Texas Reads J. Frank Dobie and Joe Nick Patoski<\/p>\n

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Steven L. Davis\u2019s biography of J. Frank Dobie: A Liberated Mind<\/a><\/em><\/strong> was published ten years ago this fall. Now Davis, literary curator of the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University, has produced a selective treasury of Dobie\u2019s writing, The Essential J. Frank Dobie<\/a><\/em><\/strong> (Texas A&M University Press, $28 hardcover).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/span><\/span>Davis said, while working on the biography, \u201cI\u2019d often come across passages of his that struck me as really fine writing. I began to save some of these and share them with family and friends.\u201d Eventually that led to this new collection touting one of Texas\u2019s most beloved, but also controversial, native writers and folklorists. Some of the pieces are from Dobie\u2019s published books, while others have never been published in book form before.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Most of the forty-plus pieces are very short, grouped in nine sections ranging from \u201cCoyote Wisdom\u201d and \u201cWild and Free\u201d to \u201cEurope Amid Two World Wars\u201d to \u201cTexas Needs Brains\u201d and \u201cLife and Literature of the Southwest,\u201d the course for which he was well known as a University of Texas professor before he was forced out in 1947 for his political views.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cDobie helped rescue the Longhorn and bighorn sheep from extinction in Texas,\u201d writes Davis, and \u201chelped inspire Big Bend National Park and Padre Island National Seashore.\u201d During and after World War II, he wrote about the war in Europe and its aftermath, then \u201ccame back to Texas to take on governors, senators, university regents\u2013anyone who was an enemy to intellectual freedom or denied equal opportunities to others.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Though Dobie died in 1964 at age seventy-five, his writing lives on through the books he published and now through The Essential J. Frank Dobie<\/em>, which launches the new Wittliff Collection Literary Series for Texas A&M Press.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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How did Austin become weird? <\/span><\/strong>You only have to look at the subtitle of Joe Nick Patoski\u2019s modern history of Austin to ATX<\/a><\/em><\/strong> to get the flavor of the book: \u201cThe Hippies, Pickers, Slackers & Geeks Who Transformed the Capital of Texas.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Patoski is one of Texas\u2019s most colorful and prolific storytellers, author of acclaimed books on Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Selena, the Dallas Cowboys, high school football, Big Bend, Texas mountains, and the Texas coast.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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In Austin to ATX<\/em> (Texas A&M University Press, $32 hardcover), Patoski weaves tales dealing with the home of the Armadillo, Austin City Limits, Whole Foods Market, South by Southwest, Keeping Austin Weird, On the Road Again with Willie, and much more. Patoski, a thorough researcher and lively chronicler, makes Austin\u2019s story come alive through the voices of those who have witnessed its transformation firsthand. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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