Rereading Giant by Edna Ferber took me back to a trip to Dallas, Texas. I decided to go for a walk, and a few minutes later I had to rush back into the hotel. I have asthma, and the heat and humidity made it hard to breathe.
In the novel, Leslie Lynnton leaves green Virginia for the vast plains of Texas. She must adjust to the land, the climate, and a way of life she cannot accept. Like me, she discovers that a simple walk in Texas is not so simple.
Ferber published Giant in 1952. More than 70 years later, the issues in this novel still make headlines.
Big Ideas from Giant by Edna Ferber
When I read a book, I like to pull out five big ideas. These are mine from Giant. Your big ideas may be very different.
- Make changes while you have a choice, or changes will be made for you.
- Treat others as you would like to be treated.
- It is socially irresponsible for a few to live like kings and queens while the masses live in poverty.
- People deserve fair pay for their work.
- Money cannot buy love or respect.
Who is Giant by Edna Ferber for?
- Readers who love historical fiction
- People interested in land ownership, power, politics, and business tycoons
- Readers who want to understand how racism and classism shaped a region
- Anyone facing a change they did not choose
What Is Giant About?
Giant spans 25 years in Texas, from just before the Great Depression to the years after World War II. We see it through the eyes of Bick (Jordan) Benedict and his wife, Leslie. The novel became a 1956 film, which was James Dean’s last film before his death.
A Party That Goes Wrong
The story opens in the 1950s. Bick flies his family and friends on his plane to a party thrown by oil baron Jett Rink. He does not want to go, but he worries about what people will think if he stays home.
Jett struck oil on land that Bick deeded to him years earlier. Now he is extremely wealthy. He is also a cruel drunk who takes pride in hurting people and animals.
At Jett’s hotel, staff refuse to serve Juana, Bick’s Mexican daughter-in-law. Her husband, Jordy, goes to confront Jett. Jett beats him badly.
Leslie grips her husband’s arm and says, “You see. It’s caught up with you, it’s caught up with us. It always does.”
Jordy survives. Then the story goes back 25 years.
A Bride in a Strange Land
Bick travels to Virginia to buy a horse named My Mistake from Dr. Horace Lynnton. There he meets the doctor’s second daughter, Leslie. After a short courtship, they marry, and he takes her home to Texas.
Leslie is curious. Before she leaves Virginia, she reads all she can about Texas. She wants to know how one family came to own over two million acres. On the train, she asks Bick question after question.
Texas is not what she expected. Bick’s older sister, Luz, runs the house and refuses to give up that role. When Leslie wants to go for a walk, she is told that only Mexicans walk.
The Mexican workers live in squalor. Meanwhile, the Benedicts live in a mansion that runs like a hotel. Guests come and go, and often nobody knows who they are.
Less than a week after Leslie arrives, Luz is thrown from My Mistake and dies. There is no hospital close by. The family learns that Jett egged Luz on and drugged the horse. Bick fires him, but Jett has the land deal in writing, so he keeps the land.
Jett Rink, a Cruel Genius
Bick explains Jett to Leslie this way. “He’s kind of genius, Jett is…. He’s got a grudge against the world….” Bick predicts that Jett will end up either a billionaire or in the electric chair.
Over the years, Jett wants Leslie. She refuses him. He buys her gifts she never asked for, and she sends them back.
If a mean and unkind person becomes rich, that person is now mean, unkind, and rich. His millions cannot buy Leslie’s love. That explains his rage toward Jordy, and toward any Benedict.
A Father’s Warning About Change
Bick wants to stay a cattle baron. To his credit, he invests heavily to breed the best cattle. His children reverse the roles he expects. Jordy wants nothing to do with ranching, while young Luz loves the cattle business.
When the children are small, Leslie takes them to Virginia. She loves her husband, but not what he stands for. She thinks about not going back.
Her father tells her that neither Bick nor Leslie will change. “But your children will take another big step,” he says. “Enormous step, probably. Some call it a revolution but it’s evolution, really.”
He is right. Jordy marries Juana and tells his parents afterward. When Bick pushes Jordy toward ranching, Leslie asks Uncle Bawley to pay for Jordy’s university education. Bawley once wanted to be a pianist, but his family pressured him into the business. Years earlier, he told Leslie not to stand in her children’s way.
Change reaches Bick too. The Benedict family votes to allow oil drilling on part of the land. Many of them are tired of being land rich and cash poor.
I won’t spoil how it ends. You’ll have to read Giant to find out.
Why Giant by Edna Ferber Still Matters in 2026
The Heat Has Not Let Up
Ferber’s Texas was hot. Today it is hotter. NOAA announced that summer 2026 was the warmest on record for the Lower 48 in 132 years of record-keeping. Dallas, Houston, and Oklahoma City each ranked first for their hottest year-to-date on record.
When I remember rushing back to my hotel to breathe, I think of everyone who works outdoors in that heat, then and now.
A Few Still Hold Most of the Wealth
In Giant, one family owns over two million acres while its workers live in poverty. The gap has not closed. According to Oxfam, billionaire wealth rose by more than 16% in 2025 to a record $18.3 trillion. The same report found that the world’s 12 richest billionaires hold more wealth than the bottom half of the world’s people, over four billion in all.
Money Still Buys Influence
In the novel, cattle barons use their power to change the minds of politicians. Oxfam’s 2026 report focuses on how the very wealthy use their fortunes to shape politics, media, and justice. It also found that billionaires are over 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than ordinary people.
Leslie sees the injustice around her and asks hard questions. Still, she does little to change things. That is a challenge for each of us.
In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, “Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
Your Self-Mentoring Strategy
Dr. Lynnton’s warning is the heart of this book. The world changes whether we agree. Our choice is whether we act or get caught unprepared.
Take one action today. Write one change you have resisted at work or at home. Next, write one small step you can take this week to get ahead of it.
Then reflect on these questions. Pick the ones that apply to you.
- What can you learn from the ideas in this review?
- What is one action you can take from reading it?
- What made an impression on you while reading?
- Is there a framework you can use in your life and work?
- How do these ideas relate to what you already know?
- How can you combine these ideas with what you know to create a new idea?
- Is Giant a book you’d like to read for yourself? Why or why not?
Final Thoughts
Giant gives us a window into Texas from the 1920s to the 1950s. The heat, the wealth gap, and the pull of power are still with us. Tomorrow, I’ll share my review of Saratoga Trunk, another Ferber novel about ambition and wealth.
Have you read Giant by Edna Ferber? Share your thoughts with me on LinkedIn, or pass this review to a friend who loves historical fiction.
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