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Texas Literary Outlaws: Six Writers in the Sixties and Beyond
At the height of the sixties, a group of Texas writers stood apart from Texas’ conservative establishment. Calling themselves the Mad Dogs, these six writers—Bud Shrake, Larry L. King, Billy Lee Brammer, Gary Cartwright, Dan Jenkins, and Peter Gent—closely observed the effects of the Vietnam War; the Kennedy assassination; the rapid population shift from rural to urban environments; Lyndon Johnson’s rise to national prominence; the Civil Rights Movement; Tom Landry and the Dallas Cowboys; Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, the new Outlaw music scene; the birth of a Texas film industry; Texas Monthly magazine; the flowering of “Texas Chic”; and Ann Richards’ election as governor.
In Texas Literary Outlaws , Steven L. Davis makes extensive use of untapped literary archives to weave a fascinating portrait of writers who came of age during a period of rapid social change. With Davis’s eye for vibrant detail and a broad historical perspective, Texas Literary Outlaws moves easily between H. L. Hunt’s Dallas mansion and the West Texas oil patch, from the New York literary salon of Elaine’s to the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, from Dennis Hopper on a film set in Mexico to Jerry Jeff Walker crashing a party at Princeton University. The Mad Dogs were less interested in Texas’ mythic past than in the world they knew firsthand—a place of fast-growing cities and hard-edged political battles.
The Mad Dogs crashed headfirst into the sixties, and their legendary excesses have often overshadowed their literary production. Davis never shies away from criticism in this no-holds-barred account, yet he also shows how the Mad Dogs’ rambunctious personae have deflected a true understanding of their deeper aims. Despite their popular image, the Mad Dogs were deadly serious as they turned their gaze on their home state, and they chronicled Texas culture with daring, wit, and sophistication.
In Texas Literary Outlaws , Steven L. Davis makes extensive use of untapped literary archives to weave a fascinating portrait of writers who came of age during a period of rapid social change. With Davis’s eye for vibrant detail and a broad historical perspective, Texas Literary Outlaws moves easily between H. L. Hunt’s Dallas mansion and the West Texas oil patch, from the New York literary salon of Elaine’s to the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, from Dennis Hopper on a film set in Mexico to Jerry Jeff Walker crashing a party at Princeton University. The Mad Dogs were less interested in Texas’ mythic past than in the world they knew firsthand—a place of fast-growing cities and hard-edged political battles.
The Mad Dogs crashed headfirst into the sixties, and their legendary excesses have often overshadowed their literary production. Davis never shies away from criticism in this no-holds-barred account, yet he also shows how the Mad Dogs’ rambunctious personae have deflected a true understanding of their deeper aims. Despite their popular image, the Mad Dogs were deadly serious as they turned their gaze on their home state, and they chronicled Texas culture with daring, wit, and sophistication.
- GenresBiography
512 pages, Hardcover
First published May 14, 2004
4 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Steven L. Davis
8 books13 followersSteven L. Davis is a PEN USA award-winning author of four books and the editor of two more. His new book, co-written with Bill Minutaglio, is THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: Timothy Leary, Richard Nixon & the Hunt for the Fugitive King of LSD.
He is the current President of the Texas Institute of Letters, founded in 1936 with an elected membership consisting of the state’s most respected writers. He is considered "one of Texas' leading scholars of its indigenous culture" and his writing has been described as "lively," "groundbreaking," and "illuminating."
His previous books include Dallas 1963, co-written with Bill Minutaglio and winner of the PEN USA Award for Research Nonfiction. He is also the author of the acclaimed books, J. Frank Dobie: A Liberated Mind and Texas Literary Outlaws: Six Writers in the Sixties and Beyond.
He is a longtime curator at the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University in San Marcos, which holds the literary papers of many major authors. He has developed and curated over 30 exhibitions at the Wittliff. He has been a Series Editor for the University of Texas Press and helped develop several books for publication. He is the editor of Land of the Permanent Wave: An Edwin "Bud" Shrake Reader and co-editor of Lone Star Sleuths: Mystery-Detective Fiction in Texas.
He is married to the artist and historian Georgia Ruiz Davis and lives with his family in the Texas Hill Country.
He is the current President of the Texas Institute of Letters, founded in 1936 with an elected membership consisting of the state’s most respected writers. He is considered "one of Texas' leading scholars of its indigenous culture" and his writing has been described as "lively," "groundbreaking," and "illuminating."
His previous books include Dallas 1963, co-written with Bill Minutaglio and winner of the PEN USA Award for Research Nonfiction. He is also the author of the acclaimed books, J. Frank Dobie: A Liberated Mind and Texas Literary Outlaws: Six Writers in the Sixties and Beyond.
