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Hesper Anderson's poignant memoir opens with her mother's suicide in March 1953 and closes late the following year, when reading the contents of Mab Anderson's strongbox revealed to 20-year-old Hesper that her parents were never married. This disclosure makes some sense out of turbulent interactions between her mother and father (the noted playwright Maxwell Anderson) that had baffled Hesper for years before their bitter separation. The author intersperses her narration of the period following her mother's death with memories of her childhood home on South Mountain Road in Rockland County, New York, where the Andersons lived in close communion with a group of fellow artists including Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya, lyricist Alan Jay Lerner, and cartoonist Milt Caniff. Visitors included humorist Marion Hargrove, the object of Hesper's adoration from the time she was 7, and the book's most shocking moment comes when Hargrove sleeps with the still-grieving girl months after her mother's suicide, then callously informs her he's getting married. Hesper Anderson skillfully conveys the comfortable yet bohemian atmosphere on South Mountain Road and its impact on her. Vivid character sketches include the warm, down-to-earth Lenya and the author's loving but judgmental father, but the strongest portrait is of Hesper herself, groping toward maturity in difficult circumstances. --Wendy Smith ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Excellent Book, Excellent People, Excellent Location
This is an amazing story of love, loss, and discovery. The characters are amazing and memorable and Hesper is a great character caught in the sudden and terrible memory of a troubled childhood. This book takes place in the same community that my mother grew up in and where I have a summer home. My summer home is on a street adjacent to South Mountain Road. Rockland County, more specifically Pomona, NY and Ramapo, is the most wonderful setting for a story of such depth, since South Mountain Road and all of it's neighboring places hold such history and depth. Ms. Anderson makes a few mistakes in here references, she mispelled the name Concklin farmstand and referred to Route 45 as Route 202, but very minor mistakes. The scenery and location speaks as well as the story line and really explains who Hesper and her surrounding enviornments are. When I read I am transported back to South Mountain Road, the tree at the top of the road, and the smells and sounds of this wonderful place. Ms. Anderson has created a masterpiece that you cannot possible read and not fall in love with.

ONE HELL OF A MEMOIR
Hesper Anderson's lovely memoir, "South Mountain Road" is a riviting read. It is populated with a cornocopia of famous names ranging from the author's father, noted playwright Maxwell Anderson to Kurt Weill, Lotte Lenya, Marlon Brando, Katherine Hepburn, Burgess Meredith, and many more. But what makes this so interesting is that all of these luminaries are mere extras in the story of Anderson and her on-going struggle to know and understand her parents. This is must reading whether you are interested in the private lives of public people or simply someone who has sought the acceptance and love of your parents.

A sad but triumphant memoir
Hesper Anderson, youngest child of playwright Maxwell Anderson, has written an honest, straightforward and very readable memoir. Ms. Anderson grew up in a community of successful and influential artists, authors, musicians and intellectuals. The title of the work is the name of the road in rural New York where she and her famous parents and neighbors lived. Ms. Anderson tells the story of her parents' troubled relationship and its lasting effects upon her.

Ms. Anderson has a beautiful, sensitive nature. She reveals her emotional life with heartbreaking candor. She clearly loves both of her parents, but nonetheless has seen right through some facades. Her famous father comes across as mysterious, remote and controlling. Ms. Anderson pointedly blames the cancer death of the first Mrs. Anderson and the suicide of her mother upon Maxwell Anderson. She reveals some shocking family secrets which she did not discover until after her mother's death. The discovery of those secrets helped bring some closure and understanding for Ms. Anderson. She also works through some painful secrets of her own, including her childhood fascination with an older famous neighbor. This neighbor takes advantage of this fascination with particular cruelty. He has an affair with her during a time of extreme emotional vulnerability, announces that he's getting married (to someone else) and walks out of her life. The final chapters of the book bring with them a sense of reconcilation and forgiveness.

This is not just a memoir of the daughter of a famous family -- by the time you reach the book's end, you've completely forgotten that the people are rich and famous. It is the story of a young girl's emotional journey.

