Literary Fort Worth edited by Judy Alter and James Ward Lee. (original) (raw)

Books
Edited by Judy Alter and James Ward Lee (Fort Worth, TCU Press, 2012.)
442 pages
Paperback
ISBN: 978-0875652535.
$24.95. Review by Dr. Kirk Bane,
Central Texas Historical Association

September 5, 2023

"Unrelenting snobs and unrelieved sophisticates from Dallas or San Antonio or Houston or up-to-date Austin or some other foreign part might scoff at the idea of a book entitled LITERARY FORT WORTH, arguing that Fort Worth is a backwater with no literature to speak of. Wrong! For over a century, Fort Worth writers have written and written well about this city so often dismissed as a semi-rural cowtown. No question about it; it is a cowtown, but it is a great deal more. Its writers have celebrated its world of cattle and oil, but many have seen the other sides of Fort Worth—the country club set, the literati, the artists and artisans, the musicians, the intellectuals, and the whole minority subculture that has given a cosmopolitan tone to this Queen City of the Prairies."

So observes co-editor and UNT professor James Ward Lee in his lively introduction—"Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind?"—to this impressive literary anthology. Containing fiction and nonfiction, poetry and prose, LITERARY FORT WORTH offers excerpts from more than fifty authors. Writers represented include Ann Arnold, Gary Cartwright, Jerry Flemmons, Jeff Guinn, Dan Jenkins, Bud Kennedy, Larry McMurtry, Jay Milner, J'Nell Pate, Joyce Gibson Roach, Bob Ray Sanders, and Bud Shrake. Students of the Lone Star heritage, especially those interested in Fort Worth culture and history, will relish this volume, ably assembled by Alter and Lee.

LITERARY FORT WORTH belongs to the superb "Literary Cities" Series published by TCU Press. Other volumes in this collection include Marcia Hatfield Daudistel's LITERARY EL PASO, Bryce Milligan's LITERARY SAN ANTONIO, David Theis's LITERARY HOUSTON, and Frances Brannen Vick's LITERARY DALLAS.

As an Amazon Associate
we earn from qualifying
purchases through this link
Thank you for supporting Texas Escapes