The Gay Place [Paperback]

Billy Lee Brammer (Author), Don Graham (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1995

Set in Texas, The Gay Place consists of three interlocking novels, each with a different protagonist--a member of the state legislature, the state's junior senator, and the governor's press secretary. The governor himself, Arthur Fenstemaker, a master politician, infinitely canny and seductive, remains the dominant figure throughout. Billy Lee Brammer--who served on Lyndon Johnson's staff--gives us here "the excitement of a political carnival: the sideshows, the freaks, and the ghoulish comedy atmosphere" (Saturday Review). Originally published in 1961, The Gay Place is at once a cult classic and a major American novel.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The best novel about American politics in our time. (Willie Morris )

There are two classic American political novels. One is All the King's Men. . . . the other is The Gay Place, a stunning , original, intensely human novel inspired by Lyndon Johnson. . . . It will be read a hundred years from now. (David Halberstam New York Times Book Review )

An American classic in which a Johnsonian figure named Arthur 'Goddam' Fenstemaker strides through the pages, large, earthy, intelligent, threatening, working it seemed more often on the side of the angels than against them. (Gore Vidal )

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: University of Texas Press (1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0292708319
• ISBN-13: 978-0292708310
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #365,091 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hot, sexy, historically acurate novel about Texas politics, March 5, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Gay Place (Paperback)

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.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Real LBJ, July 27, 2002

By 

Fiona Foster (Maryland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gay Place (Paperback)

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.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous reading, February 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Gay Place (Paperback)

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.