Book Description
Breaking nearly eight decades of silence, Essie Mae Washington–Williams comes forward with a story of unique historical magnitude and incredible human drama. Her father, the late Strom Thurmond, was once the nation's leading voice for racial segregation (one of his signature political achievements was his 24–hour filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1957, done in the name of saving the South from "mongrelization"). Her mother, however, was a black teenager named Carrie Butler who worked as a maid on the Thurmond family's South Carolina plantation.
Set against the explosively changing times of the civil rights movement, this poignant memoir recalls how she struggled with the discrepancy between the father she knew–one who was financially generous, supportive of her education, even affectionate–and the Old Southern politician, railing against greater racial equality, who refused to acknowledge her publicly. From her richly told narrative, as well as the letters she and Thurmond wrote to each other over the years, emerges a nuanced, fascinating portrait of a father who counseled his daughter about her dreams and goals, and supported her in reaching them–but who was unwilling to break with the values of his Dixiecrat constituents.
With elegance, dignity, and candor, Washington–Williams gives us a chapter of American history as it has never been written before–told in a voice that will be heard and cherished by future generations.
Customer Reviews:
A Very Classy Lady.......2007-08-15
Lots of people have had lots of things to say about Essie May Washington-Williams. Having read a decent amount about Strom Thurmond, I resisted reading this book thinking that I knew the story from the newspaper accounts. However, I started reading the last night and frankly could not put it down. Ms. Washington-Williams puts a whole new perspective on her illustrious father. Whether she should have revealed her existance earlier was a decision that only she could make. After reading her book I feel that Thurmond truly loved her mother. Surely, he could have treated his daughter better, but he was what he was. He provided for her in his own way and did much for her financially. For all those who had comments about what Ms. Washington-Williams should or should not have done, I feel that they are obligated to read her book before they voice an opinion. In my book, she is one classy lady!
American hypocrisy.......2007-03-30
In what is likely the worst example of hypocrisy in America since "The Scarlet Letter" -- with Thurmond playing the role of Arthur Dimmesdale -- leading segregationist proponent Senator Strom Thurmond fathered a daughter on the family's 15-year old black maid when he was a young man. The child, Essie Mae Washington, was raised by relatives in Pennsylvania and did not learn of her true parentage until she was 16 years old. She kept quiet about it until after Thurmond's death at age 100 when Essie Mae herself was a grandmother in her 70's. This book is her story.
Thurmond seemed to have some level of affection for Essie Mae's mother, Carrie, as their liaison continued sporadically for over two decades. Thurmond helped out with gifts of cash and saw to it that Essie Mae got a university education (in a "black" college) to enable her to support herself as a teacher. Thurmond did not marry until his mid-forties after he had broken off relations with Carrie. Meanwhile he built a political career in South Carolina on a platform of racial segregation, a stand from which he never wavered during his long life.
Thurmond's black mistress and daughter lived and worked as did other blacks in the pre-civil rights era, as second class citizens, relegated to the back of the bus. There were no special favours. Although occasionally Thurmond met with Essie Mae and treated her "kindly", it was as the daughter of an old family retainer, never as his own. Essie Mae was never acknowledged, publicly or privately. Essie Mae always addressed him as "Sir". They never shared a meal. (Carrie, meanwhile, died untimely at age 38 in the poverty ward of a charity hospital of renal failure.)
What seems to me most strange about this tale is that neither mother nor daughter thought there was anything iniquitous about their arrangement and did not want to rock the boat. They knew if the truth were to get out, it would destroy Thurmond's political career, a career which benefited neither of them and, had he been successful in his presidential bid in 1948, would have ensured his black descendants remain locked in servitude, grateful for the crumbs he threw to them. Although Essie Mae has had the utmost regard for her father -- her long silence bespeaks her own generosity of spirit ("coming out", because she felt she owed her children the acknowledgement of their ancestry) -- Strom Thurmond appears a stiff calculating figure, forever imprisoned in the white supremacist persona he had created for himself.
This is a most absorbing true story which proves, once again, that fact is stranger than fiction.
sad autobiography.......2007-03-08
I thought that there were some parts of this book that could have been omitted. The story was well written but a bit excessive. It was even dry at times, lacking emotion.
