Big, Hot, Cheap, and Right: What America Can Learn from the Strange Genius of Texas

by Erica Grieder

Overview

Texas may well be America's most controversial state. Evangelicals dominate the halls of power, millions of its people live in poverty, and its death row is the busiest in the country. Skeptical outsiders have found much to be offended by in the state's politics and attitude. And yet, according to journalist (and Texan) Erica Grieder, the United States has a great deal to learn from Texas.

In Big, Hot, Cheap, and Right, Grieder traces the political history of a state that was always larger than life. From its rowdy beginnings, Texas has combined a long-standing suspicion of government intrusion with a passion for business. Looking to the present, Greider assesses the unique mix of policies on issues like immigration, debt, taxes, regulation, and energy, which together have sparked a bonafide Texas Miracle of job growth. While acknowledging that it still has plenty of twenty-first-century problems to face, she finds in Texas a model of governance whose power has been drastically underestimated. Her book is a fascinating exploration of America's underrated powerhouse.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781610391931
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	04/09/2013
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	161,929
File size:	437 KB

About the Author

Erica Grieder is a senior editor at Texas Monthly. From 2007-2012, she covered Texas as the southwest correspondent for The Economist, to which she still contributes. Her writing has also appeared in the New York Times, the Spectator, the Atlantic, Foreign Policy, and the New Republic. She lives in Austin.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Man-Made Miracle 9

2 The Texas Model 23

3 The Troublesome Territory 35

4 State of Hate 51

5 Land and Cattle 73

6 Black Gold 87

7 The Ungoverned 99

8 The Shadow State 113

9 Democratic Texas 131

10 The Rise of the Right 149

11 Twenty-First-Century Texas 159

12 Vestigial Parts 173

13 Turning Texas Blue 189

14 The Coming Crack-Up 201

15 Tweaking the Model 213

16 Texas and the United States 225

Acknowledgments 235

Notes 237

Bibliography 263

Index 269

Editorial Reviews

…a smart little book…refreshing…on many levels. Outside writers have been regularly caricaturing the state since the novelist Edna Ferber introduced America to postwar Texas with Giant in 1952…Ms. Grieder's is the rare book that takes stock of the Texas model without ridiculing many of its traditions and politicians. I tend to look askance at an analysis that attributes a company's or a state's success to events two centuries ago, but Ms. Grieder's history lessons are persuasive.

The New York Times - Bryan Burrough

Journalist Grieder (a senior editor at Texas Monthly and former Southwest correspondent for The Economist) pens a primer on Texas that is serious and lighthearted in turn. She might as well have referred to the “strange genesis” of Texas in her subtitle, as she runs through historical highlights and lowlights from the state’s beginnings to explain its present. Grieder’s account includes notably bizarre episodes, including the 1951 election in which both the governor and the state attorney general ran on both Democratic and Republican tickets, with the Democratic incarnations of each pulling easy victories. One of the book’s main themes is that by its annexation, “every single weird thing about Texas... was already established.” Another is that, despite its reputation, Texas is more than simply a bastion of conservative values, although the vaunted “Texas model” is basically defined by a “commitment to small government” as well as broad support for business. Grieder is never clear on whether this model is applicable or even appropriate for other states, but it works for Texas. Late in the book, she discusses the possibility that Texas might someday flip from being a red state to being a blue state. Anyone curious about or proud of Texas will find something of interest, as will readers of current politics. Agent: Salalyn Literary Agency. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Chris Hayes, MSNBC host and author of Twilight of the Elites
“Thirty years from now there's a good chance that most of America will look like Texas and somehow, improbably, using some strange dark prose magic, Erica Grieder has managed to convince me that might actually not be so bad. Written with verve and nuance, this is a fascinating, provocative read. If there were a book like this for each state I'd read every one.”

Bill Bishop, co-author of The Big Sort: Why The Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart
“Texas isn't the uninhabitable right wing bully East Coast howlers imagine and it's not the open range paradise described by free market myth-makers. Erica Grieder describes the state as it is — a place shaped (and misshapen) by its past and by the entirely human characters who live there. She is a sure-footed guide, pointing out what is to be admired and warning when we had best watch our step.”

Texas Observer
“An astute observer of this state's contradictions, and she avoids the caricature and cliché that plague so many books about Texas by non-Texans. Her forays into Texas history to explain the state's myriad oddities are useful.”

American Spectator
“A splendid book about the rich history and the social, political, and economic strengths and weaknesses of the Lone Star State, where the essentials of the American Dream are still taken seriously.”

Weekly Standard
“Grieder knocks down many of the liberal complaints about the Texas boom.”

Fort Worth Star-Telegram
“[Grieder] uses a journalist's objective eye to offer a primer on the Lone Star State, from its larger-than-life beginnings to what's right with it today: strong economy, job creator extraordinaire, forward-thinking energy policies (it's not all about the oil), an immigration policy that doesn't alienate Latino voters, and population growth.”

Geoff Berg, KPFT Houston's “Partisan Gridlock”
“A terrific read. If you want to understand anything about Texas—modern Texas or historic Texas—you can't unless you read this book. It is just absolutely terrific.”

