There’s some good reading in the February Texas Monthly–on newsstands but not online yet–including several interesting takes on the state’s biggest cities. But one essay, by the estimable Larry McMurtry of Archer City, isn’t likely to be reprinted by the Dallas Regional Chamber. Writes McMurtry:

If I were to anatomize the six major cities more or less in order of urban merit, I would now put Houston first by a large margin: it’s a great city. Next would come Austin and Fort Worth. … Dallas I haven’t enjoyed since the sixties, when I could still scout books at the Harper’s big bookshop in Deep Ellum, where my son now often performs. Dallas is a second-rate city that wishes it were first-rate.

Ouch.