Was he really a racist?.......2007-01-26
Dear Senator is an exceptional memoir, important not only because of the courage it took to write, but also because it reveals so much about the complexity of Strom Thurmond's double-sided character. Some skeptics have said that he "raped a black maid" and took care of the resulting offspring financially like a "massa" to a slave, but I beg to differ. Thurmond didn't have to do any of the things he chose to do for his mulatto daughter and he risked a lot by making special trips to see Essie Mae and giving her cash. He also can't be blamed for his daughter's long silence. He never told her to not tell anyone. That was Essie Mae's choice alone.
I am a loyal Democrat and supporter of civil rights, so before reading this book, I thought that Strom Thurmond was one of the most evil legislators America has ever elected. However, after finishing Washington-William's page turner, I believe that at heart, Thurmond was actually a very good man. A part of him obviously believed the racist rhetoric he preached as governor and as a U.S. senator (or else he wouldn't have preached it), but I believe that at heart, he was a decent person. He had two opposing forces fighting for resolution inside his head and he ultimately gave credence to the one that would propel his career-- not the most noble choice, but understandable.
Is She Serious?.......2006-08-30
The day I believe that Strom Thurmond loved Washington Williams' mother is the day that pigs fly while drinking Starbucks lattes. Such is the way I begin this review to indicate my feelings about the book.
I fully agree that the book is an important document. Essie Mae Washington Williams finally decided to go ahead and write a book about information that most of the black people in this country already knew: Strom Thurmond had a black daughter. I found that out about ten years ago and so I was glad that she finally "outed" him in a sense.
What concerns me is that Washington Williams seems to have a naive, almost warped view of Strom Thurmond. To say that the union between her mother and Strom that produced her was borne out of love is appalling. The bottom line was that Strom raped a black maid in his household. Washington Williams does an obvious dance around actually letting the reader in on her true feelings about Strom. Even as I was reading I felt I was reading a memoir written by someone at gunpoint, or rather Klanpoint. Klanpoint meaning I feel that Washington Williams sugarcoated her account to protect herself and her family. So basically, while the book is good for your basic, surface information, you aren't going to find much depth besides the obvious issue of a black woman admitting to the world that her father was really a racist white senator.
You travel with Essie through time as she tells about life growing up, how she eventually found out her parents weren't really the people who raised her. There is a sad overtone to the book as you realize that Essie and her mother never really have a loving relationship. There is always a palpable distance between the two women. overall I would only recommend this book for sheer entertainment. If you are looking to find out how Essie REALLY feels, you would do better actually calling her up and talking to her than reading this book.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Black Issues Book Review, published by Cox, Matthews & Associates on May 1, 2005. The length of the article is 543 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: Dear Senator: A Memoir of the Daughter of Strom Thurmond.(Book Review)
Author: Angela P. Dodson
Publication:
Black Issues Book Review (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 1, 2005
Publisher: Cox, Matthews & Associates
Volume: 7
Issue: 3
Page: 45(2)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Average customer rating:
- Interesting Tale, butchered by the author
|
Fatal Fortune: The Death of Chicago's Millionaire Orphan
Virginia A. McConnell
Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| 20th Century
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Illinois
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Criminology
| Crime & Criminals
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
True Crime
| True Accounts
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0275984737 |
Book Description
In December 1924, a 21-year-old millionaire orphan, William "Billy" McClintock, died of an unusually virulent form of typhoid fever. He was mourned by his financee, Isabelle Pope, who sought unsuccessfully to rally her love by marrying him on his deathbed. Shortly after Billy's funeral, questions arose as to the cause of death, with insinuations of foul play. After reaching his majority and inheriting his estate in April, McClintock had signed a will drafted by one of his guardians, lawyer William D. Shepherd--a will which left everything to Shepherd, but only if Billy died before his planned February 1925 wedding to Ms. Pope. Ultimately, Shepherd and his wife Julie were accused of killing not only Billy McClintock, but Billy's mother and a doctor friend of the family. This case caused a major sensation in Jazz Age Chicago, a society fascinated with murder and mayhem. When the body of Billy's mother was exhumed after sixteen years, it was found to contain enough mercury to have killed two people. The Shepherds were the only likely sources. Three physicians came forward to say that Shepherd had approached them about obtaining typhoid germs. Yet, Shepherd would beat the charges of Billy's murder; in fact, no one would ever be charged in the death of Billy's mother. Was there a murder--or two? Who stood to gain the most from these deaths? McConnell recreates a slice of life among Chicago's elite and the colorful characters who may or may not have sought their own piece of the fatal fortune--so-called because its inheritors almost always died within two years of receiving it.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting Tale, butchered by the author.......2006-07-13
The death of William M'Clintock has all of the right components for a well writenn and riviting novel. However, McConnell bogs the tale down with inserts of information, tedious details, and poor chronology. For example, McConnell inserts modern facts into the text on locations and situations even though the death occured in 1924, 1925. Her chronology is dire at best, and ultimately I lost interest and got confused at her presentation of facts. It was a difficult book to finish but a relief when I finished; that is, knowing I would never have to read it again.
