Amazon.com's Best of 2001
The same fierce pride and love that animated All Over but the Shoutin' glow in Rick Bragg's new book. In fact, he informs us in the prologue that it was the readers of his bestselling 1997 memoir about his mother's struggle to raise three sons out of dire poverty who told him what he had to write about next. "People asked me where I believed my own momma's heart and backbone came from ... they said I short-shrifted them in the first book." Bragg sets out to make amends in this heartfelt biography of his maternal grandfather, Charlie Bundrum, who with wife Ava nurtured seven children through hard times that never seemed to ease in rural Alabama and Georgia. "He was a tall, bone-thin man who worked with nails in his teeth and a roofing hatchet in a fist as hard as Augusta brick," writes Bragg, "who inspired backwoods legend and the kind of loyalty that still makes old men dip their heads respectfully when they say his name." Charlie's children adored him so much that 40 years after his premature death in 1958 at age 51, Bragg's elderly aunts and mother began to cry when asked about him. Chronicling Charlie's hardscrabble life in the flinty, expressive cadences of working-class Southern speech, Bragg depicts a rugged individual who would find no place in the homogenized New South. The marvelous stories collected from various relatives--Charlie facing down a truckload of mean drunks with a hammer, hatchet, and 12-gauge shotgun, or brewing illegal white whiskey in the woods ("He never sold a sip that he did not test with his own liver")--are not just snapshots of a colorful character. They're also the author's tribute to an oral culture with tenacious roots and powerful significance in the American South. --Wendy Smith
Book Description
With the same emotional generosity and effortlessly compelling storytelling that made All Over But the Shoutin’ a national bestseller, Rick Bragg continues his personal history of the Deep South. This time he’s writing about his grandfather Charlie Bundrum, a man who died before Bragg was born but left an indelible imprint on the people who loved him. Drawing on their memories, Bragg reconstructs the life of an unlettered roofer who kept food on his family’s table through the worst of the Great Depression; a moonshiner who drank exactly one pint for every gallon he sold; an unregenerate brawler, who could sit for hours with a baby in the crook of his arm.
In telling Charlie’s story, Bragg conjures up the backwoods hamlets of Georgia and Alabama in the years when the roads were still dirt and real men never cussed in front of ladies. A masterly family chronicle and a human portrait so vivid you can smell the cornbread and whiskey,
Ava’s Man is unforgettable.
Download Description
Rick Bragg brings his astonishing gift for storytelling to the tale of his grandfather, a man who kept his family one step ahead of poverty and starvation. Charlie Bundrum was a roofer, a carpenter, a bootlegger, and a fisherman. He could not read, but he asked his wife, Ava, to read him the paper every day so he would not be ignorant. He was a man who took giant steps in rundown boots, a true hero whom history would otherwise have overlooked. A portrait of an ineradicably memorable figure in a singular time, a moving reflection on home and family and on the author's own connection to a lost stretch of dirt road along the Alabama-Georgia border -- Ava's Man is Rick Bragg at his stunning best.
Customer Reviews:
Was hard to put this one down.......2006-11-24
Rick Bragg has done a great job in telling it exactly, and I mean EXACTLY like it was in the South in the 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's. He takes a seemingly insignificant character- an illiterate carpenter, roofer and moonshiner- and brings out the full flavor of the man.
Laughs? Plenty. Like coming home drunk on his mule, trying to get the mule to rear back like Tom Mix's saddle horse, but instead having the mule dump him off on his head. Heartache? Having to bury an infant daughter because there was no money for medicine- let alone doctors. Character development? No shortage at all.
The book slowly hooked me, and I just couldn't put it down. His staying one step ahead of the "revenue men" (who never did catch him), his trying to find steady work to support his large family, the descriptions of the kids growing up in a series of small houses with no electricity, and all in all, the pure fun in a man who loved to entertain.
If you can, get the audio book version of this excellent book- Rick reads it himself. "It don't get no better than this."
