An uncanny understanding of both city-council operations and the newspaper business some thirty years ago gave Leonard Sanders the ability to write this powerful novel about a small Texas city and the men who run it. Sanders has combined the struggle for power in a local city government and the human interest side of its effects on the people close to the inside in an appealing and revealing story centered around an ambitious water project designed to further the city's growth.
Different views about the future of the city arise from the personalities of those who must decide. Some council...

Leonard Sanders' sweeping epic novel vividly captures the history of Fort Worth, the wild and wooly city "where the West begins," by following the fortunes of one family. The story opens when war-orphaned Travis Scurlock wanders into the new settlement on the bluff overlooking the Trinity River. Within a few years, Scurlock is a well-known trial lawyer. He marries, has a family, helps transform Fort Worth from a sleepy village to a busy commercial center, and serves as a U.S. Senator. But Scurlock has a dark side that brings complexity to these pages.
We follow generations of Scurlocks,...