Perhaps the time is right for a refresh on the archetypal American story. Rich White Trash is it. This book puts the “rags to riches” myth in perspective of how difficult it is to reach those “riches” even when others think you have everything. In the case of the protagonist, raised by Czech immigrants on a dirt-poor farm in south Texas and holding a Lt. Colonel’s standing in the Air Force, he had a handsome, large Catholic family, a seemingly solid marriage, a thriving law practice, a lovely mortgage-free home, a sizable ranch in the Austin hill country and other land that was rumored to hold “Texas gold.”
But he never felt he “made it.” As a former UT Austin gold medalist in wrestling, he was a competitive person who felt that if you worked hard and smart enough then by God you could get where you wanted. He failed. He wanted the Central Texas’ Coors dealership. He wanted to be a federal judge. Those two accomplishments would have been his pinnacle of success. It wasn’t meant to be. His children disappointed him. He was extremely unhappy with his marriage. The changing times were confusing for him to navigate. His status as an outsider and his religion always dogged him. Then fate caught up with him and the love of his life—his land—would never be the same.
This is a story somewhat like the television series Dallas, just less so. It has a competitive family, ruinous greed, sex, drugs, gun running, WWII intrigue, religion, Ku Klux Klan, oil, cattle, rattlesnakes, conflict, anger and love.
However, this debut novel is (mostly) true.