An Appalachian Writer Stands in Awe of "Ava's Man".......2006-08-06
Ever since Rick Bragg won the Pulitzer Prize for "All Over but the Shoutin'", I've been waiting for him to strike another chord with my heart. But with "Ava's Man," he's done more than strum a collection of musical notes: He's played the entire song. In April, 2006, Dr. James Gifford of the Jesse Stuart Foundation recommended that I read "Ava's Man," that it was the kind of book he had always wanted to write himself. So, having respect for Dr. Gifford's opinion, I purchased a copy. What I found at the end of each sentence was the longing that I had been the one to create that sentence. I don't know when another author has affected me in such a manner as this, if ever. It has indeed captured my soul. Thank you Rick Bragg. I didn't think you could outdo "All Over but the Shoutin'," but you did, and seemingly, you did it with ease.
David Lee Thompson, Author
River of Memories: An Appalachian Boyhood
Ava's Man.......2006-05-24
Rick Bragg has a distintive voice that is always interesting. This work is I think his best. There is a paragraph about Ava clinging to her kerosene lantern that is simply sublime and by itself worth the price of the book.
Ordinary, flawed humans can be heroes too........2005-04-24
It misses the point to argue that Charlie was too flawed to be a hero. Of course he was flawed. He was dirt poor, uneducated, drank too much, fought too much, and had too little respect for the law. Yet despite all of these flaws, he lived a moral life--hewing to his own personal code of conduct with strength that we should all envy and emulate.
Charlie raised a large family, in the rural south, in the depths of the depression. He was a roofer. He ran a still. His family moved every year or so--sometimes chasing after work, sometimes running from landlords.
Yet through it all, he defended his family; refused to tolerate bullies who used violence on those less fortunate; and most importantly, treated his wife and the mother of his many children like another human being. As Ava says throughout--Charlie had many shortcomings, but he always talked to her. He never shut her out; he never left her to wither on the sidelines, relegated to raising children alone.
The whole point of Bragg's brilliantly written book is that a man who adopts a moral code requiring protection of family, and kindness to strangers--and lives by that code to the best of his ability--can be a hero. It is not riches, land, or political power which makes heroes. it is the strength of commitment to a moral life.
Charlie was a bone fide hero. As the book notes in its closing section, we need many more heroes like Charlie today.
another good author.......2004-10-06
I first read Mr Bragg's 'It's all over but the shoutin' a few years ago. When I saw that he had written another book about his family I knew I would want to read it. Although I didn't think this book was quite as good as 'shoutin' it is a good book. He takes us into his family. My favorite line in 'shoutin' is when he questions his mom about being out in the cotton fields picking cotton while she had to pull him along as he sat on her sack. He asks her how she did it and her reply was 'you weren't heavy'....that is a mother's love in perfection. Ava's Man takes us back to mountain life and moonshine and local law. I think the author does an excellent job of telling us how life was years ago even though he was not there. How wonderful that he has all this family history.
Average customer rating:
|
Ava's Man
Rick Bragg
Manufacturer: Recorded Books, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: 1402520727 |
Product Description
Almost 8 hours of listening on 7 fine cd's in especially clean x/lib clamshell case, possibly uncirculated. Daily shipping.
Average customer rating:
|
Ava's Man
Rick BRAGG
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OPMPP4 |
Average customer rating:
|
Ava's Man
Rick Bragg
Manufacturer: ALFRED A. KNOPF
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OKUO7A |
Product Description
Pulitzer prize-winner author of All Over but the Shoutin, Rick Bragg builds a monument to his grandfather Charlie Bundrum. Known for being a passionate family man with a special talent for living and surviving, Bundrum was a master roofer, carpenter, whiskey-maker, fisherman, banjo player, and buck dancer. Unable to read, he asked his wife Ava to read him the newspaper every night so he would not be ignorant. Set in the Great Depression, Bundrums tale is one of remarkable ingenuity in the face of suffering. Moving his family 21 times, he followed the work, keeping his seven children one step ahead of poverty and starvation. Revered by his children, Bundrum became a local legend. At his funeral, cars lined up for more than a mile. A powerfully intimate piece of American history, as it was experienced by the people of the Deep South, Bragg has written a glorious record of a life of character, tenacity and indomitable joy.
