Preview of Baja Oklahoma Summary:

Baja Oklahoma is something of an anomaly; while recognizably the work of Dan Jenkins, its social concerns are different from those of SemiTough (1972) and Jenkins's other novels. Set in Herb's Cafe, a Fort Worth bar, the novel deals with the place of a woman in a culture completely dominated by masculine values. Baja Oklahoma examines the social position and possibilities of a twice-divorced, middle-aged waitress in a blue-collar bar; at first and even second glance, it is not a position anyone would choose to occupy. The novel presents the social milieu of the bar in realistic, comic detail — the camaraderie of a group of regulars who drink too much, talk dirty, meet their lovers, bet wild sums of money on whatever football game interests them, and argue the merits of country music. It is not an easy way to make a living; Jenkins's...