Texas in Her Own Words

Tweed Scott
Redbud Publishing (2006)
ISBN 0972029370
Reviewed by Irene Watson for Reader Views (4/06)

“To me I’m not an American. I’m a Texan.” These are the words of Reagan Patton from Nacogdoches, Texas. Those same words, in various versions, are said by the fifty some residents of Texas that Tweed Scott interviewed for his book “Texas in Her Own Words.” As a resident of Texas since 1990, I also have taken on this attitude for many of the same reasons portrayed in Scott’s book.

Mingled between the interviews of people such as Willy Nelson, Liz Carpenter, Darrel Royal and many others, are pictures, rules, and trivia. For example, “Texas has 4,959 square miles of inland water…this is the most of any state in the lower 48. Minnesota ranks second.” And, “Texas has three of the ten most populous cities in America – Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio.”

Texas is known world wide because of the infamous TV series “Dallas” and the reruns that never seem to end. Texas born Waylon Jennings scored a number one hit in the late 70’s with “Luckenbach, Texas.” Yes, there really is a place called Luckenbach, Texas, and, “Everybody’s somebody in Luckenbach.” One would only understand that statement if they’d paid this infamous town a visit and met some of the locals. Scott interviewed long time Sherriff Marge Mueller shortly before her passing. She said “I think the nicest thing about Texas is the people who live here.”

Scott’s book certainly deserves a read. His countless hours of traipsing across the vastness of Texas to chat with people about his home state come through his writing with wonder and enchantment. Each personal portrayal gives another glance, and then another glance, into the deeper truths of Texas’ residents. By the time the reader finishes “Texas in Her Own Words,” whether a resident of Texas or a wannabe, he or she will fully understand why people living in Texas are Texans, not Americans.

Make comment on weblog