Texas Red Legend

In deeply conservative states like Texas, politics is conducted on the fallacy that these states have always been conservative, which makes proposing a progressive alternative foolish, even a fantasy. The Legend of Red Texas, David Griscom's first book, reevaluates this misconception, arguing that the Texas left must embrace its hidden past to reach a brighter future. Cowboys on strike, socialists running for office, farmers fighting fiercely for what they called the “cooperative commonwealth” — Texas was once a hotbed of radicals bent on wresting power from the tycoons who then ruled the country. With a keen eye for history, Griscom shows how Texas parties on the left, from populists to socialists, organized against the right, how they often won—and how reclaiming that legacy can help today's left break political gridlock in Texas and beyond.