The Dallas Myth

"The Dallas Myth is a terrific book-bold, persuasive, and important. ... It is interesting how Dallas emerges with a personality, almost like a character in a story." -Michael B. Katz "The Dallas Myth is an entertaining and meditative reflection on history and the imagination, written with the clear, grounded intelligence of a leading historian at the top of his game." -Michael Frisch, author of Portraits in Steel "Harvey Graff begins by telling us that living in Dallas challenged all that he knew about cities. This richly-researched and beautifully-written book does the same for the rest of us. Its provocative historical analysis of space, growth, economics, politics, culture, and memory offers an uncommonly lucid account of inequality, segregation, and their denial." -Ira Katznelson, author of When Affirmative Action Was White

Harvey J. Graff is Ohio Eminent Scholar in Literacy Studies and professor of English and history at The Ohio State University. He is the author of numerous books on urban studies, literacy, and the history of children and adolescence, including The Legacies of Literacy: Continuities and Contradictions in Western Culture and Society, The Labyrinths of Literacy: Reflections on Literacy Past and Present, and Conflicting Paths: Growing Up in America.

Contents Preface: Finding Myself in Dallas Acknowledgments Introduction PART I. SEARCHING FOR DALLAS 1. Locating the City: Three Icons and Images of "Big D" 2. Constructing a City with No Limits 3. Revising Dallas's Histories PART II. UNDERSTANDING DALLAS 4. The Dallas Way 5. Tales of Two Cities, North and South, in White, Black, and Brown 6. Mimetic and Monumental Development: Memories Lost and Images Found 7. A City at the Crossroads: Dallas at the Tipping Point Appendix A. Dallas's Historical Development Appendix B. Chronology of Dallas History Notes Index