Texas readers of the Sunday New York Times got an extra treat April 16: an inserted issue of The Land Report (“The Magazine of the American Landowner”), mostly devoted to glossily mythologizing massive ranch tracts available for sale, and a predictable exercise in real estate porn. The cover story is an interview with Land Commissioner George P. “Is It My Turn Yet?” Bush, devoted to introducing a “private-sector mind-set” at the agency, responsible for managing the state’s oil-and-gas resources. But the Bush puffery is overshadowed by the mag’s back-page pitch: “Hunting & Tanks!” an ad for the Ox Ranch of Uvalde, where you can “drive & shoot WWII tanks.” The Tank & Machine Gun Sampler Package is only $650, the German “PAK Attack” package goes for $2,099, and the WWII “Allies & Axis” All-Day Experience, featuring operating Russian, German, and U.S. tanks and heavy weapons, is a cool $8,250. Feeling nostalgic or just prepping for the next international cataclysm? It’s all here at www.drivetanks.com.

Blow It Up Real Good!

A version of this article appeared in print on Apr 21, 2017 with the headline: Blow It Up Real Good!

This article appears in April 21 • 2017.

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Contributing writer and former news editor Michael King has reported on city and state politics for the Chronicle since 2000. He was educated at Indiana University and Yale, and from 1977 to 1985 taught at UT-Austin. He has been the editor of the Houston Press and The Texas Observer, and has reported and written widely on education, politics, and cultural subjects.