In The Deep Heart'S Core: Reflections on Life, Letters, and Texas: 1 (Tarleton State University Southwestern Studies in the Humani)

The subjects of Craig Clifford's ruminations range from Willie Nelson to Walter Prescott Webb, from German philosophers to an Irish immigrant out to save the American West, and in them Clifford voices the concerns of a new generation of Texans and other earthlings.

Deep-hearted Texas expatriates, well-rooted transplants, natives, and brand-new Texans alike will have an almost tactile encounter with the feeling of what it means to be a Texan in this age in which freeway, microchip, and shopping mall have replaced Chisholm Trail, lariat, and trading post. Together with the author, readers can come to grips with the meaning of Texas and Texanness, and by the way of these personal and provincial reflections, with the role that rootedness and uprootedness play in the lives of all humans.