Average customer rating:
|
AVA'S MAN
Rick Bragg
Manufacturer: Alfred A. Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NTIESI |
Average customer rating:
|
Ava's Man
Rick Bragg
Manufacturer: Alfred a Knopf Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NUE382 |
Book Description
More than twenty-five years after the official end of the Vietnam War, Dear America allows us to witness the war firsthand through the eyes of the men and women who served in Vietnam. In this collection of more than 200 letters, they share their first impressions of the rigors of life in the bush, their longing for home and family, their emotions over the conduct of the war, and their ache at the loss of a friend in battle. Poignant in their rare honesty, the letters from Vietnam are "riveting,...extraordinary by [their] very ordinariness...for the most part, neither deep nor philosophical, only very, very human" (Los Angeles Times). Revealing the complex emotions and daily realities of fighting in the war, these close accounts offer a powerful, uniquely personal portrait of the many faces of Vietnam's veterans. Over 100,000 copies sold.
Customer Reviews:
great condition.......2007-06-08
love this book broke down many times on some of the letters great book!!
Indispensable.......2007-04-25
This marvelous little book offers a parallel and human voice to the more academic books about Vietnam.
There is no "agenda", here just a selection of moving, articulate, impassioned voices talking about their experiences and feelings at the time they were there. Some of the most moving, of course, being those from young people who would die shortly thereafter. We see through the letters in the book that even on the front lines this "war" was seen through a wide diversity of opinions, from those that were totally committed to it, and why (though they tend to become less prevalent as the years pass), to those who came to believe it was not a worthy effort to justify the consequences. And the majority, just confused. A must read.
First hand account of the Vietnam War.......2005-10-26
After the amazing documentary about Vietnam that solely exists of actor voice overs of funny, goofy, anxious and heartbreaking letters home from soldiers at the battlefront in Vietnam, accompanied by graphic footage of the war itself, this book came out. It contains the letters read out in the movie, and additionally has some more background information about the soldiers who wrote the letters.
Even without the trained actor voices reading the letters out loud to you, and without the grim and realistic war images, this book is a pageburner. Heart-wrenching accounts of the legacy of war written by the soldiers that fought it, as well as by the people they left behind.
5 star book.......2005-07-21
This is a wonderful book for anyone who wants to see the Vietnam war from the eyes of those who were there. The book is a collection of writings from Vietnam veterans that were written during there time in country. This book shows the War as more than casualty numbers and battle field dates. A good read for everyone.
Heartfelt story of men at war.......2004-08-19
This book captivated me so that i could not put it down, untill i had finished. It touches your heart and soul. Wonderful read!! Please put it on DVD!!! Thank you :-)
Amazon.com
In The Winter's Tale, a play of 1610, William Shakespeare gave a coastline to Bohemia, a landlocked country. Three hundred and twenty-eight years later, his compatriot Neville Chamberlain would call a brewing war in Czechoslovakia, as the country was called, "a quarrel in a far away country between people of whom we know nothing." As Canadian scholar Sayer writes, knowingly, Bohemia eventually got its coastline, one "guarded by minefields, barbed-wire fences, and tall watchtowers with machine guns," while the West took little notice. The general ignorance of all things Czech would cost Europe dearly, for conflagrations from the Thirty Years War to World War II (and even sparks that might have ignited World War III) have begun in the tiny country known by many names---Czechoslovakia, Bohemia, Moravia. Canadian scholar Sayer writes of the Czechs' struggle over centuries to define themselves as a people and nation, and he does so in a vivid, detailed narrative that will enlighten readers who are unfamiliar with the critically important center of Eastern Europe. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
In The Winter's Tale, Shakespeare gave the landlocked country of Bohemia a coastline--a famous and, to Czechs, typical example of foreigners' ignorance of the Czech homeland. Although the lands that were once the Kingdom of Bohemia lie at the heart of Europe, Czechs are usually encountered only in the margins of other people's stories. In The Coasts of Bohemia, Derek Sayer reverses this perspective. He presents a comprehensive and long-needed history of the Czech people that is also a remarkably original history of modern Europe, told from its uneasy center.