Book Description
Hartz’s influential interpretation of american political thought since the Revolution. He contends that americanca gave rise to a new concept of a liberal society, a “liberal tradition” that has been central to our experience of events both at home and abroad. New Introduction by Tom Wicker; Index.
Customer Reviews:
Liberal Tradition.......2005-10-24
The text is a bit dated; today such a single factor analysis, that the U.S. has had no serious counter Lockean political movement because we never experienced feudalism, is too simplistic to be accepted as a complete explanation. That does not mean that it is entirely off base.
Widely considered a classic.
Liberalism as Flight.......2004-08-07
A retired professor in the history of ideas, I have before me the 1955 first edition. I turn to this book because of the enduring question why much of the world has a love/hate relationship with the United States of America. Much of the relationship is expressed in Thomas Jefferson's rationale for the Louisana Purchase, his idea of an "empire of liberty."
The history of the United States of America is a history of flight, first from Europe, than westward from the united colonies that declared their independence on July 4, 1776, all the way to the other end of the continent and beyond.
In the pursuit of individual liberty, manny of us fail to realize that freedom is the power to act, a power that marginalizes others, giving rise to continuing flight, the marginalized as immigrant.
But what of those people who can neither flee nor transform their own governments, feudal governments in alliance with our fragile planet's only superpower? For them the absence of flight becomes fight, the terrorism that frightens us.
As we near the 50th anniversary of THE LIBERAL TRADITION OF IN AMERICA in 2005, this book becomes must reading.
Ray Stroik
Surprising insights into American political thought........1999-11-02
Hartz answers the Red Scare of the 1950's with compelling observations and conclusions about America that might change the way you think of yourself and other Americans, and the political illusions we create. The writing style is rough and unattractive, but stick with it and try to figure out such concepts as liberals are really conservatives, and we've never experiened a real revolution, and why. Read Democracy in America first, or as a companion guide.
Book Description
In The Morality of Everyday Life, Thomas Fleming offers an alternative to the enlightened liberalism espoused by thinkers as different as Kant, Mill, Rand, and Rawls. Philosophers in the liberal tradition, although they disagree on many important questions, agree that moral and political problems should be looked at from an objective point of view and a decision made from a distant perspective that is both rational and universally applied to all comparable cases. Fleming instead places importance on the particular, the local, and moral complexity.
"This book is a pleasure to read, filled with telling and memorable examples-both erudite and popular-and continually stimulating in its account. Its rhetoric blends something of a Nietzschean subversion with the humane balance of Hume. It is the most devastating critique of liberalism since MacIntyre."-Donald W. Livingston
Customer Reviews:
A Conservative Classic.......2007-01-04
A Conservative Classic
Like many great books, this book has gone largely unnoticed by the current establishment. History, however, will correct this, I believe, as this is probably the best work in political philosophy in the last 45 years. People definitely will be reading and discussing this book 300 years from now.
This book can be appreciated by both layman and academic alike, and while naturally appealing to conservatives it will also will please learned liberals and thoughtful environmentalists.
Thought-provoking but not really ready for prime time.......2005-12-05
I saw a review of this book in a conservative publication and was intrigued enough to buy it. The book is a series of seven essays, of which the first five were very thought-provoking and contained some excellent discussion. I would recommend the book on the strength of these alone. The basic idea is that we have stronger ethical obligations to those close to us. Fleming also emphasizes that in the messiness of human existence hard and fast rules that will allow a person to always make the correct decision are nearly impossible to come by. Fleming makes a good case for these points, and I think he is convincing. I loved Fleming's lines "moral certainty belongs only to saints and homicidal maniacs" and "men and women are not unidimensional figures cut out of cardboard by a philosopher's scissors."
I especially liked Fleming's comparison of wealthy nations providing food aid to the Third World to a lifeboat, in which we have an obligation not to take on more passengers either as immigrants or consumers. I agree that it is ethically permissible to refuse aid to societies that do nothing to reduce their population. In my opinion, any charity that provides food or medicine to poor people but does not provide birth control or other means of reducing population has a lot to answer for. I also liked Fleming's application of the same principle to taxes. When the money for yet another hare-brained income transfer scheme is coming out of what I earn for my family, don't expect me to like it.
