Full Description
When a Texas debutante bows her forehead to the floor in the famous "Texas dip," society columnists all across the country speculate interminably over what it is that sets Texas women apart. But really, how could they know? Even women born and bred in Texas can't always answer that question.
Prudence Mackintosh comes very close to an answer, though, in this endlessly entertaining book. Writing with both a wry sense of humor and an insider's compassion, she offers us a fascinating look into the world of privileged, educated, well-married, well-connected, and mostly wealthy white Texas women.
What really sets these women apart, Ms. Mackintosh tells us, is the comfortable yet demanding path they follow from their idyllic girlhoods to prominent positions in society. In thirteen essays, some of which originally appeared in Texas Monthly magazine, she charts the way stations that mark this path: summer camps in the Texas Hill Country, exclusive private schools like Dallas' Hockaday, sorority membership, and acceptance into the Junior League.
Prudence Mackintosh has been both an outsider and an insider in this privileged world, and her observations are shot through with wit and real insight. Just As We Were may not be the final word on elite Texas women, but no other book has described their world with greater irony or accuracy.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
The Soul of East Texas (Texas Monthly, October 1989)
The Greatest Experience of Your Life (Texas Monthly, May 1975)
Why Hockaday Girls Are Different (D Magazine, June 1978)
Sisterhood Is Powerful (Texas Monthly, September 1976)
My Life and Hard Times in the Junior League (Texas Monthly, December 1979)
Reconcilable Differences (Special Reports, May-July 1991)
Help Wanted (Texas Monthly, December 1977)
Pages from Life (Texas Monthly, February 1988)
The Timeless Spell of Ferndale (Texas Monthly, May 1989)
The Good Old Girls (Texas Monthly, January 1978)
Off with the Girls . . . Uh, Women
Friends
Going Home