Publishers Weekly
“Journalist Grieder pens a primer on Texas that is serious and lighthearted in turn. She might as well have referred to the ‘strange genesis' of Texas in her subtitle, as she runs through historical highlights and lowlights from the state's beginnings to explain its present. Grieder's account includes notably bizarre episodes, including the 1951 election in which both the governor and the state attorney general ran on both Democratic and Republican tickets, with the Democratic incarnations of each pulling easy victories…. Anyone curious about or proud of Texas will find something of interest, as will readers of current politics.”

Kirkus Reviews
“In this brisk and sassy counterweight to recent book-length complaints about Texas, Grieder challenges common prejudices about the state and insists that Texas is a better place than people expect… [Grieder] delivers an extensive, perceptive analysis of the state's politics—how it turned Republican in the 1990s and the prospects for a growing Hispanic population to bring it back into the Democratic column…. Due to the fact that Texas is thriving while much of America struggles, it might be wise to consider what Texas is doing right.”

Mother Jones
“You know that college friend, the big, boisterous, obstinate one who was always up to party, quick to fight, and said the most regrettable things, and embarrassed you—but for some reason you just couldn't drop? Well, if Texas were a person, it would be that guy. In this folksy read, Texas Monthly senior editor Erica Grieder explores her home state and its idiosyncrasies, from its fiercely independent streak to its zany characters to its deep distrust of government. While the ‘Texas Model' – low taxes, low services—isn't perfect, Grieder argues that the state remains an economic powerhouse with low unemployment. And if the rest of the country would quit rolling its eyes, it might just learn a thing or two.”

National Review
“Grieder is…a native of San Antonio, and comes at the question of Texas with an insider's perspective that Collins's jokey, stereotype-obsessed book sorely lacked. She knows enough about the state to argue, convincingly, that the rest of America ignores Texas at its peril…Grieder is among those who see that Texas, for all its faults and contradictions, is not an outlier but a zealous inheritor of the American ideal and a grateful son of the Union, and that its dogged pursuit of prosperity might be blazing a path forward for the rest of the country.”

Houston Chronicle
“Readable and often amusing… For those of us who didn't grow up here and study Texas history, ‘Big, Hot, Cheap, and Right' is a brief but perceptive introduction to the state's colorful past and fascinating characters.”

San Antonio Express-News
“Grieder delves into Texas' motley past, looks with humor and insight at where we are today, and makes some interesting predictions about our future…. the depth of research, objectivity and philosophical underpinnings of Grieder's writing make ‘Big, Hot, Cheap, and Right' a dang good read for native Texans, and for those of us who got here as fast as we could.”

Austin American-Statesman
“Pacey, colorful, humorous and cutting… The book is a commendable achievement. Some people are going to be very annoyed that they didn't write it….Neither apology nor sonnet, the book's treatment of Texas is robustly moderate.”

Bryan Burrough, New York Times
“Ms. Grieder's is the rare book that takes stock of the Texas model without ridiculing many of its traditions and politicians…This is a good book, and Ms. Grieder's clear, vivid writing makes it downable in a single afternoon…. This is a promising debut from a promising young author.”

The New Yorker
“[A] lively and wide-ranging book…Her account is equal parts history, apologia, and reportage, and explains everything from why Rick Perry wasn't really advocating for secession to how the repressiveness of Reconstruction in Texas sowed the seeds of the state's aversion to big government.”

Wall Street Journal
“‘Big, Hot, Cheap, and Right' mixes equal parts history, political reporting, back-of-the-envelope economics and cultural commentary. For those who have never enjoyed a plate of Kreuz's barbecue, toured the Alamo or attended the annual Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup, Ms. Grieder's thumbnail sketch of Texana will make for an entertaining introduction. But most revealing may be the way she connects the state's current boom with its unique history… a well-timed plea for the rest of the country to wake up and learn from its example.

From the Publisher

"I wanted to write a book that would help people come to terms with the existence of Texas," writes Texas Monthly senior editor Grieder of her debut. Few states would seem to be in need of such treatment, but Texas is a truly controversial place. The author readily concedes that Texas has its shortcomings--dreadful weather, minimal government services, high poverty and incarceration rates, and a tendency to cronyism--and notes that "Texans themselves seem to go out of their way to offend everyone as much as possible." In this brisk and sassy counterweight to recent book-length complaints about Texas, however, Grieder challenges common prejudices about the state and insists that Texas is a better place than people expect: "that's why several million people have moved here since the beginning of this century." Indeed, the economic success of Texas over the past few decades is undeniable. Grieder explains how the "Texas Model"--"low taxes, low regulation, tort reform and ‘don't spend all the money' "--evolved from the state's origins as a frontier republic and is supported by an electorate that is pragmatic, fiscally conservative and socially moderate. She also delivers an extensive, perceptive analysis of the state's politics--how it turned Republican in the 1990s and the prospects for a growing Hispanic population to bring it back into the Democratic column. The author attributes much of the state's prosperity to its constitutionally hobbled government and pro-business populist attitude. Texans "never developed the habit of expecting much from their government," she declares, but have instead looked to business and private entities to fill the gap. However, just as these attitudes arise from the state's idiosyncratic history, so they are unlikely to transplant easily elsewhere--nor does the author suggest that they will. Due to the fact that Texas is thriving while much of America struggles, it might be wise to consider what Texas is doing right.

Kirkus Reviews