The Dallas Myth

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The Dallas Myth

The Making and Unmaking of an American City

Harvey J. Graff

PRESS:
Dallas Observer review
H-Urban review
Planetizen review
San Antonio Express News review

Table of Contents

$34.95 cloth/jacket
ISBN: 978-0-8166-5269-3
ISBN-10: 0-8166-5269-4

An unconventional-and critical-examination of “the city with no past”

The ninth largest city in the United States, Dallas is exceptional among American cities for the claims of its elites and boosters that it is a “city with no limits” and a “city with no history.” Home to the Dallas Cowboys, self-styled as “America’s Team,” setting for the television series that glamorized its values of self-invention and success, and site of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Dallas looms disproportionately large in the American imagination. Yet it lacks an identity of its own.

In The Dallas Myth, Harvey J. Graff presents a novel interpretation of a city that has proudly declared its freedom from the past. He scrutinizes the city’s origin myth and its governance ideology, known as the “Dallas Way,” looking at how these elements have shaped Dallas and served to limit democratic participation and exacerbate inequality. Advancing beyond a traditional historical perspective, Graff proposes an original, integrative understanding of the city’s urban fabric and offers an explicit critique of the reactionary political foundations of modern Dallas: its tolerance for right-wing political violence, the endemic racism and xenophobia, and a planning model that privileges growth and monumental architecture at the expense of the environment and social justice.

Revealing the power of myths that have defined the city for so long, Graff presents a new interpretation of Dallas that both deepens our understanding of America’s urban landscape and enables its residents to envision a more equitable, humane, and democratic future for all.

“Graff does a great job. I think he’s spot on.” —The Dallas Observer

“The Dallas Myth is an articulate and intelligently argued deconstruction of the ninth largest city in the United States.” —Canadian Journal of Sociology

Harvey J. Graff is Ohio Eminent Scholar in Literacy Studies and professor of English and history at Ohio State University. Among his books are The Literacy Myth and Conflicting Paths: Growing Up in America.

400 pages | 51 b&w photos, 2 maps, 1 table | 6 x 9 | 2008

TABLE OF 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

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The Dallas Myth *The Making and Unmaking of an American City* Harvey J. Graff PRESS: Dallas Observer review H-Urban review Planetizen review San Antonio Express News review Table of Contents		$34.95 cloth/jacket ISBN: 978-0-8166-5269-3 ISBN-10: 0-8166-5269-4
An unconventional-and critical-examination of “the city with no past” The ninth largest city in the United States, Dallas is exceptional among American cities for the claims of its elites and boosters that it is a “city with no limits” and a “city with no history.” Home to the Dallas Cowboys, self-styled as “America’s Team,” setting for the television series that glamorized its values of self-invention and success, and site of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Dallas looms disproportionately large in the American imagination. Yet it lacks an identity of its own. In The Dallas Myth, Harvey J. Graff presents a novel interpretation of a city that has proudly declared its freedom from the past. He scrutinizes the city’s origin myth and its governance ideology, known as the “Dallas Way,” looking at how these elements have shaped Dallas and served to limit democratic participation and exacerbate inequality. Advancing beyond a traditional historical perspective, Graff proposes an original, integrative understanding of the city’s urban fabric and offers an explicit critique of the reactionary political foundations of modern Dallas: its tolerance for right-wing political violence, the endemic racism and xenophobia, and a planning model that privileges growth and monumental architecture at the expense of the environment and social justice. Revealing the power of myths that have defined the city for so long, Graff presents a new interpretation of Dallas that both deepens our understanding of America’s urban landscape and enables its residents to envision a more equitable, humane, and democratic future for all. “Graff does a great job. I think he’s spot on.” —The Dallas Observer “The Dallas Myth is an articulate and intelligently argued deconstruction of the ninth largest city in the United States.” —Canadian Journal of Sociology Harvey J. Graff is Ohio Eminent Scholar in Literacy Studies and professor of English and history at Ohio State University. Among his books are The Literacy Myth and Conflicting Paths: Growing Up in America. 400 pages \| 51 b&w photos, 2 maps, 1 table \| 6 x 9 \| 2008 TABLE OF 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