He is a longtime curator at the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University in San Marcos, which holds the literary papers of many major authors. He has developed and curated over 30 exhibitions at the Wittliff. He has been a Series Editor for the University of Texas Press and helped develop several books for publication. He is the editor of Land of the Permanent Wave: An Edwin "Bud" Shrake Reader and co-editor of Lone Star Sleuths: Mystery-Detective Fiction in Texas.
He is married to the artist and historian Georgia Ruiz Davis and lives with his family in the Texas Hill Country.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 28, 2014
"Texas Literary Outlaws: Six Writers in the Sixties and Beyond," published in 2004, is a survey of the lives and works of six writers, all friends, who put their state on the literary map for the first time, and had a rip-roaring good time while doing it. It seems that the only things they took seriously were friendship, partying, and writing.
Steven L. Davis’ account is thoroughly researched and well written. Even though it is a scholarly work, it reads like a good novel.
THE WRITERS.
1). BILLY LEE BRAMMER
Given the fact that this group of good ol' boys burned the candle at both ends, it is difficult to believe how they were able to accomplish much writing. But they did, with one exception: Billy Lee Brammer.
Born in Dallas in 1929, Brammer published his only book, "The Gay Place," in 1961 when he was only thirty-one years old. Although the word gay was beginning to take on a sexual connotation at the time, it was used here in its more traditional sense. Brammer’s writing was greatly influenced by F. Scott Fitzgerald and the title comes from a Fitzgerald poem: “I know a gay place/Nobody knows.
Depicting life in Austin during the fifties, it has been called Texas’ first urban novel. It consists of three novellas that are linked together by the character of Governor Arthur “Goddamn” Fenstermaker, who was obviously based on Lyndon B. Johnson.
As the years went by, Brammer became more and more addicted to hard drugs and though he was able to write an occasional magazine article, he was never able to finish another book. He died from a drug overdose in 1978. He was forty-eight years old.
It was a tremendous waste of talent, but as Davis writes, it was Brammer who showed the way for his five friends.
2). DAN JENKINS
Born in Ft. Worth in 1929, Jenkins is the most famous of the six. He left Texas and took a job with a fledgling sports magazine called Sports Illustrated and stayed with them for twenty-four years. He specialized in stories about golf and college football and eventually became the magazine’s star writer.
In 1972, Jenkins published his first novel, "Semi-Tough," a comedic romp about the adventures of two NFL players. It became a bestseller and was later made into a hit movie starring Burt Reynolds and Kris Kristofferson.
Now retired from SI, Jenkins has written more than twenty books, his latest being "His Ownself: A Semi-Memoir."
3). LARRY L. KING
No, not that Larry King. I’m talking about the writer, you know, the talented Larry King.
He was also born in 1929, but way out in the western part of the state, near the little town of Putnam. His only novel, "The One-Eyed Man" – based on a character similar to Louisiana governor Earl Long – did not receive many good reviews and did not do much business. (I read it years ago and remember liking it. I have a copy and hope to re-read it in order to see if I missed something.)
King made his mark originally as one of the country’s most respected magazine writers. However, he is the only writer to be nominated for a National Book Award (for non-fiction), a Broadway Tony, and a TV Emmy.
The play for which King received his Tony nomination was “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.” He protested the fact that it was turned into a musical (he lost the argument) and he protested when Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton were cast in the lead roles when it was filmed by Hollywood (he lost the argument).
To his dismay, it also became his best-known work. He knew that it probably would be the lead when his obituary was written. It was.
King died in 2012 at age eighty-three.
4). GARY CARTWRIGHT
He was born in Dallas in 1934. He began his career as a police reporter before becoming a sportswriter. At one time, the Fort Worth Press employed Cartwright, Dan Jenkins, and Bud Shrake in their sports department under the leadership of another legendary Texas sportswriter, Blackie Sherrod.
After he left the newspaper business, Cartwright became a freelance writer whose work was primarily published in magazines. His novels were not critical successes, but in later years he published two successful true crime books set in Texas: "Blood Will Tell" and "Dirty Dealing."
5). PETER GENT (pronounced ‘Jent’)
George Davis Peter Gent is somewhat of an outlier. For one thing, he was born in Michigan, not Texas. He was a four-sport star in high school and was later a star basketball player at Michigan State.
Although he was drafted by the NBA’s Baltimore Bullets, he accepted a try out invitation from the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. Despite not playing college football, the Cowboys signed him as a wide receiver. Ironically, he played opposite Bob Hayes, who also did not play college football, but was an Olympic sprinter. Also on the team was another basketball player, Cornell Green, who played defensive back.