Hesper Anderson is a Gifted Writer
The book holds my attention from the very first line and I just can't put it down. I love the way Hesper retells her life, flasbacks to flasbacks. It is like getting into her mind. Her description of the bohemian world is very convincing and real. This book is a must-read.

I loved this book
Hesper Anderson vividly reconstructs her childhood memories for the reader with clarity and exquisite detail. Her story is one of a remarkable, sensitive girl as she traverses her precarious journey of childhood. The daughter of playwright Maxwell Anderson, Hesper was surrounded by the rich and famous. Her anecdotes of Rex Harrison, Ingrid Bergman, Marlin Brando and many others are skillfully woven into her story, giving the reader a sense of the uniqueness of growing up on South Mountain Road. Personally, I was touched by the generosity with which the author shares intimate details of her life. Her struggle to understand herself within the context of her famous family is rich with the irony of life in a fishbowl. Her book is a thoughtful, well-written reflection on life, relationships, and what really matters. I loved this book. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

John O’Brien’s deeply evocative book re- veals a place and a way of life—and the lives of an estranged father and son whose differences rest, ironically, in their own powerful bonds to Appalachia.

John O’Brien was born in Philadelphia, his father having left his beloved home in the West Virginia mountains after an impoverished childhood made all the more painful by family tragedy. Struggling to escape a father defeated by disappointment, displacement, and poverty, John too left home. When John decided to settle near his father’s birthplace in West Virginia, he hoped to comprehend the elder O’Brien’s attachment to the land, as well as the disabling fatalism he had carried north.

What he discovered is hardly the mythic Appalachia most Americans imagine, but a world of extravagant beauty—lush with green mountains, deep forests, ice-cold trout streams, and small hill farms. The people we meet who inhabit this land are for the most part unpretentious, working class, straightforward, open, commonsensical, and easygoing. They tend to look back more than most Americans do, defining themselves by how they fit into an extended family that includes their ancestors. We are in a mountain culture that feels old and deeply rooted, that follows a traditional way of life. It is a world the author would finally love and call his own.

We also come face-to-face with provincialism, intolerance, and—perhaps Appalachia’s defining legacy—the horrors of the coalfields and chemical plants. We see clearly what rapacious greed and exploitation have done for generations to much of
the landscape and to the lives of the people. And we learn of the stream of reformers and missionaries, ever ready to show Appalachia the way, whose real contributions tend to be negligible or absurd.

In this clear-eyed, beautifully rendered telling of his story and his father’s, John O’Brien gives us, as well, the history and true heart of Appalachia.
... Read more

Reviews (19)

Finally, the truth
Like John O'Brien, my parents were born and raised in WV. In the Franklin of his book, in fact. Like John, my parents left WV after high school look for jobs and greater opportunities. Like John, I am "from" WV, even though I didn't grow up there.

This book went straight to my core. First of all, because he's writing from Franklin, a town I know as "home". He explained so many things I've seen all my life but never quite understood -- the Woodlands Institute, the fight over school re-districting, the conflict between Franklin and the North Fork communities, etc.

I know the places and people he talks about and his words ring true. Everett Mitchell really could sell raffle tickets to a tree stump if he decided to! I also have had the same feelings of attachment and alienation from WV and "Appalachia". It's home but....

I've heard my parents describe their confusion about this mythical place called "Appalachia". I've heard them wonder where it is and what it's about because the myth never seemed to describe their home and their childhood, even though, theoretically, they are from the very heart of Appalachia.
I've seen the conflicts John O'Brien describes between the "middle class" and the "hillbillies" acted out within my own family. Within, I suspect, my parents marriage.

John O'Brien does the ONLY credible job of describing the myth of Appalachia I've ever read. Living in DC, every few years the local papers will come out with a fully predictable feature article. It will include someone, usually a transplant from the midwest, finally wandering away from the whirlwind of Capitol Hill and the White House and national politics and taking a drive west.

