The collection begins with a twist on book introductions that sets the tone for the essays to come -- a self-interview conducted poolside at an eccentric Houston motel favored by regional rock bands. The following essays are organized into four parts -- Places, Pages, Polemics, and Pictures.Graham provides a rich sampling of his knowledge of Texas literature and movies in pieces that blanket the territory from Katherine Anne Porter to John Graves and Larry McMurtry and from moo-cow cattle-drive epics to soggy Alamo sagas to urban cowboy melodrama.