{"id":422,"date":"2018-12-31T12:13:42","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T12:13:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=422"},"modified":"2018-12-31T12:13:42","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T12:13:42","slug":"texas-reads-archiveglenn-dromgoole-38","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=422","title":{"rendered":"Texas Reads>> archiveGlenn Dromgoole"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/span><\/span>Texas Reads<\/span>>> archive<\/span><\/a><\/span>Glenn Dromgoole<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n

1.31.16\u00a0\u00a0 Author offers thoughts on Texas politics<\/h1>\n

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<\/a><\/span>Mary Beth Rogers, who was Gov. Ann Richards\u2019s campaign manager<\/span> in the 1990s, offers suggestions to Democrats in her new book, Turning Texas Blue: What It Will Take to Break the GOP Grip on America\u2019s Reddest State<\/span><\/a><\/span> (St. Martin\u2019s Press, $26.99 hardcover).<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019ve learned from my own personal history, and Texas history in general,\u201d Rogers writes, \u201cis that nothing is ever permanent. Change is always around the corner. In politics, change usually occurs when those in power grossly overextend themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepublicans have held power so long in Texas,\u201d she continues, \u201cthat they have become as sloppy, overconfident and arrogant as Democrats used to be. But there are other factors pushing change as well, and some of them are actually beginning to cause a few leaks in their big red bubble.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rogers traces how Republicans came into power in Texas and continued to solidify their hold on state government during the past two decades.<\/p>\n

In the last three chapters, she deals with the increasing Hispanic influence in Texas, other changes taking place on the political landscape, and her ten recommendations on what Democrats need to do to again be viable statewide, which include finding the right leader, running a whole-state campaign, and spreading the word about what she calls \u201cRepublican extremism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cIsn\u2019t it time,\u201d she writes, \u201cto call out the crackpots and cranks and make thoughtful Republicans and other normal people feel a little embarrassed to be associated with them?\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/span>First novel:<\/span> Abilene teacher Marguerite Martin Gray\u2019s<\/span> first novel, Hold Me Close: Revolutionary Faith, Book One<\/span><\/a><\/span> (WestBow Press, $19.95 paperback) is set in Charles Town, S.C., in 1772, before the American Revolution.<\/p>\n

Her story revolves around Louis Lesterjette, a young Frenchman who mysteriously shows up in Charles Town (which didn\u2019t become Charleston until 1783) and eighteen-year-old Elizabeth Elliot, who moved with her family to Charles Town two years earlier from Boston. Residents have begun debating whether to continue their allegiance to England or seek independence.<\/p>\n

Hold Me Close<\/span> grew out of Gray\u2019s study of her own family history and is the first of a planned series of four historical, faith-based novels in the \u201cRevolutionary Faith\u201d series featuring Louis and Elizabeth. The second one should be out this summer or fall.<\/p>\n

Gray teaches French at Abilene Cooper High School.<\/p>\n

Meditations:<\/span> Wichita Falls inspirational author Sheri A. Sutton<\/span> has published In Remembrance of Me: Meditations for the Season of Lent<\/span><\/a><\/span> ($9.95 paperback). Each daily selection, from Ash Wednesday to Easter, includes a scripture verse, a meditation of about two hundred words, and a prayer. It is her third published book of meditations. Read more at sheriasutton.com<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n

Glenn Dromgoole<\/span> is co-author, with Carlton Stowers, of 101 Essential Texas Books<\/span><\/a><\/span> Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.<\/p>\n

>> <\/span>Read his past Texas Reads columns in Lone Star Literary Life here.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Texas Reads>> archiveGlenn Dromgoole 1.31.16\u00a0\u00a0 Author offers thoughts on Texas politics Mary Beth Rogers, who was Gov. Ann Richards\u2019s campaign manager in the 1990s, offers suggestions to Democrats in her new book, Turning Texas Blue: What It Will Take to Break the GOP Grip on America\u2019s Reddest State (St. Martin\u2019s Press, $26.99 hardcover). \u201cWhat I\u2019ve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}