They "discover" that WV (and, by extension, the mythical Appalachia) is a mere 2 hours (2 hours!!!) from DC! But, oh!, the contrasts! Oh, the stark beauty! Oh, the poverty! Oh, the feuds! Oh, the tragedy! How can this be, a mere few hours from our nations capitol! The most powerful city in the world!! What can we DO about this?????

yada yada yada. Pretty nauseating, predictable, lamely written stuff. It was an incredible relief to finally read something true, thoughtful, and considered about West Virginia.

The one...downside?...to the book is some of the stuff about John's personal life. I'm torn between really appreciating how Appalachia and his personal trials are interwoven. But sometimes it seems just a bit too...much. That's a judgement call though. I can see why he did it. I can't really blame him.

I lent the book to my father, born and raised in "Appalachia", and currently living back on the home place in Franklin. He found it frustrating but I think that's mostly because it hit much too close to home for him. Once he got past his frustration, he agreed that John O'Brien honestly describes his home, his culture, and his world. I suppose you won't get a better recommendation than that.

West Virginia is more than a depression attempt at writing
John O'Brien's At Home in the Heart of Appalachia is neither inspring, uplifting, or well written. His book is filled with overindulgent excuses for his father's racism while perpetuating stereotypes of Appalachia. His writing is aimless. In some areas, he seems too engrossed in self pity, and in others he just seems to be building on an image of a man he obviously created for himself in college. Attempts to strip his ego are shallow and unconvincing. At times, I really saw, or felt I saw, O'Brien trying to get a book out by deadline. If this was a writing that glorified the Appalachian experience or its people, he would have had an excuse. John O'Brien had some fuel to work with, if this was the case. The Woodland's Institute would have been suited for a book of this nature. His returning "home" may also have been a great journey, if it truly was his home. It wasn't. New Jersey was his home and John happened to have relatives in West Virginia.

Welcome to Wild, Wonderful West Virginia--sort of
I grew up in southeastern Ohio and northwestern West Virginia and I write, so I've always been interested in books about Appalachia. In most of them, I've read about illiteracy, incest, black lung, poverty and a whole heap of despair. Okay. Unfortunately, that was true for some residents--but the West Virginia I knew was friendly, funny, loving and, at times, breathtakingly beautiful. I make it back at least once a year and it still is all of those things and then some.
That's a side of the state I'm still looking for in fiction and nonfiction both.

I'm grateful to John O'Brien for the sections of his book that take on the long-standing myths and misconceptions about the Mountain State. It's definitely worth reading just for that. The other criticisms I've read on here have merit and I felt O'Brien's emotional problems and his relationship with his father were vague and sometimes even evasive. He sounded very clear about the state around him but not his own state of mind at times.

Still, definitely worth reading if you have an interest in West Virginia and Appalachia.
A great step on understanding a misunderstood region.

Personal and Political
Elegantly written, this is an illuminating and deeply moving book. O'Brien offers intimate knowledge of the region where he was born, combined with a more distanced analysis. Appalachian history is brilliantly interwoven with the author's own family story. O'Brien's personal struggles are painful and courageous, two qualities he would apply to the lives of the Appalachians...that is, once he confounds you with the complex mythology behind that term. Excellent.

This Book Touched My Heart...
Having spent the first 19 years of my life in Appalachia and still returning every few years, I found this book to be extremely insightful and thought provoking. I did not understand the class systems of McDowell County WV in the 50's & 60's. Having lived in a neighborhood of "Haves" I had little contact with the "Have Nots." I did not understand at that time how important it was to my parents to not be seen as "hillbillies" and why those living in poverty and squalor (prior to the establishment of welfare) were so distasteful to them. I wasn't aware of these stereotypes until I went to college and met people from New York who found me to be different from what they expected a "hillbilly girl to be." John O'Brien's book helps certain parts of my past make more sense. I also appreciate his personal history and feel that this is part of the story that needed to be told. ... Read more

Book Description

In 1944, Alexander Chancellor's father, then the general manager of the Reuters international news agency, returned to wartime London with the record album of Oklahoma! - a gift that disposed an impressionable four-year-old Alex to a love affair with America. Still, he never dreamed, even after he arrived in Washington in the 1980s as chief correspondent for the London Independent, that he would one day assume the monocle of the New Yorker's famous top-hatted mascot, Eustace Tilley, and edit the magazine's column "The Talk of the Town."

