The Gay Place

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and can see why it holds such an esteemed place in Texas letters, even though Texas is not mentioned once. Very Fitzgeraldian, only apropo as FSF was Billy Lee Brammer's favorite novelist. The book is all about its characters but i think what fascinates me most is the time period in which it takes place, the late 1950's, a time that was a-changing, when idealistic young political liberals were... Read Full Review

This is a wonderful trilogy of novels on state politics. Though they seem disjointed, they are unified around the shadowy figure of the governor, who lurks in the background manipulating people and events down to the minutest detail. Thus, the immediate action taking place is a kind of epiphenomenon, all players that are living chess pieces in the governor's grand game, which is never fully explained: that is the real art... Read Full Review

Not just LBJ, this book is about politics and the ways of power. Very well written, insightful and lyric, it might be the best kept secret in political fiction. On a side note--man did people drink a lot then. Its amazing.Anyone who loves writing and politics will enjoy this book.

In the 500 plus pages of this remarkable trilogy, Billy Lee Brammer does more to explicate and evaluate American politics, especially Texas politics and even more especially, populist politics as practiced by Lyndon B.Johnson, than all the ponderous Caro-type analyses that weigh us down blur the color and cloy the flavor. More than a portrait of LBJ, the book is an artful depiction of the lure of politics and its terrible... Read Full Review

A wonderful trilogy. This is a gem of a book, and desrves a much wider audience than it's received to this point (but then, it's only been in print for 37 years). Not only is it a masterful series of short novels about politics, it also does a wonderful job of capturing the feel of a time and place.