Even if a reader does not share Moretta's affection for his prickly subject, however, the biography does provide ample interest and scope for a student of the late 19th century American legal and political scene. Moretta himself admits this in his introduction, stating, "through Ballinger we can watch the evolution of Texas from a rural and agrarian slave society into one of the fastest growing commercial states in postwar America." (Moretta 1-2) The 'cast of characters' involved in Ballinger's life encompassed individuals as diverse as Jefferson Davis and Daniel Webster. The relationship of Ballinger to the former is perhaps the most interesting because, again reflecting Ballinger's complex relationship to the Confederacy, after the war, Ballinger helped negotiate Texas' surrender and played a key role in the drafting of the state's 1876 constitution.

Ballinger was not simply part of Texas' agrarian and agricultural past, however. Although Moretta stresses the difficulty of Texas leaving behind this part of its history, he also, through Ballinger's legal work during the Gilded Age with Industrial Revolution tycoons, shows that Ballinger was able to be flexible in his attitude and outlook, to change with the shift in economic circumstances. Ultimately, Texas, although once a slave state, emerged as one of the most economically successful parts of the former Confederacy, despite the emotional resonance slavery still carried amongst many of its subjects. Gallinger's personal ability to respond to the times he lived in, to travel North and then return home again during the prewar and postwar periods does him credit as a man and a worthy subject of historical biography. It also enables the reader to "witness firsthand the impact Northern life had on Southerners." Gallinger's life gives a window on how Southerners and Texans viewed the entire country, not just their own state.

Moretta states that he chose to chronicle "Ballinger's life and career" because it could give readers " a wonderfully rich portrait" not only of a man but also "of Texas's premier antebellum city," that of Galveston, where Ballinger made his home. However, although Ballinger is certainly a colorful subject and Galveston was a bustling and diverse city, the author's prose occasionally falls flat. Only in recounted anecdotes and excerpted letters does Moretta's subject really become alive in the mind of the reader. The book contains a great deal of valuable historical information, and is thus useful to a student. But only in story does the reason that this individual was so respected become clear. A reader emerges from the text liking Ballinger, despite his political and social distance from the reader, but not necessarily enjoying the format in which one got to know him.