A Small Town in Texas

Reflections on Growing up in the ’50s and ’60s

By Glenn Dromgoole

Now available

1-880510-86-3 cloth $17.95

5 1/2 by 8 1/2. 154 pp.

Texas Heritage Series: Number Four

Turbulence and change marked life in the 1950s and ’60s

The thirty-three stories in this collection touch on changes that affected not only residents of small towns, but virtually all Americans, in the ‘50s and ‘60s -- changes in race relations, family mobility, music, cars, sports, religion, politics, technology, even food.

Set in a small town in Southeast Texas -- Sour Lake (population 1,600) -- the essays engage memories of simpler times and explore what may be of lasting value from that era.

Stories deal with such varied topics as blue jeans, pizza, communism, the first Volkswagen in town, visiting the Queen of England, the Kennedy assassination, growing up in a segregated world, wet-dry elections, the influence of a one-armed coach, and why so many people in small towns are called by their first and middle names, like Linda Sue, Bobby Joe, and Carl Wayne.

A Small Town in Texas is published by State House Press, part of the Texas A&M University Press Consortium. Based at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas, State House Press publishes books on Texas and Texas history.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: GLENN DROMGOOLE is managing editor of McWhiney/State House Press and reviews Texas books for eight daily newspapers. Dromgoole is author of ten books, including the national best-seller What Dogs Teach Us.

TO SCHEDULE AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR: Contact Carly Kahl at 325/793-4697 or by e-mail at ckahl@mcm.edu.

State House Press is a member of the Texas A&M University Press Consortium and is operated by the Grady McWhiney Research Foundation in Abilene, Texas. For further information on A Small Town in Texas: Reflections on Growing up in the ‘50s and ‘60s or other State House Press titles, please contact Carly Kahl at (325) 793-4697, by e-mail at ckahl@mcm.edu or visit the web, www.tamu.edu/upress/MCWHINEY/mcgen.html