Sayer shows that Bohemia has long been a theater of European conflict. It has been a cradle of Protestantism and a bulwark of the Counter-Reformation; an Austrian imperial province and a proudly Slavic national state; the most easterly democracy in Europe; and a westerly outlier of the Soviet bloc. The complexities of its location have given rise to profound (and often profoundly comic) reflections on the modern condition. Franz Kafka, Jaroslav Hasek, Karel Capek and Milan Kundera are all products of its spirit of place. Sayer describes how Bohemia's ambiguities and contradictions are those of Europe itself, and he considers the ironies of viewing Europe, the West, and modernity from the vantage point of a country that has been too often ignored.
The Coasts of Bohemia draws on an enormous array of literary, musical, visual, and documentary sources ranging from banknotes to statues, museum displays to school textbooks, funeral orations to operatic stage-sets, murals in subway stations to censors' indexes of banned books. It brings us into intimate contact with the ever changing details of daily life--the street names and facades of buildings, the heroes figured on postage stamps--that have created and recreated a sense of what it is to be Czech. Sayer's sustained concern with questions of identity, memory, and power place the book at the heart of contemporary intellectual debate. It is an extraordinary story, beautifully told.
Customer Reviews:
Poetic scholarship!.......2005-12-19
Anybody wanting to gain a deeper knowledge of the Czech people, Czech culture, and Czech spirit should read Derek Sayer's 'The Coasts of Bohemia.' Anybody wanting to dive into the sticky mess of Central European history would also do well to read this book. And those unbelievers who think that a scholarly work must be by its very nature dry and dense, MUST read this book.
Sayer's work stands alone in the veritable dearth of good works dealing with Czechdom. A towering mountain, 'Coasts' is far and away the best door to a culture and nation little understood in the 'West.' In this monumental work, Sayer continues in the grand tradition of Czech historiography started by the grand master of Czech history, Palácky. And like Palácky before him, Sayer attempts to give an answer to that elusive question: Who are the Czechs?
Starting his work with the formulators of written Czech, Josef Jungmann and Josef Dobrovsky, Sayer makes a wise decision. During the Hapsburg rule from 1620 to 1918, the only real home of Czechdom was Cestina, the Czech language. From there, Sayer takes the reader on a serpintine journey through the heart of Czech cultural consciousness. We meet up with poets of the national awakening like Karel Hynek Macha, whose epic poem, 'Máj,' could easily be considered the Czech people's Aeneid, a work that defines who they are as a voice in the cacophony of Europe. Critics of culture like F.X. Salda and voices of modernism in Czech culture like Kundera or the Noble Prize-winning poet, Jaroslav Seifert, also make appearances as Sayer makes a case for the Czech artistic voice being paramount in the creation of national identity. Sayer shows how even supposedly 'international' art trends like surrealism and social-realism all served a very selective end: the search for national identity.
