This major work on Texas politics explores the complicated relations between the politically disorganized Texas blue-collar class and the “rich and the fabulously rich,” whose interests have been protected by “brilliant practitioners of horse trading, guile, the jovial but serious threat, the offer that can’t be refused.”
"Davidson's iconoclastic work dashes most of [the] stereotypes while capturing the driving agents and paradoxes of Texas politics.... This book is an excellent read for students of state and local government, party politics, and ideology."—American Political Science Review
"Required reading for anyone committed to understanding the forces that really shape American politics."—Sara Frankel, San Francisco Examiner
"An entertaining and insightful depiction of the fascinating character of Texas politics."—John H. Tull, Jr., Dallas News
"This book will be hailed as the best work to date on Texas politics, and it will be as valid in 2020 as in 1990."—Joe B. Frantz, Corpus Christi State University, former Director of the Texas State Historical Association
