A Single Star and Bloody Knuckles: A History of Politics and Race in Texas by Bill Minutaglio

Abstract

Reviewed by: A Single Star and Bloody Knuckles: A History of Politics and Race in Texas by Bill Minutaglio Mark Stanley A Single Star and Bloody Knuckles: A History of Politics and Race in Texas. By Bill Minutaglio. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2021. Pp. 456. Illustrations, notes, index.) In A Single Star and Bloody Knuckles: A History of Politics and Race in Texas author Bill Minutaglio takes on the daunting task of exploring the interrelationship of politics and race in Texas history from Reconstruction to the present. The book’s title alludes to a quote from John Nance “Cactus Jack” Garner, the first Texan to serve on a winning presidential ticket, which he did as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s vice-president in 1932. A salty yet well-seasoned Texas politician, Garner first noted the need to “bloody your knuckles” when “playing the political game” in Texas (210) because Texas politicians played hard and played to win. Always in the background, however, and even in broad daylight, ran the issue of race. As the author notes, the issue was whitewashed by generations of Texas leaders. The existence of slavery was “an inconvenient truth” (8). The two issues are so intertwined in Texas history and political life that the challenge of untangling them is like separating berries from the bramble. Minutaglio approaches this methodically with concise chapters covering each decade from the 1870s to the 2010s, all written in an accessible, easy-to-read style one would expect from a professor of journalism. He does a good job of picking out the key actors—politicians, progressive activists, and innocent bystanders—as well as key events in the story. The author has written the chapters as a series of vignettes rather than as a traditional narrative. This approach allows Minutaglio to tie various narrative elements together without bogging them down in the bramble, as might happen in a more traditional approach. The author’s decade-by-decade approach begins in the 1870s and gathers pace as Texas politics becomes more competitive and vocal. The book hits its stride in the 1890s in the chapter entitled “Elites and Aliens: the 1890s.” The middle chapters covering the 1940s through the 1980s are the strongest, as Texas and Texans were becoming more prominent in national politics. This rise is also true of race and civil rights, because [End Page 332] some of the most important court cases decided during the period originated in Texas. The latter chapters of the book, 13 through 15, are good but may be too recent for deep examination. The book is generally well researched, using a wide variety of primary sources, strong secondary sources, and archives. A Single Star and Bloody Knuckles was an ambitious undertaking that could have been much longer. While not comprehensive, the book offers a well-rounded look at the complexities of race and politics, as well as the various characters involved. Minutaglio is to be commended for adding to the underrepresented topics of race and politics in post-civil war Texas historiography. Mark Stanley University of North Texas at Dallas Copyright © 2022 The Texas State Historical Association