In the tradition of Ian Frazier’s Great Plains, and as vivid as the work of Cormac McCarthy, an intoxicating, singularly illuminating history of the Texas borderlands from their settlement through seven generations of Roger D. Hodge’s ranching family.

What brought the author’s family to Texas? What is it about Texas that for centuries has exerted a powerful allure for adventurers and scoundrels, dreamers and desperate souls, outlaws and outliers? In search of answers, Hodge travels across his home state–which he loves and hates in shifting measure–tracing the wanderings of his ancestors into forgotten histories along vanished roads. Here is an unsentimental, keenly insightful attempt to grapple with all that makes Texas so magical, punishing, and polarizing. Here is a spellbindingly evocative portrait of the borderlands–with its brutal history of colonization, conquest, and genocide; where stories of death and drugs and desperation play out daily. And here is a contemplation of what it means that the ranching industry that has sustained families like Hodge’s for almost two centuries is quickly fading away, taking with it a part of our larger, deep-rooted cultural inheritance. A wholly original fusion of memoir and history–as piercing as it is elegiac–Texas Blood is a triumph.

“The Mendacity of Hope should help wake up all those Obama-voters who’ve been napping while the wars escalate, the recession deepens, and the environment goes straight to hell.” –Barbara Ehrenreich

From the former editor-in-chief of Harper’s Magazine comes a bold manifesto exposing President Obama’s failure to enact progressive reform at home and abroad. National Magazine Award finalist Roger Hodge makes a hard-hitting case against Obama’s failure to deliver on the promises of his campaign. The first book-length critique of the Obama’s presidency from a prominent member of the left, The Mendacity of Hope will strike a chord with anyone stirred by the words of Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, and Frank Rich. It’s the book that every frustrated progressive in America has been waiting to read.

Americans find themselves in genuine confusion and dismay concerning the actions of President Obama’s administration. What happened to reform? What happened to the heroic candidate who promised to change Washington? On one issue after another the Obama Administration has turned out to be a kinder, gentler version of the Bush Administration. None of Obama’s most important campaign promises have come to pass. The Mendacity of Hope explains why the Obama Administration was destined to fail from the beginning: behind the uplifting rhetoric of the Obama campaign there was lurking a business-as-usual corporate machine. A brilliantly crafted call to arms, The Mendacity of Hope offers an essential analysis of the American political system and the powerful players who control our government.