you see, and through them I've been able to track the changes Collins writes about here. So I can testify - as much as a non-Texan can - that her view of the Lone Star State is pretty dad-gummed accurate.

Essentially, she has two statements to make about Texas, and I agree with both: first, probably because of the state's outlandish size, Texans feel they live in the wide open spaces; thus they need little law that they can't provide for themselves (harsh phrase coming:) at the point of a gun. While this is patently untrue - most Texans live in the state's urban megalopolis, hence they need, even demand, a lot of the public services they tend to eschew if asked. So let's color these folks proud of their state, but victims of cognitive dissonance.
Second: Texas has less-than-quietly become Republican over the past three decades, and the current leaders of the state are seeking to export their free-wheeling view of how life should be in the U.S. of A. to the rest of the country. Examples: NO TAXES! Minimal investment in education. Don't handcuff business with regulations, unions, and the like. No healthcare laws. Pay only minimal salaries. Stop me if you've heard this in your home state.
The dangers in this are obvious: a poorer standard of living for all but the rich, including poorer health. A diminishing middle class. Poorer educated citizens with little opportunity to grow into the U.S. formerly vaunted meritocracy.
My view of the WHY?? of this is that with the turn of the millennium, the U.S. has many competitors worldwide. Over the decades, the business class has grown rather complacent (read: inefficient) in its practices, and rather than provide bottom-up incentives to innovate, to provide better products and services, the trend Texas wants to push is business as usual - without being "handcuffed" by all the social, educational, and governmental things that created the U.S. as a boom country in the first place. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

Collins' writing is often humorous, even-handed, non-inflammatory, and based on volumes of interviews and journalistic research. In fact the book is about 40% documentation of sources - on both sides of the subject in question. I keep saying this, but hers is an important book if you want to understand the hows and whys of the current state of life in the U.S., and where we're going - if Texas has it's way.
6 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
claude g
5.0 out of 5 stars too true
Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2012
Verified Purchase
This book is one which Texans will not enjoy, even though it should be required reading for all Americans and particularly those living in Texas. This book has been intensely researched, and while often humorous, contains an important and worrying message. If the publishers make sufficient profitable sales, they should donate a copy to every member of Congress as a public service. If the book sells in the millions, they should send a copy to each member of the Texas Lege and at least one to each state Governors office--and not as a gift--as a lesson in how not to run a state, let alone the country. A must read.
6 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
N. Y. Quentin
5.0 out of 5 stars The title fits so well!
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2015
Verified Purchase
One of the best books on the topic I have read. Collins gets it totally right in her analysis of what makes the crazy state - and state of mind- of Texas . She is right, too, about how Texas has outsize influence over the rest of our country. Just a brief look at the state school board's textbook approval process reveals that Texas is, well, "a whole 'nother country." When we moved here 9 years ago, I was daily amazed at Texas politics, values, and style. And yet, all those things have become a big part of American identity in recent years. Anyone curious about how national politics and cultural/religious values can be influenced by what begins as local influence, should read this book.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Report an issue

Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report