Gent’s NFL career, primarily because of injuries, lasted only five years. But after his retirement, he continued to make his home in Dallas and he became friends with the five writers. Because of their encouragement, especially that of Shrake, he decided to write a football novel. Five years after he played his last game, he published "North Dallas Forty," which was a critical and commercial success.
Whereas Dan Jenkins had approached the game with a whimsical eye, Gent took off the gloves and blasted the Cowboys and the NFL in general for what he felt were dehumanizing practices that drove players to drug addiction in order to fight the pain they experienced. The two main characters in the novel are a pass receiver (based on Gent) and a quarterback (based on his buddy, Don Meredith). They are the good guys. The bad guys are the coach (based on the legendary Tom Landry) and the general manager (based on Tex Schramm).
In 1979, the novel was filmed with Nick Nolte as the wide receiver and singer Mac Davis, yes Mac Davis, as the quarterback. Not only was it a hit, but the game action scenes are some of the best Hollywood ever produced – perhaps the best ever.
After his huge success with both his novel and film, Gent continued to write and later published three more novels, but none enjoyed the success of his debut. Eventually Gent returned to Michigan and died there in 2011.
6). EDWIN "BUD" SHRAKE
Bud Shrake was born in Ft. Worth in 1931. He attended high school with Dan Jenkins and they became friends while writing for the school newspaper. Shrake followed Jenkins in the newspaper business to Ft. Worth and Dallas and then to Sports Illusrtrated.
Shrake, an extremely versatile writer, was a sportswriter, police reporter, magazine writer, biographer, screenwriter, playwright, and novelist. Davis also gives him the highest marks among the six when it comes to talent.
None of his ten novels experienced commercial success, but two have become cult classics. "Blessed McGill," published in 1968, was his third novel and is considered to be his best. The story is narrated by one Peter Hermano McGill, a half-Irish, half-Spanish adventurer who roamed the American southwest and Mexico in the years after the Civil War. Although McGill is self-educated, he is a good writer and a great storyteller who weaves his life story through flashback episodes that are not always related in chronological order. True, that narrative device has the effect of keeping the reader in the dark and guessing at times, but in the end, everything falls into place and the reader learns why the nickname "Blessed" is bestowed upon him; but I'm not telling.
In his review of the book, Larry McMurtry called it a “black-humor” Western.
The other cult favorite is "Strange Peaches." Published in 1972, the semi-autobiographical novel is set in Dallas just before and just after the assassination of JFK. The two main characters are patterned on Shrake and his friend Gary Cartwright.
I also recommend Shrake’s "The Borderland" and "Custer's Brother's Horse."
Steven L. Davis’ account is thoroughly researched and well written. Even though it is a scholarly work, it reads like a good novel.
THE WRITERS.
1). BILLY LEE BRAMMER
Given the fact that this group of good ol' boys burned the candle at both ends, it is difficult to believe how they were able to accomplish much writing. But they did, with one exception: Billy Lee Brammer.
Born in Dallas in 1929, Brammer published his only book, "The Gay Place," in 1961 when he was only thirty-one years old. Although the word gay was beginning to take on a sexual connotation at the time, it was used here in its more traditional sense. Brammer’s writing was greatly influenced by F. Scott Fitzgerald and the title comes from a Fitzgerald poem: “I know a gay place/Nobody knows.
Depicting life in Austin during the fifties, it has been called Texas’ first urban novel. It consists of three novellas that are linked together by the character of Governor Arthur “Goddamn” Fenstermaker, who was obviously based on Lyndon B. Johnson.
As the years went by, Brammer became more and more addicted to hard drugs and though he was able to write an occasional magazine article, he was never able to finish another book. He died from a drug overdose in 1978. He was forty-eight years old.
It was a tremendous waste of talent, but as Davis writes, it was Brammer who showed the way for his five friends.
2). DAN JENKINS
Born in Ft. Worth in 1929, Jenkins is the most famous of the six. He left Texas and took a job with a fledgling sports magazine called Sports Illustrated and stayed with them for twenty-four years. He specialized in stories about golf and college football and eventually became the magazine’s star writer.
In 1972, Jenkins published his first novel, "Semi-Tough," a comedic romp about the adventures of two NFL players. It became a bestseller and was later made into a hit movie starring Burt Reynolds and Kris Kristofferson.
Now retired from SI, Jenkins has written more than twenty books, his latest being "His Ownself: A Semi-Memoir."
3). LARRY L. KING
No, not that Larry King. I’m talking about the writer, you know, the talented Larry King.
He was also born in 1929, but way out in the western part of the state, near the little town of Putnam. His only novel, "The One-Eyed Man" – based on a character similar to Louisiana governor Earl Long – did not receive many good reviews and did not do much business. (I read it years ago and remember liking it. I have a copy and hope to re-read it in order to see if I missed something.)
