The Radical Roots of Lone Star Liberalism. (original) (raw)

Books
David O'Donald Cullen and Kyle G. Wilkison, editors (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2010
Number 35 in the Elma Dill Russell Spencer Series in the West and Southwest)
Paperback
256 Pages
ISBN: 978-1-60344-189-6.
$23.95Review by Dr. Kirk Bane,
Central Texas Historical Association

December 1, 2023

The last Democrat to serve as governor of Texas was Ann Richards, who held that position from 1991 to 1995. Although the Lone Star State has been under right wing control for more than twenty-five years, Texas was home to many political and social activists, including radicalized farmers, early feminists, and ardent labor unionists, and has produced a handful of notable liberals, including Sam Rayburn, LBJ, Ralph Yarborough, Henry B. Gonzalez, Barbara Jordan, and Jim Hightower. In THE TEXAS LEFT, editors David O'Donald Cullen and Kyle G. Wilkison, both of whom teach history at Collin College in Plano, skillfully examine this important progressive heritage.

Comprised of a dozen groundbreaking pieces, essays include "The Forgotten Radical Heritage of Texas," "Rebel Farmers: The Texas Farmers' Alliance," "The Texas Populists," "The Texas Socialist Party," "Unions in Texas from the Time of the Republic through the Great War, 1838-1919," "Looking for Lefty: Liberal/Left Activism and Texas Labor, 1920s-1960s," "Not Whistling Dixie: Women's Movements and Feminist Politics," "Confronting White Supremacy: The African American Left in Texas, 1874-1974," and "Tejanos Resist the Rule of Dominance." In assembling their impressive study, Cullen and Wilkison enlist the services of some of the state's finest historians, including Gregg Cantrell, Patrick Cox, Arnoldo De Leon, Bruce A. Glasrud, and George Norris Green.

Readers interested in the political history of Texas should consult this commendable volume. Cullen and Wilkison have also edited a companion text, THE TEXAS RIGHT: THE RADICAL ROOTS OF LONE STAR CONSERVATISM (Texas A&M University Press, 2014).

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