While Chancellor's experiences with power and peril among the political and social elites of the American capital provide a bounty of amusing observations and lively anecdotes, they do not prepare him for the often exciting and frequently astonishing drama of Tina Brown's high-profile takeover of one of America's most august institutions. Brimming with news and gossip, intrigue and humor, minor tempests and huge embarrassments, this charming memoir of a modest Englishman's encounters with New York culture, not to mention the force of nature Tina Brown, casts contemporary America in a revelatory, fresh, amusing light. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

LIGHTWEIGHT, SILLY AND MARVELOUSLY MOCKING!
If he can make it there, he can make it anywhere. But Alexander Chancellor did not make it in New York, N.Y. -- the British writer was hired in 1995 by then-"New Yorker" Big Cheese Tina Brown to edit the magazine's mythical "Talk of the Town" section, and he failed. Miserably. His book -- the latest to join the rather long list of tomes "celebrating" the fabled magazine's 75th anniversary -- dishes as much dirt as Renata Adler's "Gone: The Last Days of 'The New Yorker'" (the best of the bunch), but Chancellor's Brit wit keeps them tamer -- with himself often the brunt of the jokes. He admits Brown had "her blind spots" and that "maybe appointing me had been one of them." Largely lightweight, sometimes silly, marvelously mocking.

Alex and Tina
I was one of the many New Yorker subscribers who were dismayed at the announcement of Tina Brown's editorship of The New Yorker. This Brit, who came fresh from the glitzy "Vanity Fair", was to be at the helm of our elegant New Yorker? I felt her tenure was a disaster, and the only thing of which I approved was the addition of a much-needed Table of Contents.

Mr. Chancellor, an English journalist, recounts his recruitment by Ms. Brown and his subsequent year as the editor of the Talk of the Town segment of the magazine. Why Ms. Brown selected a fellow-Englishman for this task is a mystery to us and Mr. Chancellor. The "Talk of the Town" is the heart of The New Yorker, and it is well nigh unimaginable for an editor who is not only a Brit, but had no familiarity with New York City to be in charge.

The book is enjoyable written with a light, deft, slightly acidic style. Alex is fond of Tina in an edgy way. She is damned with faint praise. He is intrigued by the peculiarities of the New Yorker staff and general outlook. This is nothing new, for the ways of The New Yorker are passing strange.

Mostly the book recounts the author's adventures, which were first class in every sense of the word. He is on a chummy basis with the richest, the most social and powerful Americans. He is a guest in their homes, on their party lists, and an intimate confidante. When he wishes to have a weekend home in the country, a cottage is provided for him on a huge estate. I read and reread Mr. Chancellor's description on the book jacket and still could not make a connection between his modest attainments and background and his scintillating friends. I am sure he is a very appealing man as he writes in an attractive manner. That charm must carry him a long way.

If you ever wanted to live the high life for a year on an unlimited expense account, this is your book.

A "must" for any fan of the New Yorker magazine.
A British journalist examines behind the scenes life at the New Yorker magazine in a blend of biography, gossip, Americana and social observation. Some Times in America provides an outsider's view of American culture and New Yorker politics, with a special focus on Tina Brown. A 'must' for any fan of the publication.

HILARIOUS VIEWS FROM FLEET STREET
"Just make it up ", said new Yorker writer Brendan Gill to the author of this book .Following Gill's advide , the Fleet Street celebrity lets us have a view of American journalism as if it was penned by P>G> Wodehouse's Psmith,Journalist . Chancellor's picture of celeb editor Tina Brown is so funny you may need to loosen your clothing before tacking it .He makes no adjustments for American readers.Chanceller views some American institutions such as fact checking as jokes . Hilarious job for those who need to know what the Brits think of the American press . ... Read more

Book Description

My First Life is an autobiography of life in a small, rural village in western New York in the '30's and '40's, and a lucid account of the culture of small town life during the worst years of the depression and WWII. Day provides interesting tales of his family, neighbors, old men of the village, and his pals, with whom he explored everything from the village haunts to his sexual coming-of-age. A compelling social history of the times and of the ways in which they shaped his character—for good and not so good. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Looking for real people
I am the author of this book
When I put together the pieces for this book, I wanted to share with readers the sight and sounds of those people I interviewed. Each person, each story is special to me because they seem to capture the person as I felt. Each person I talked to seemed to want to share their secret lives with me. It was fun.