Fleming wants the foundations of conservative ideas questioned also, which I think is excellent. For example, Fleming discusses the Christian commandment that we should love our neighbor as ourselves. Since no ordinary person possibly can or does love his neighbor this way, it seems pointless to base an ethical system on this. Objective points of view, taken to their natural extremes, will inevitably turn us into monsters who will kill for some higher cause or other. I liked Fleming's line that "one sign we are dealing with a superstition is the unwillingness of the believer to question basic assumptions," which he applies to Christianity. I've seen far too many Christians in precisely that position.
In the last two essays Fleming seems to get bogged down, though there are still some good points made. In the essay "The Myth of Individualism" Fleming argues that we should put less emphasis on the individual and more on community. That's fine as far as it goes, but arguing that our society's problems really come from seeing ourselves as individuals struck me as taking this idea further than his evidence will support.
In the last essay "Goodbye, Old Rights of Man," Fleming occasionally seemed to me to be contradicting much of what I had agreed with in the earlier essays. For example, he talks about abortion as killing real unborn children to promote an abstract quality of life. This strikes me as exactly the sort of hard and fast rule that he said was inadequate to deal with the messiness of human existence. I agree that you shouldn't abort a child for trivial reasons, but then you shouldn't have a child for trivial reasons, either. Is it wrong to abort a child if there are already too many children to properly care for in the family? If the parents have serious genetic defects? What if the local community is starving? What if the local community would starve if the population doubled? I agree with Fleming that today's obsession with rights has gotten out of hand; but it's not only the liberals who sometimes take this too far.
Fleming has a tendency to make sweeping statements irrelevant to his argument, without providing any support for them. For example, he calls today's environmental havoc, such as pollution, the residue of Western liberalism. He dismisses all of American art, and the theory of evolution, with the same casualness. Well, I'm a scientist who believes in evolution. I'm a little surprised that Fleming doesn't, given that evolution is all about the sort of messiness and contingency Fleming is writing about. I would suggest pairing this book with something on evolution, such as Stephen Jay Gould's book "Wonderful Life".
Fleming's ideas can be taken too far, which Fleming seems unaware of. It is all very well to be concerned first for our own families, but taken to an extreme the result is nepotism and corruption. The Renaissance popes are the classic example of this, but it is a serious problem in many countries. In the Philippines even the proper handling of church funds is nearly impossible, because people feel that if their families ask them for money they must give it, even if the money is not theirs. Nepotism is a problem in the U.S., as shown by the political career of George W. Bush, a man whose sole qualifications for office appear to be his famous father and an uncanny ability to remember people's names. Too much ignoring of abstract principles like equality can lead to disaster too: look at what happened to the ancien regime of pre-revolutionary France, and to the Russian czars.
One of this years best!.......2005-10-22
Dr. Fleming's book, The Morality of Everyday Life, presents seven essays that examine, in depth and detail, the unraveling of our culture and government. What's that, you ask? What do I mean, "unraveling of our culture and government? Well, okay, take a look around. We do know, for example, that the combined various levels of government costs us half our income, that our hard-earned wages that we use to feed, house, and clothe our families is being transferred, by government fiat, to people we don't even know (not to mention the funding of certain, select corporations and fulminating academics), and countless other inane programs. Programs which are proven and utter failures, such as the $6 trillion war on poverty, environmental restrictions taken to an absurd level such as prohibiting oil exploration in a barren wasteland. Or how about the disintegration of the family and acceptance of degenerate sexual lifestyles? Or perhaps we could examine the countless times in our society when innocent people are convicted for simply protecting their homes and families.
These are just a sampling of the problems Dr. Fleming seeks to explore in his book. Dr. Fleming argues that since the birth of classical liberalism in the seventeenth century, a century that gave us "universality, rationality, individualism, objectivity, and abstract idealism," Western Civilization has developed a flaw in its ethics, moral behavior, and thus in the construction of its state apparatus. He points out that the two primary political philosophies, liberalism and conservatism, have both embraced a "farsighted" or "long view" of human life. The problem, then, is that both political "positions (liberalism and conservatism)" in order to engage this farsighted, idealistic, perspective of mankind (modernity) have in the very act of "freeing themselves from the shackles of particular circumstances and traditions" introduced an ethical virus that eats away at the traditional duties and obligations of the individual while disenfranchising the very foundation of human society, the family.