In the realm of politics and ideology, Sayer argues that the Czechs have pursued an uniquely singular course throughout their history. The first people in Europe to rebel against catholic uniformity (hence the term 'bohemian'), Czech preacher, Jan Hus, laid the groundwork for Luther's more cathartic 'reformation.' The followers of Hus, the 'Hussites' not only preached a more Gospel-centered Christian creed stripped of the Roman church's ceremony and tradition, but promoted a lifestyle of radical egaliterianism. This conception of a rank-less society more than anything irked the Catholic Hapsburgs who waged a long and savage war with the Hussites until 1620 when the Austrian Hapsburgs put their unruly neighbors under the boot of Catholic rule until the demise of Austro-Hungary in 1918. Sayer argues that the coals of Hussiterian democracy never cooled down completely but instead smoldered on until the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918. This grand social experiment led by the teacher-ideologue, Tomas Masaryk, proved to be Central Europe's only real democracy during the years between both world wars. Yet, Sayer makes a strong claim that Hussitism only gained full resurrection (albeit in a radically perverse form) with the ascension to power of the Czech Communist Party in 1948. The Hussite dream of a radical levelling of all economic and social class was made real with the party's drastic restructuring of Czech society which included the violent expulsion of the Sudeten Germans from the Czech lands, the shameful odsun of 1946-47. Czech communists soon took their ideology of 'people's democracy' to such radical extremes that they stamped out all forms of dissent in their quest to create uniform Czech society. Kundera's novels paint a grim picture of a society which sought to regulate, control and oppress its citizens in even the most intimate of spheres.
By the time the reader finishes 'Coasts,' he/she will not only be wiser by far, but quite exhausted as well. The sheer detail and volume of Sayer's information threatens at times to overwhelm the reader. That one quarter of the book is devoted to 'notes' is not by chance. Yet, even these notes are fascinating cultural and historical tidbits. If Sayer's work has a flaw, it lies in the author's selection of material. Selection is the most crucial (and most difficult) element of historiography. What to include, what to exclude, not only makes or breaks a work, but also carries echoes for generations to come. Who and what is left out of the history books is often doomed to oblivion in day to day life as well. Thus said, Sayer's work attempts to define Czechness around a deliberately tiny base. That of one province, Bohemia. While Bohemia did suffer the lion's share of conflict with the neighboring Germans as well as play a central role in the national awakening, two other Czech lands, Moravia and Czech Silesia have also played crucial roles in the formation of Czech identity. Some of the most internationally-known Czech artists originate from these parts i.e. Kundera, Janácek, Lysohorsky and even Mucha. Unfortunately, Sayer glosses over the cultural and historical connections with these lesser-known Bohemias. Moreover, his treatment of Slovakia's role in the making of the Czech nation and Czechoslovak 'idea' is cursory at best. A grievious absence considering the prominent role many Slovaks have played in Czech political life from Masaryk to Dubcek.
All in all though, there is little room to complain. Sayer's work has filled a gapping hole in Central European studies. A profound act of scholarship and one written in a style approaching the lyric, 'The Coasts of Bohemia' is a giant indeed. Read it!
The Coasts of Bohemia -- a truly beautiful voyage of discovery.......2005-08-07
Derek Sayer's book is exceptional well written and informative, indeed the text is positively lyrical at times. The aim is to provide an understanding of a "people of whom we know nothing" in Central Europe, and Sayer does a masterful task in shaping and clarifying Czech national identity and national culture.
The book is not simply a historical text. While the history is there, and while there is copious scholarly detail and referencing of historical events, the main strength of the text is in illustrating a deep national awareness in literature and the arts. One can almost imagine walking with Sayer on his return visit to Prague, walking through the magical streets of this beautiful city and commenting on buildings, street names, and monuments. He has a delicate but assured ability for capturing detail, coincidence, and irony. The book reads very well and it is amazing to remember that the original text was written in Czech and translated into English by the author's wife.
This is an excellent way of understanding more about Czech lands and the Czech spirit and identity. It is a very beautiful literary work that rejoices in the artistic and literary richness of the Czechs, particularly over the last century. I, for one, am very grateful that Derek Sayer made it back to his homeland to reflect on complex issues of history, national identity, and national culture and to write this masterful book: a must for those of us who love the Czech lands and their peoples.
