I am a Hoosier living in Texas. I grew up in Indiana, went to California when my husband got a job there. I loved living there, wonderful weather, no allergies and plenty of interesting places to visit. We left when I retires because we could not afford to continue to live there. We moved to Texas because we were attracted to this state because of the lack of snow and lower housing costs. We like the lower cost of living but miss places to go. I have mixed feelings for this state, I hate its politics, a lot of the people are friendly but watch out for those aren't. I wanted to learn more about the state that i am living in.

I learned a lot about the power and culture of Texas from Lawrence Wright's God Save Texas. The chapter that covers fracking can't be beat. The stories are funny, sometimes shocking and the author tends to meander off the subject sometimes. The book held my interest except for the meander which was mostly at the end. If you are thinking about moving to Texas, definitely read this book and then decide. Personally this state is too big for me. But I cannot find a more affordable place. ( )

I could have given this book five stars, but since I'm a former Californian living in Washington, I feel compelled to knock it down a peg.

As much as I love Lawrence Wright, this book is much more for non-Texans. ( )

An interesting read, especially for a life-long Texan who also taught Texas history. I failed to uncover anything very revealing. Almost everything covered was information any Texan has reviewed often in the news. The main complaint I have is that there is not a thread that ties all the stories/reports together. It seems to be a series of separate essays gathered up from over the years. It is loosely tied together by the author telling about his travels to this place or that, stories of whom he met or traveled with at the time, and what he experienced there. I thought there would be an overarching theme or message to his stories, but if it's there it is well hidden. The only thread I noticed is a decidedly anti-conservatism throughout. He is quite critical of almost all Texas conservative politicians and political supporters. Nothing really offensive, but he just isn't equally critical of the more liberal Texans. ( )

Lawrence Wright's book "God Save Texas" is part memoir, part personal stories, and part a look into into Texas culture, history, politics and current events. Some parts are slow and drag, but other parts quite interesting. It's a little scary hearing about some of the people who get elected there though. One, on voting against bi-lingual education, explained ... "if English was good enough for Jesus, it should be good enough for everybody". Or, another official, on why there are no dinosaurs alive today, stated that it's because when Noah picked dinosaur pairs to board the Ark, he selected a pair too young, and they weren't able to breed. Overall, the stories contained are insightful and interesting, and told with a bit of humor.

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