Your July|August Reading List

State of Minds: Texas Culture and Its Discontents

By Don Graham

The renowned professor who occupies the J. Frank Dobie chair in literature and teaches the famous “Life and Literature of the Southwest” course brings you his latest reflections on the great state of you-know-what. From Dobie to McMurtry to McCarthy to the forgotten origins of the primetime soap Dallas, the creators of Texas’ most epic dramas get the wry, clever Graham essay treatment.

Design for a Vulnerable Planet

By Frederick Steiner

For we non-architects, our cities are simply planned for us. In this all-important volume on sustainability, the dean of UT’s School of Architecture invites us to think about how the places we inhabit are designed. From the Austin he describes as “reluctantly urban” to cities in Italy and China, Steiner highlights places poised to follow a more ecologically and socially responsible path.