SOURCE: A review of The Texas Stories of Nelson Algren, in The Library Journal, Vol. 120, No. 18, November 1, 1995, p. 108.

Below, Wilhelm comments favorably on The Texas Stories of Nelson Algren.

Best known for his tales of urban slums, Algren also wrote eloquently about the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. He first experienced this region in 1932 as a wandering college graduate who could find no job. Surrounded by desperation and casual violence, Algren produced semi-autobiographical stories like "So Help Me," which dramatizes brutal exploitation. Set apart by his Jewishness, Algren also observed and recorded episodes of racism and discrimination. After stealing a typewriter, Algren spent several weeks in jail, and this experience provided impetus for his pervasive theme of the individual oppressed by corrupt authority. Later works in this collection [The Texas Stories of Nelson Algren], like "The Last Carousel," provide more detached and bemused treatments of Algren's Texas experiences...