A Breath of Fresh Air!
This review is long overdue. I picked up Al's book almost a year ago at a local book sale. I'm not a big reader, but having met Al in person led me to buy the book. I began skimming the book later on that night. Eventually, I stopped skimming and began reading. The profiles in this book are interesting. Yes, these are 'everyday people', but Al's insightful writing sheds electricity onto their lives. It was really like a breath of fresh air to read about the lives ordinary people lead. It's not everyday, in this fast-paced world of ours, when you take the time out to sit down and learn about the strangers who come and go. I highly recommend this pleasurable read.

Sullivan: gritty realism, a pure reading pleasure
If you ever met Al Sullivan, the last thing you'd do is picture him as a dashing young soldier long ago at the height of the Vietnam war - much less baby sitting a bunch of freaky rockers outside his helicopter at a place called Woodstock. Yet, that's one of the duties he 'volunteered' for.

In his essay "By The Time I Got To Woodstock" Sullivan briefly notes his 1st visit to the upstate refuge - and his overwhelming fear of helicopters. It is one of the rare times in Everyday People that he uses "I". It's to be forgiven him because he immediately uses his modern day visit to Woodstock as a newspeg to compare that town with Secaucus - his current tour of duty.

Sullivan worked for me for a few months in 96-97, and though the months were few, the impact has been long-lasting. He covered the mundane meetings, sure, but there was always something else lurking behind the touseld hair and the distant stare. He had the ragtag Tandy laptop blinking on one desk, the company terminal blinking there, a notepad in front of him - all while he was on the phone talking to another source. Sullivan was always on the go, always three steps ahead of the sunshine, so to speak. It is a pleasure to read him again.

It was there, in those other stories that Al set himself apart. If he workd for me now, he'd be a 'special writer' - that's someone who does his beat, and also turns in outstanding stories from left field, Clark's Pond, the emergency room and just about anywhere else fate takes him.

"Down and Out in Hoboken" relays the chance meeting with a panhandler at St. Mary's Hospital. The panhandler - whose name Sullivan never learns - says "People give me money to make me go away..." And in just a couple hundred words, you learn an awful lot about the panhandler - and the skill of Sullivan's perception of people. That's what makes Everyday People in its gritty realism a pure reading pleasure.

Perhaps the editors of Everyday People could have selected a few longer profiles, but as Sullivan notes in his Preface, "the word count has always been my curse," and I'll vouch for his observation here, "as it is for all prolific journalists," and again I agree. While we await the next volume, dig in here, and meet some interesting everyday people.

Al Sullivan is not your everyday writer
If you ever met Al Sullivan, the last thing you'd do is picture him as a dashing young soldier long ago at the height of the Vietnam war - much less baby sitting a bunch of freaky rockers outside his helicopter at a place called Woodstock. Yet, that's one of the duties he 'volunteered' for.

In his essay "By The Time I Got To Woodstock" Sullivan briefly notes his 1st visit to the upstate refuge - and his overwhelming fear of helicopters. It is one of the rare times in Everyday People that he uses "I". It's to be forgiven him because he immediately uses his modern day visit to Woodstock as a newspeg to compare that town with Secaucus - his current tour of duty.

Sullivan worked for me for a few months in 96-97, and though the months were few, the impact has been long-lasting. He covered the mundane meetings, sure, but there was always something else lurking behind the touseld hair and the distant stare. He had the ragtag Tandy laptop blinking on one desk, the company terminal blinking there, a notepad in front of him - all while he was on the phone talking to another source. Sullivan was always on the go, always three steps ahead of the sunshine, so to speak. It is a pleasure to read him again.

It was there, in those other stories that Al set himself apart. If he workd for me now, he'd be a 'special writer' - that's someone who does his beat, and also turns in outstanding stories from left field, Clark's Pond, the emergency room and just about anywhere else fate takes him.

