Michael
| Gender | Male |
|---|---|
| Industry | Education |
| Occupation | Professor, Writer, Historian |
| Location | Plano, Texas, United States |
| Introduction | I received my Ph.D. in history from the University of Texas at Austin. My first book, "White Metropolis: Race, Ethnicity and Religion in Dallas, 1841-2001," won the Texas State Historical Commission's T.R. Fehrenbach Award for best work on Texas history in 2007. My second book, "The House Will Come to Order: How the Texas Speaker Became a Power in State and National Politics" will be published by the University of Texas Press March 1, 2010. My beautiful boy Dominic was born on May 30, 2003. He's an avid reader and loves Harry Potter and Star Wars. I am a frustrated political liberal, holding Democrats in contempt but too suspicious about the competence of the Green Party to make the leap. I am married to a wonderful woman named Betsy Friauf who was my editor at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram 20 years ago. We will be writing books together. My only appointment television is "The Daily Show," "The Colbert Report" and "Countdown with Keith Olbermann." I also love to cook when I have the time. |
| Interests | Research interests: race and gender ideology, the history of American religion, American right-wing movements. Personal interests include the NFL, NHL, and MLB, art, the novels of John Steinbeck and Kurt Vonnegut, and virtually any kind of movie. |
| Favorite Movies | "2001: A Space Odyssey, " "A Clockwork Orange, " and "Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Drop the Bomb, " by Stanley Kubrick; John Frankenheimer's "The Manchurian Candidate"; "Raging Bull" and "Taxi Driver" by Martin Scorses"; almost anything by Charlie Chaplain, but especially "Modern Times" AND "City Lights"; "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari"; "M" and "Metropolis" by Fritz Lang"; "Roshomon, " the 1970s and early 1980s films of Woody Allen; "The Big Night" (the best-ever movie about food); the old Universal Studios horror films and the works of Val Lewton, etc., etc. |
| Favorite Music | The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Duke Ellington, the Clash, U2, Steve Earle, Neil Young, REM, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Marvin Gaye, Alban Berg, jazz from the 1920s and 1930s, Billie Holliday, early Frank Zappa, etc., etc. |
| Favorite Books | Tao Te Ching, Franz Kafka's "The Trial, " Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath, " Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five, " Allen Ginsberg's "Howl, " James Loewen's "Lies My Teacher Told Me, " "Fast Food Nation, " etc., etc. |