King made his mark originally as one of the country’s most respected magazine writers. However, he is the only writer to be nominated for a National Book Award (for non-fiction), a Broadway Tony, and a TV Emmy.
The play for which King received his Tony nomination was “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.” He protested the fact that it was turned into a musical (he lost the argument) and he protested when Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton were cast in the lead roles when it was filmed by Hollywood (he lost the argument).
To his dismay, it also became his best-known work. He knew that it probably would be the lead when his obituary was written. It was.
King died in 2012 at age eighty-three.
4). GARY CARTWRIGHT
He was born in Dallas in 1934. He began his career as a police reporter before becoming a sportswriter. At one time, the Fort Worth Press employed Cartwright, Dan Jenkins, and Bud Shrake in their sports department under the leadership of another legendary Texas sportswriter, Blackie Sherrod.
After he left the newspaper business, Cartwright became a freelance writer whose work was primarily published in magazines. His novels were not critical successes, but in later years he published two successful true crime books set in Texas: "Blood Will Tell" and "Dirty Dealing."
5). PETER GENT (pronounced ‘Jent’)
George Davis Peter Gent is somewhat of an outlier. For one thing, he was born in Michigan, not Texas. He was a four-sport star in high school and was later a star basketball player at Michigan State.
Although he was drafted by the NBA’s Baltimore Bullets, he accepted a try out invitation from the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. Despite not playing college football, the Cowboys signed him as a wide receiver. Ironically, he played opposite Bob Hayes, who also did not play college football, but was an Olympic sprinter. Also on the team was another basketball player, Cornell Green, who played defensive back.
Gent’s NFL career, primarily because of injuries, lasted only five years. But after his retirement, he continued to make his home in Dallas and he became friends with the five writers. Because of their encouragement, especially that of Shrake, he decided to write a football novel. Five years after he played his last game, he published "North Dallas Forty," which was a critical and commercial success.
Whereas Dan Jenkins had approached the game with a whimsical eye, Gent took off the gloves and blasted the Cowboys and the NFL in general for what he felt were dehumanizing practices that drove players to drug addiction in order to fight the pain they experienced. The two main characters in the novel are a pass receiver (based on Gent) and a quarterback (based on his buddy, Don Meredith). They are the good guys. The bad guys are the coach (based on the legendary Tom Landry) and the general manager (based on Tex Schramm).
In 1979, the novel was filmed with Nick Nolte as the wide receiver and singer Mac Davis, yes Mac Davis, as the quarterback. Not only was it a hit, but the game action scenes are some of the best Hollywood ever produced – perhaps the best ever.
After his huge success with both his novel and film, Gent continued to write and later published three more novels, but none enjoyed the success of his debut. Eventually Gent returned to Michigan and died there in 2011.
6). EDWIN "BUD" SHRAKE
Bud Shrake was born in Ft. Worth in 1931. He attended high school with Dan Jenkins and they became friends while writing for the school newspaper. Shrake followed Jenkins in the newspaper business to Ft. Worth and Dallas and then to Sports Illusrtrated.
Shrake, an extremely versatile writer, was a sportswriter, police reporter, magazine writer, biographer, screenwriter, playwright, and novelist. Davis also gives him the highest marks among the six when it comes to talent.
None of his ten novels experienced commercial success, but two have become cult classics. "Blessed McGill," published in 1968, was his third novel and is considered to be his best. The story is narrated by one Peter Hermano McGill, a half-Irish, half-Spanish adventurer who roamed the American southwest and Mexico in the years after the Civil War. Although McGill is self-educated, he is a good writer and a great storyteller who weaves his life story through flashback episodes that are not always related in chronological order. True, that narrative device has the effect of keeping the reader in the dark and guessing at times, but in the end, everything falls into place and the reader learns why the nickname "Blessed" is bestowed upon him; but I'm not telling.
In his review of the book, Larry McMurtry called it a “black-humor” Western.
The other cult favorite is "Strange Peaches." Published in 1972, the semi-autobiographical novel is set in Dallas just before and just after the assassination of JFK. The two main characters are patterned on Shrake and his friend Gary Cartwright.
I also recommend Shrake’s "The Borderland" and "Custer's Brother's Horse."
June 18, 2023
Most kick-ass, shit-kicking book I’ve read in a long time. Six brilliant, flawed, gonzo writers who blazed trails that opened up Texas letters. For me, I give this book the following high praise: it created a long reading list for me. More Shrake!
February 6, 2008
This was a great stroll down the streets of Austin in the 70s when I was an undergraduate. These guys were the coolest, hippest writers around. Wow the underbelly is ugly (and fun!).
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews