The Gay Place: Being Three Related Novels

Rating:
Summary: The Real LBJ
Review: 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 cost on those who pursue it. All this is conveyed with humor, sympathy and a clear-eyed vision of the American scene of the 60's.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Book
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.

Rating:
Summary: Hot, sexy, historically acurate novel about Texas politics
Review: Written by a former member of President LBJ's staff. It's no secret that Lady Bird Johnson did not like this "too close to home" novel that most say was based in part on her famous husband.

However, the true gem in these pages is an acurate account of the style of Texas politics during this time period. It honestly reflects what life in this arena was like from someone who was there to see it for himself.

When this novel was released, the author Billy Lee Brammer was touted as the next great American writer. That prediction never came true due to the tragedy in the author's own life. We are left with this first work and a wonder of what might have followed had the author's life followed a more positive path.

Newcomers to Texas politics are often told to read The Gay Place if they want to understand Texas politics and a land where politics is best described by the words of former Governor Ann Richards...."IN TEXAS...POLITICS IS A CONTACT SPORT!"

This story tells of a state where men and women most often rise to the top through their intelligence and skill and not their bloodline. It certainly is not a tale of wealthy trust-fund princes who merely walk through doors open by their fathers.

You can feel the humid summer heat of Austin and the sexy passion of it's people as these pages unfold. While this wonderful city has changed dramatically in the past thirty years, you can still find many of the story's locations full of Texas politicos and their groupies. A well written and entertaining novel.