"Down and Out in Hoboken" relays the chance meeting with a panhandler at St. Mary's Hospital. The panhandler - whose name Sullivan never learns - says "People give me money to make me go away..." And in just a couple hundred words, you learn an awful lot about the panhandler - and the skill of Sullivan's perception of people. That's what makes Everyday People in its gritty realism a pure reading pleasure.

Perhaps the editors of Everyday People could have selected a few longer profiles, but as Sullivan notes in his Preface, "the word count has always been my curse," and I'll vouch for his observation here, "as it is for all prolific journalists," and again I agree. While we await the next volume, dig in here, and meet some interesting everyday people. ... Read more

Book Description

This is a shocking behind the sceneslook at the New York City Police Department. It is the story of one man's struggle to survive bigotry, with the added burden of the Internal Affairs "monkey" on his back. Read how this black cop was able to overcome the forces that were arrayed against him: the powerful union, vengeful bosses, fellow police officers and even many of his own black comrades. He battled these demons, while still engaging the dangerous criminals of New York City ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A 19th century career with new millenium overtones.
John Wanamaker: Philadelphia Merchant is a fast paced, well researched account of one of America's premiere retailers. The author, Herbert Ershkowitz ascribes Wanamaker's success to beliefs critical to new millenium themes. The importance of business to the community. Advertising as the key to marketing success. Religion as the foundation of society. Must reading for the biography buff; the marketing major; the proactive capitalist and the budding fashionista. ... Read more

Book Description

This is the story of a West Virginia Mountaineer as rugged as the mountains in which he lived most of his life. He survived by hard work and determination, toughened by growing up in a large family sustained only by the fat of the land and the sweat of the brow. My father’s machine gun battalion was alternately labeled “Pershing's Pets” and the “Sight Seeing Battalion” because they followed behind the main front and traveled extensively while in ready reserve for their final sacrifice. A less envious title for a machine gun unit was “The Suicide Troops.” (In battle, they had an average life expectancy of seven minutes.) Dad was on his way to the active front when the Armistice was declared, but he narrowly escaped some enemy bombs when his unit lit up their campfires in a premature anticipation of the cease-fire. His extensive travels gave him a special appreciation for the natural beauty of his home state, and he has a rare talent for describing it. ... Read more

Book Description

A Memoir of West Virginia. ... Read more

Book Description

Squire's Legacy is a lovely story of a family that did not know the meaning of "defeat" and the still larger story of southern West Virginia communities that have been described often but rarely understood.

Missionaries, such as the late Jack Weller, have called them "yesterday's people," fundraisers seeking charity from outside the region have demeaned them as "our contemporary ancestors;" and, sociologists have called their folkways an "analgesic subculture" wedded to fatalistic ways. Refreshingly, "Appalachia," code for we're-poor-help-us, never appears on these pages.

In this shining tapestry of remembrances, facile generalization so common to much of the writing about the region gives way to a finely woven and warm description of living, loving, and toiling in the coal fields at the very nadir of the Depression. A son and daughter-in-law tell the story of "Squire," a coal miner paralyzed by a slate fall, and his family as they scratched a living from an environment that sapped the souls of all but the hardiest. Tempered by tough times, character emerges from these pages as rock-hard and lustrous as the coal they mined. The White's accomplish in 300 pages what William Bennett has not yet done in two tomes on the subject.

Reviews (9)

A Family Story Told With Much Love
SQUIRE'S LEGACY is a story told with so much love of the author's family.It is a true story that any of us who have grown up in the mining communities of West Virginia in the 30's,40's and 50's can relate to in many ways. When I started reading this book,it touched my heart like no other. I read this book aloud to my husband. Being a native New Yorker, I knew he might not relate to the book as I did,and I wanted hime to know what my life was like growing up in southern West Virginia during that time. We were both held captive by this book,from beginning to end. We laughed together and cried together at their joys and their tragedies.In this book,the authors JAMES AND ELLIE WHITE have caught the very essence of what family is all about. Theirs is truly a love story told with much love and tenderness.

