cleaning sponges & scrubbing pads
j. frank dobie a liberated mind
p the first texas based writer to gain national attention j. frank dobie proved that authentic writing springs easily from the native soil of texas and the southwest . in best selling books such as tales of old time texas coronados children and the longhorns dobie captured the southwests folk history which was quickly disappearing as the united states became ever more urbanized and industrial . renowned as mr. texas dobie paradoxically has almost disappeared from view a casualty of changing tastes in literature and shifts in social and political attitudes since the 1960s . p in this lively biography steven l. davis takes a fresh look at a j. frank dobie whose liberated mind set him on an intellectual journey that culminated in dobie becoming a political liberal who fought for labor free speech and civil rights well before these causes became acceptable to most anglo texans . tracing the full arc of dobies life 1888 1964 davis shows how dobies insistence on free range thinking led him to such radical actions as calling for the complete integration of the university of texas during the 1940s as well as taking on governors senators and the fbi which secretly investigated him as texass leading dissenter during the mccarthy era .