This sort of "one size fits all" thinking that government and society are pushing us towards is at once, both dangerous and absurd. For example: a man murders a storekeeper during a robbery. In a one size fits all society, the woman who kills her abusive husband in self defense would receive the same punishment
In his essay "Hell and Other People", Fleming describes the eighteenth century and the philosophies of "Voltaire, Kant, and (later) the New England transcendentalists" as the time when the concepts of "universal brotherhood, international law, and world government reemerged." The twentieth century saw the idea of a "just state," or government that is committed to "economic equality," the idea that one is to "sacrifice private life to public good," (can you say "eminant domain"?)not to mention the onslaught of self-righteous who are constantly interfering in the private lives of citizens. So the state has become the vehicle of moral certitude and each of us, through the wisdom of the state, is to take his place as "deputies" in providing for the necessary expansion in order that it might provide, among other things, largesse to the "underprivileged," justice for all, and, of course, the ever elusive, equality.
Dr. Fleming does not, however, stop at just revealing the problems, but details how America, as a people, can reverse the trends he has cited. I will stop short of discussing Fleming's outline and leave that to the reader to discover. This is an exceptional work from a brilliant author.
Monty Rainey
www.juntosociety.com
Think Locally, Act Locally.......2004-06-13
THE MORALITY OF EVERYDAY LIFE is one of the more interesting books on ethics that I've read in a while. Thomas Fleming, a top paleconservative writer, contrasts an "ancient alternative" to the liberal tradition. The liberal tradition (growing out of Descartes, Locke and others) is characterized by certain assumptions: Individuals and governments are the central players in ethical considerations; moral behavior is a question on rational decision-making; moral principles must be applied with equal consistency to all situations.
Yet the ancient (and in fact almost universal) way of looking at moral questions is different. I have different obligations to different people. My duties to family and the world are not equal. Charity, as they say, beings at home. To the liberal "citizen of the world" this is provincialism at its worst. "[T]here is a consistency of tone, a certain universal high-mindedness that is impatient with distinctions and disdainful of irrational attachments. Sentiments of loyalty, because they are not entirely rational, do not yield their secrets to analysis or measurement." [p. 103.] People who profess a love for mankind first and foremost have the tendency to be cruel to their family and friends. It's easy to justify almost anything in the name of one's love for mankind. (A point made in Paul Johnson's suggestive, if problematic book, INTELLECTUALS.)
Dr. Fleming's book, as one might suggest by my brief description, is hardly rationalistic and abstract. There are plenty of examples from "everyday life" illustrating the arguments of the book. My only complaint is that I had hoped Dr. Fleming would have situated his ethical approach within the tradition advanced by writers of the Old Right. Richard Weaver and Robert Nisbet are mentioned once, and Russell Kirk not at all.
Book Description
The culmination of a year-long lecture series cosponsored by The Century Foundation and the City University of New York Graduate Center's Center for Urban Research, Rethinking the Urban Agenda takes up the challenge provided by a changing of the guard in New York City government-the election of a new mayor and city council-to outline a new conceptual and political road map for New York City's future and, in many important respects, for the future of urban America.
Average customer rating:
|
A Comparison Between Western and Chinese Political Ideas: The Difference and Complementarity of the Liberal-Democratic and Moral-Despotic Traditions (Distinguished Dissertations)
Chuxuan Zheng
Manufacturer: Mellen University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Culture
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Political Theory
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Systems Of Government
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
| General
| Islamic Government
| Monarchy
| Representative Government
Liberalism
| Political Doctrines
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Marxism
| Political Doctrines
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| China
| Asia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0773490205 |
Average customer rating:
|
Cultus Americanus: Varieties of the Liberal Tradition in American Political Culture, 1600-1865
Brent Gilchrist
Manufacturer: Lexington Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Democracy
| Government
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
History & Theory
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Political Doctrines
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Liberalism
| Political Doctrines
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0739121804 |
Book Description
Cultus Americanus applies a philosophical model of political culture as ideology, religion, and myth, to a re-consideration of America's liberal consensus to explain cultural diversity in America. Author Brent Gilchrist engagingly depicts a political culture that is more complex and more cohesive than has been previously maintained that will be of great interest to scholars and students of American politics and history.
Customer Reviews:
A seminal work of American political thought .......2007-08-19
Hartz defines the American political tradition as Lockean liberalism. He places great emphasis on the fact that the U.S. skipped the feudal stage in its political development. He is especially concerned about the U.S.'s never having developed a tradition of Socialism in politics. He believes that the exclusively dominant Liberal Tradition, and the absence of the political ideologies present in European politics stem in part from America's great natural wealth and open-spaces, from its connection to a founding vital middle- class.
