![Olympic gymnast Simone Biles prepares for the Rio Olympics.](https://img.texasmonthly.com/2016/06/simone-biles-rio-olympics-2.jpg?auto=compress&crop=faces&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=0&ixlib=php-3.3.1&q=45&w=270)
July 2016 Issue
![Larry McMurtry](https://www.texasmonthly.com/https://img.texasmonthly.com/2016/06/larry-mcmurtry-opener1.jpg?auto=compress&crop=faces&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=0&ixlib=php-3.3.1&q=45&w=750 750w)
Features
![Olympic gymnast Simone Biles prepares for the Rio Olympics.](https://img.texasmonthly.com/2016/06/simone-biles-rio-olympics-2.jpg?auto=compress&crop=faces&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=0&ixlib=php-3.3.1&q=45&w=270)
![](https://img.texasmonthly.com/2016/06/spoiler-alert-steve-carbone-opener2.jpg?auto=compress&crop=faces&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=0&ixlib=php-3.3.1&q=45&w=270)
#SpoilerAlert
To whom will the Bachelorette’s final rose go this season? Blogger Steve Carbone makes it his business to know—and tell his 1.5 million readers.
![](https://img.texasmonthly.com/2021/03/Larry-mcmurtry-books.jpg?auto=compress&crop=faces&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=0&ixlib=php-3.3.1&q=45&w=270)
McMurtry’s Best
Lonesome Dove aside, here are the indispensable titles every Texan should have on his or her bookshelf.
![](https://img.texasmonthly.com/2016/06/republicans-great-divide1.jpg?auto=compress&crop=faces&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=0&ixlib=php-3.3.1&q=45&w=270)
The Great Divide
After this disorienting election season, what path is left for Texas conservatives? Who is leading the party? And what on earth to make of Donald Trump? A few insights from the state Republican convention.
Columns
![Robert Irwin's yet-to-be named project.](https://img.texasmonthly.com/2016/06/column-art-miracle-desert-robert-irwin-installation-marfa.jpg?auto=compress&crop=faces&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=0&ixlib=php-3.3.1&q=45&w=270)
Miracle in the Desert
Robert Irwin’s long-awaited Marfa installation is a work like no other: a massive project that reflects the austere, light-filled beauty of West Texas.
![](https://img.texasmonthly.com/2016/06/btl-bathroom-pass.jpg?auto=compress&crop=faces&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=0&ixlib=php-3.3.1&q=45&w=270)
Bathroom Pass
Too many Texas schools are failing, yet our elected officials would rather discuss who’s using which toilet.
![](https://img.texasmonthly.com/2016/06/business-out-of-gas-aubrey-mcclendon.jpg?auto=compress&crop=faces&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=0&ixlib=php-3.3.1&q=45&w=270)
Out of Gas
How Aubrey McClendon, “America’s most reckless billionaire,” left some Houston energy firms holding the tab.
![](https://img.texasmonthly.com/2016/06/column-essay-buying-farm-illustration-david-palumbo-2.jpg?auto=compress&crop=faces&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=0&ixlib=php-3.3.1&q=45&w=270)
Buying the Farm
Life along the Pedernales was everything one could hope for—until it wasn’t.
![](https://img.texasmonthly.com/2016/06/texanist_david-courtney-jack-unruh.jpg?auto=compress&crop=faces&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=0&ixlib=php-3.3.1&q=45&w=270)
Reporter
![Clay Johnston, Dell Medical School](https://img.texasmonthly.com/2016/06/reporter-chat-dell-medical-school-austin-clay-johnston-wyatt-mcspadden-CROPPED.jpg?auto=compress&crop=faces&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=0&ixlib=php-3.3.1&q=45&w=270)
A Better Pill to Swallow
The dean of Dell Medical School wants to reinvent health care for the twenty-first century.
![](https://img.texasmonthly.com/2016/06/reporter-meanwhile-texas-meandering-bull-arlington-streets-ross-macdonald-illustration.jpg?auto=compress&crop=faces&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=0&ixlib=php-3.3.1&q=45&w=270)
Meanwhile, in Texas . . .
Some crazy stuff went down in Texas in the past thirty days. Here are some of the headlines you may have missed.
![](https://img.texasmonthly.com/2016/06/reporter-mission-admonished-george-bush-jean-edward-smith-book-2016.jpg?auto=compress&crop=faces&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=0&ixlib=php-3.3.1&q=45&w=270)
Mission Admonished
A new biography takes a hard look at our forty-third president’s foreign policy record, with assessments that often stand in stark contrast with Bush's own verdict on his presidency.
![](https://img.texasmonthly.com/2016/06/reporter-checklist-movies-free-state-jones-directed-gary-ross-matthew-mcconaughey.jpg?auto=compress&crop=faces&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=0&ixlib=php-3.3.1&q=45&w=270)
The Checklist
What to read, watch, and listen to this month to achieve maximum Texas cultural literacy.
![](https://img.texasmonthly.com/2016/06/reporter-lead-border-war-red-river-Justin-Clemons.jpg?auto=compress&crop=faces&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=0&ixlib=php-3.3.1&q=45&w=270)
The Other Border War
Why is the federal government claiming thousands of acres of riverfront property from a bunch of North Texas landowners?
![](https://img.texasmonthly.com/2016/06/reporter-meet-beetle-entomology-Mike-Groll-AP.jpg?auto=compress&crop=faces&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=0&ixlib=php-3.3.1&q=45&w=270)
Meet the Beetle
How long it will take the dreaded emerald ash borers to fully establish themselves in Texas? And how many native ash trees will they decimate?
![](https://img.texasmonthly.com/2016/06/reporter-bum-steer-groesbeck-man-bite-buttock-illustration-ricardo-martinez.jpg?auto=compress&crop=faces&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=0&ixlib=php-3.3.1&q=45&w=270)
![](https://img.texasmonthly.com/2016/06/reporter-civic-strife-fredericksburg-fritztown-sound-ordinance-nicki-longoria-illustration.jpg?auto=compress&crop=faces&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=0&ixlib=php-3.3.1&q=45&w=270)