CALVIN TRILLIN has been a staff writer for the New Yorker since 1963. Since 1990, he has also been the Nation’s “deadline poet.” He is the author of twenty-seven books.

Whatever the subject-whether "high" or "low"-Trillin writes exquisitely. (Kirkus Reviews) [A] rare treat...There’s a lot to like here: larger-than-life tales of the book dealer Johnny Jenkins and Jekyll-and-Hyde movie critics John Bloom and Joe Bob Briggs, micro-histories about cheerleaders and ethnic identity in Crystal City, and a mysterious load of cash intercepted in Waco...What's not to love? (Texas Monthly)

• IntroductionBy Meat AloneThe DynasticksMystery MoneyBad LanguageScouting SleepersConfessions of a Speechwriter/And Especially to Pickens, S.C.Knowing Johnny JenkinsIf the Boot Fits . . .New CheerleadersWhose Mines Are They?Not Super-OutrageousThree Texans in Six LinesMaking AdjustmentsPresidential Ups and Downs: Washington Pundits Take Their Analytical Skills to the RanchThe Life and Times of Joe Bob Briggs, So FarOne Texan in Eight LinesReformerMolly Ivins, R.I.P.Credits

CALVIN TRILLIN has been a staff writer for the New Yorker since 1963. Since 1990, he has also been the Nation’s “deadline poet.” He is the author of twenty-seven books.

Whatever the subject-whether "high" or "low"-Trillin writes exquisitely. (Kirkus Reviews) [A] rare treat...There’s a lot to like here: larger-than-life tales of the book dealer Johnny Jenkins and Jekyll-and-Hyde movie critics John Bloom and Joe Bob Briggs, micro-histories about cheerleaders and ethnic identity in Crystal City, and a mysterious load of cash intercepted in Waco...What's not to love? (Texas Monthly)

• IntroductionBy Meat AloneThe DynasticksMystery MoneyBad LanguageScouting SleepersConfessions of a Speechwriter/And Especially to Pickens, S.C.Knowing Johnny JenkinsIf the Boot Fits . . .New CheerleadersWhose Mines Are They?Not Super-OutrageousThree Texans in Six LinesMaking AdjustmentsPresidential Ups and Downs: Washington Pundits Take Their Analytical Skills to the RanchThe Life and Times of Joe Bob Briggs, So FarOne Texan in Eight LinesReformerMolly Ivins, R.I.P.Credits

CALVIN TRILLIN has been a staff writer for the New Yorker since 1963. Since 1990, he has also been the Nation’s “deadline poet.” He is the author of twenty-seven books.

Whatever the subject-whether "high" or "low"-Trillin writes exquisitely. (Kirkus Reviews) [A] rare treat...There’s a lot to like here: larger-than-life tales of the book dealer Johnny Jenkins and Jekyll-and-Hyde movie critics John Bloom and Joe Bob Briggs, micro-histories about cheerleaders and ethnic identity in Crystal City, and a mysterious load of cash intercepted in Waco...What's not to love? (Texas Monthly)

• IntroductionBy Meat AloneThe DynasticksMystery MoneyBad LanguageScouting SleepersConfessions of a Speechwriter/And Especially to Pickens, S.C.Knowing Johnny JenkinsIf the Boot Fits . . .New CheerleadersWhose Mines Are They?Not Super-OutrageousThree Texans in Six LinesMaking AdjustmentsPresidential Ups and Downs: Washington Pundits Take Their Analytical Skills to the RanchThe Life and Times of Joe Bob Briggs, So FarOne Texan in Eight LinesReformerMolly Ivins, R.I.P.Credits