This work has been commented on and criticized now for half- a- century and is still read today by those who would understand the American political tradition.
Book Description
"The history of a big river is much like the water itself. Travel down it, and you'll find people and places sure to surprise and enlighten you. So it is with Voices of the Apalachicola. . . . History buffs, writers, researchers, biologists, and naturalists should find the book valuable."--Tallahassee Democrat
"Captures the uniqueness of the Apalachicola basin, the technology that has channeled the river's promise, and the threats to its health."--Panama City News Herald
"With this book, you can vicariously experience one of America's longest and wildest continuous wetlands. . . . [A] fascinating set of oral histories."--Red Hills Writers Project
One of the main water resources for Florida, Alabama, and Georgia, the Apalachicola River begins where the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers meet at Lake Seminole and flow unimpedted for 106 miles, through the red hills and floodplains of the Florida panhandle into the Gulf of Mexico.
Voices of the Apalachicola is a collection of oral histories from more than thirty individuals who have lived out their entire lives in this region, including the last steamboat pilot on the river system, sharecroppers who escaped servitude, turpentine workers in Tate's Hell, sawyers of "old-as-Christ" cypress, beekeepers working the last large tupelo stand, and a Creek chief descended from a 200-year unbroken line of chiefs.
Customer Reviews:
The heart and soul of a great river.......2007-01-22
Forty years ago, author Gloria Jahoda characterized the Sunshine State's panhandle as "The Other Florida." This was--and to some extent still is--the off-the-beaten track part of the state where residents have long viewed their scrub oak and pine forests, salt marshes, rivers, sinkholes, barrier islands and coastline with a very utilitarian eye. The stories in Faith Eidse's oral history of the Apalachicola River system remind me of Jahoda's book, for they are not about the Florida of resorts, overly developed beaches and mega-tourist attractions, but of people who knew the land and the river as an integral part of their livelihood. Here are the fishermen, riverboat captains, botanists, road builders, turpentiners, beekeepers and loggers who have stories to tell about a world most people never knew existed. While I grew up in the other Florida very close to the Apalachicola River, these stories--supplemented by a historical narrative--have shown me that I missed more than I noticed when it came to the land and its people. These stories display for us the heart and soul of a great river, one that we might one day successfully destroy. For those who would protect the river and the surrounding ecosystem, this book is a must read. For everyone else, the voices make for exciting history and demand to be heard.
Just like listening to old folks tell stories.......2006-06-22
Voices is a rich, moving account of the people who have lived in and around the apalachicola river their whole lives - and how that river is dying. The chapters deal with fishing, logging, damming, sharecropping, etc., and are broken up into sections, usually 6 to 10 pages in length, with each section focusing on the story of a different person. These oral histories are just that - oral histories. The writing is verbatim - sometimes the people trail off, or don't quite make sense, or don't entirely finish telling you about a subject, but that is what makes the book so great - it's real. Just like listening to your grandparents tell a story; you may not get all the details, but what does come through is great. There are a variety of sources from Native Americans to catfish trappers to engineers to steamboat captains to loggers - but all their stories lead up to one message, the river is drying up, and the flora and fauna are dying, a result of Atlanta's need for water, developers, and poor choices made by the government and the corps of engineers. But its not a depressing book, as there are many heartfelt stories of humor, wit and the tenacity of the human spirit. These stories and this book are great!
Books:
- Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr Johnson's Dictionary
- Dharma Punx
- Dialysis : An Unanticipated Journey
- Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend
- Facing The Lion: Memoirs of a Young Girl in Nazi Europe
- Fierce Attachments: A Memoir
- Finding Mañana: A Memoir of a Cuban Exodus
- Flying the Alaska Wild: The Adventures and Misadventures of an Alaska Bush Pilot
- Fundamentals of Organizational Communication (6th Edition)
- God is My Co-Pilot
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Vanished Splendors: A Memoir
- The Omega-3 Connection: The Groundbreaking Antidepression Diet and Brain Program
- Seeing Through Clothes
- The Bridegroom: Stories
- The Immune System
- Schaum's Outline of Biology
- The Prophet Armed: Trotsky 1879-1921
- Firecrackers: The Art and History
- Teaching Kids to Love the Earth
- Clematis: The Queen of Climbers