The Life and Struggles of Clifford Earl White
Many have tried to portray the lives of the coal camps and the trials the people endured. This one succeeds highly.
I was the young boy who lost his father in a coal mine accident and knew Clifford and Ethel very well. Jim shows a
keen and accurate memory on these events and Ellies "editing" and writing are superb. They are to be congratulated. It has been said that someone is not really dead until they are forgotten. Jim and Ellie have assured Clifford and Ethel will not be forgotten for many years.

Just Like Home!
My husband and I grew up in the same area as portrayed in this book. We felt the honesty, storytelling, and details of the lives mentioned were just like we remembered. We laughed, and cried and wished others would read and apply the values taught in this book. It reminded us of hard times, hard work, the love and lessons we grew up experiencing. We would recommend this book to any and all who long to be inspired.

A book for all seasons
True, it is written in Appalachia by Appalachians, but it is a universal book about love, tragedy, courage, and seeing blessing in life regardless of circumstance. Not only does the reader see the pure love of the parent for the child, you see the pure love of the child for the parent; a child who finds joy in a parent who could have seen little reason for it himself, but who chose from the deepest resources in his being to continue to live a life that rewarded him and all that he touched. A must read. And you will also enjoy that it is based in the Center of the Appalachians.

Wonderful Christmas gift
I grew up in this coal mining town. The tragic and heartwarming events described in Squire's Legacy are very accurate.
We did not have money or material things, but we had lots of care and love.
Growing up in this small mountainous town of West Virginia helped me become more caring and loving to my fellowman. Hopefully this book will help all who read it do the same.
When I started reading this book, I could not put it down. The characters are so fascinating and true to life. You can tell that they are real. The first time I read it, I was afraid that I had missed some important parts, so I read it once more.
The Whites did a wonderful job. I highly recommend this book to the young and the old. The young will be enthralled and the old will remember all those days "gone by". A wonderful Christmas Gift for all.

Lois Legg
Hayes Va ... Read more

Book Description

This innovative guide brings together a dazzling miscellany of New Yorkers - writers, artists, athletes, actors, politicians, and famed visitors - and explores the places where their presence continues to resonate. A biographical sketch of each of the one hundred celebrities is followed by descriptions of their homes and haunts. Visit the fountain at the Plaza Hotel in which Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald made a splash; the theaters where Dorothy Parker wrote her barbed reviews; Stanford White's infamous apartment with the red velvet swing; the Art Deco lounge where Billie Holiday sang the blues; and Frank Sinatra's favorite bar in Little Italy. Andy Warhol, John Lennon, Diana Vreeland, Diego Rivera, Dawn Powell, Walt Whitman, Tallulah Bankhead, Truman Capote, Weegee, Babe Ruth, and Jackson Pollock are only a few of the luminaries that light up these pages. Indexed by neighborhood, era, and profession, this book includes easy-to-use maps and 100 black-and-white photographs. ... Read more

Book Description

Kemp Powers was a good kid, an honors student, raised by a single mother in Brooklyn in the mid-1980s. Like many children, he lived in the sheltered world of his family and neighborhood. He was oblivious to the violence around him. As a black teenager going to junior high in a white neighborhood, Kemp became acutely aware of the racial tension and violence bubbling up in New York (think Bernard Goetz and Howard Beach and crack cocaine). This, along with an adolescent interest in guns, changed Kemp's life forever.In 1987, Kemp accidentally shot his best friend. His parents didn't press charges, and Kemp was forgiven by everyone, including the state of New York. But Kemp couldn't forgive himself. He thought about Henry every day and made a promise to never make a mistake again - a promise a child naively made that the adult couldn't keep. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Ride Worth Taking!
I just loved A-Train Lullaby. (I just finished it last night with tears in my eyes -- and not just because it had come to an end ...) This book really captured my interest with it's creative approach and made me want to know more and read more. I found the book to be insightful, spritual, courageous and (last but not least) FUNNY! I love the way Ms. Flores assigned "names" to the people in her life. The book stirred so many wonderful emotions in me -- it was a ride worth taking! ... Read more