Where is My Home?.......2005-07-22
Sayer takes an original, creative approach in writing the history of Czech culture. Sayer's book is predicated on the notion that the nation is an imagined community, constantly being re-invented and examines what Czechs have long remembered and forgotten about themselves and their little nation.
The book is unique because Sayer does not employ the typical linear approach to writing history, rather, he casts a wide net over the entire spectrum of Czech intellectual activity from 1618-1960, focusing on the cultural borders of language, symbols, and identity vis-vis the Germans just to name a few. Sayer brings the seemingly obscure to life in a lucid, pleasurable read.
The book highlights the Czech feeling of "smallness" or "malostnosti" within Europe. The Czechs have long been at the center of political, cultural, and philsophical developments over the course of history but tragically were often passive observers to events in their own land due to being subjects of other nations' empires. As a consequence, Czechs felt a powerful need to define their cultural coastlines. Their national anthem, "Gde Domov Muj" or "Where is My Home" is indicative of the Czech historical quest for identity and national destiny.
Sayer takes leave of his story circa 1960 when socialism was at its appogee. This tremendous book is the difinitive source of Czech historical culture. To understand the challenges of integrating the "East" into the EU and the senstivities of small nations, read this book.
A Czech "Cultural" History.......2004-03-24
A previous reviewer is right--this is not a Czech history. But it is the history of how Czech culture has been formed. For that, it is fascinating--For a straight history, look elsewhere. If you are travelling to Prague, it will make many sites much richer--Vysehrad cemetery, the National Theatre, Old Town Square.
Misleadingly titled.......2003-12-22
The book's subtitle is "A Czech History," but people looking for a general history of the Czech lands will be disappointed. Sayer focuses not on battlefields and parliaments but on art, literature and historiography. He either completely ignores or barely mentions such topics as the world wars, the Munich Pact and the Communist coup while devoting dozens of pages to poets, artists and critics. Thus, despite the rather esoteric nature of Czech history, Sayer assumes readers already know the basics. I guess a title like "The Humanities and Czech Identity, 1620-1960" wouldn't sell as well.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Canadian Journal of History, published by University of Saskatchewan on April 1, 2000. The length of the article is 761 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: The Coasts of Bohemia: A Czech History.(Review) (book review)
Author: Mikulas Teich
Publication:
Canadian Journal of History (Refereed)
Date: April 1, 2000
Publisher: University of Saskatchewan
Volume: 35
Issue: 1
Page: 124
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from East European Quarterly, published by East European Quarterly on June 22, 2001. The length of the article is 1187 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: The Coasts of Bohemia: A Czech History.(Review) (book review)
Author: R. William Weisberger
Publication:
East European Quarterly (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 2001
Publisher: East European Quarterly
Volume: 35
Issue: 2
Page: 255
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Average customer rating:
|
Owls: A Guide for Ornithologists
Ron Freethy
Manufacturer: Bishopsgate Pr Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| Birdwatching
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Reference
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Ornithology
| Zoology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1852190426 |
Books:
- Between You and Me : A Memoir
- Birdbaths and Paper Cranes
- Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative
- Blood on the Border : A Memoir of the Contra War
- Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy
- Cache Lake Country: Life in the North Woods
- Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley
- Complete Book of U.S. Presidents: From George Washington to George W. Bush
- Condi: The Condoleeza Rice Story, New Updated Edition
- Death Dealer: The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Raw and the Cooked: Mythologiques, Volume 1
- The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina
- Nutcracker Ballet Coloring Book
- Race to the Swift: Thoughts on Twenty-First Century Warfare
- Teach Yourself VISUALLY
- Short Protocols in Molecular Biology
- The Best Year of Their Lives: Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon in 1948: Learning the Secrets of Power
- Drawing: A Creative Process
- New Peoplemaking
- Because of a flower
All over but the Shoutin'
Somebody Told Me: The Newspaper Stories of Rick Bragg
Lemon Swamp and Other Places: A Carolina Memoir
I Am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story
Redbirds: Memories from the South (Panther)
