Book Description

From her birth at the palace at Versailles to her death on a South Carolina plantation, Natalie Delage Sumter (1782–1841) lived a life riveted by escape, adventure, grandeur, and hardship—a saga that spanned several tumultuous decades of French history and included her residence on three continents. The godchild of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette and a member of the French nobility, Nathalie de Lage de Volude fled to New York at age eleven at the height of the French Revolution. She lived for eight years in the household of politician Aaron Burr and became a confidante of his daughter, Theodosia. On her return voyage to France, Delage fell in love with Thomas Sumter Jr., a diplomat to France and the son of South Carolina's Revolutionary War "Gamecock." The couple enjoyed a celebrated shipboard romance, and with their subsequent marriage, Natalie Sumter entered the world of the southern planter aristocracy.

A Lady of the High Hills follows the epic events that took Sumter from continent to continent--to Brazil, back to France, and ultimately to plantation life in Stateburg, South Carolina. Thomas Tisdale describes Sumter’s adjustment to life in the South Carolina backcountry, her role as the matriarch of the Sumter family, and her constant financial worries despite her husband's vast landholdings. Tisdale also recounts Sumter's efforts to overcome religious and intellectual isolation in Stateburg, including her creation of a lending library, education and religious instruction of the family's slaves, and sponsorship of the Roman Catholic Church in South Carolina. ... Read more

Book Description

Born a slave and reared a sharecropper, Alonzo Herndon (1858-1927) was destined to drudgery in the red clay fields of Georgia. Within forty years of Emancipation, however, he had amassed a fortune that far surpassed that of his White slave-master father.

Through his barbering, real estate, and life insurance ventures, Herndon would become one of the wealthiest and most respected African American business figures of his era. This richly illustrated book chronicles Alonzo Herndon's ascent and his remarkable family's achievements in Jim Crow Atlanta.

In this first biography of the Herndons, Carole Merritt narrates how Herndon nurtured the Atlanta Life Insurance Company from a faltering enterprise he bought for $140 into one of the largest Black financial institutions in America; how he acquired the most substantial Black property holdings in Atlanta; and how he developed his barbering business from a one-chair shop into the nation's largest and most elegant parlor, the resplendent, twenty-three chair "Crystal Palace" in the heart of White Atlanta.

The Herndons' world was the educational and business elite of Atlanta. But as Blacks, they were intimately bound to the course of Black life. The Atlanta Race Riot of 1906 and its impact on the Herndons demonstrated that all Blacks, regardless of class, were the victims of racial terrorism.

Through the Herndons, issues of race, class, and color in turn-of-the-century Atlanta come into sharp focus. Their story is one of by-the-bootstraps resolve, tough compromises in the face of racism, and lasting contributions to their city and nation. ... Read more

Book Description

From My Mother's Hands celebrates the positive roles mothers can play in the lives of daughters. In a collection of poignant memoirs crafted from interviews with thirty-three notable Texas women, Susie Kelly Flatau weaves a tapestry of intimate memories, family photographs and recipes, and profiles of each daughter. The daughters' observations and discoveries about their mothers are filled with a wide range of emotions. Lessons of integrity, love, and hope chronicle the powerful bonds that can exist between a daughter and her mother. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Not a Daughter--Darn it!
Looking through this book, I realized that I might have achieved more in this life if I had been a daughter.The supporting relationships between daughters and mothers, so well detailed in this book by Susie Kelly Flatau, would make any guy a bit envious.Don't get me wrong--fathers are O.K.And, being a son to a mother is fine too, but reading this book it brought home to me that I could neither fully appreciate nor appropriate that special relationship enjoyed by a daughter and her mother.

Mothers of Distinction
Browsing through the index one is aware that most of these names are not that familiar (some are very, as in the case of Luci and Lady Bird Johnson) to the average reader.What is familiar, however, are the testaments given to some very average, yet phenominal mothers who have had a significant impact on the shaping of their daughters ideas, dreams and accomplishments.Anyone reading this book becomes immediately aware that the so called women's "revolution" was taking place long before bras were burned and names were hyphenated and most of the real battles were being fought from the kitchen as often as from an office or boardroom.These are no ordinary women and the daughters they raised atest to that fact.As De Lamartine asserted "there is a woman at the beginning of all great things" and nowhere is this more evident than between these pages.
Although recipes are included from each mother/daughter team, this is so NOT a cookbook.It is a book to be placed by the bedside or on a table in the livingroom where one can just pick out a chapter at random and remember again just how important mother really was.It is a very personal journey and one that might even require a tissue or two.My only regret is that I cannot share this with my own mother who passed away before this book was published, but I can read and remember with a grateful heart.
A perfect gift for the mom in anyone's life!

storycircle.org/BookReviews
With a masterful hand of her own, Susie Kelly Flatau has captured the compelling dynamics of a positive mother-daughter relationship within this book. The enchanting tributes to their mothers by 33 prominent Texas women will entice readers to embark on their own reflective journey home to their mothers' arms. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Baseball, Football and the Yazoo City Witch
This was a great memoir about a "typical" southern boy's childhood. I wish Willie Morris had not died so young because I found his work so enjoyable, and it would have been wonderful to read even more of his writing.

I would not put Mr. Morris up on the same level as Mark Twain (and he probably would not want it either), but this book reminds me in a lot of ways of Tom Sawyer--a young boy's life on the Mississippi Delta. Everyone should experience these memories, whether in real time or vicariously.

He tells of his childhood in Yazoo City, Mississippi, with all his childhood friends, including Spit McGee (the forty's Huckleberry Finn). He recalls their baseball games, football games, hunting on the Delta with his father, practical jokes played on anyone and everyone. He recounts the story of the Witch of Yazoo and the broken chain. One of the best and most humorous of his stories is the tale of the haunted house and what the boys found in it one dark and stormy night.

I best remember in this book the chapters of a typical day in the life of a boy his age in Yazoo City--a day in the summer and a day in the fall. These are great vignettes and very poignant pulling in the reader to want to recall his or her own childhood memories.

This is a great memoir and can be enjoyed by all.

Best Book I have Ever Read
This is one of the best books that I have ever read.Mr. Morrishas a beautiful writing style, and captures the beauty of the southperfectly.

Willie done right
This was a great book ... I am from MS and Good Ol' Boy really makes you feel what it could have been like growing up in the Delta. If you dig Southern Lit, you won't be disappointed.

Funny, nostalgic and scary
Though young readers won't recognize Morris as a writer, this story of his youth is wonderful.It starts with a witch, moves on to sports- his dog is on the team and then goes to more mayhem with haunted houses and robbers. There are wonderful characters like Bubba- a modern day Huckelberry Finn and Rivers Applewhite- the only girl who hangs with the boys. there are pranks- like tricking the boys from the next town with twins running a race. Most of all its a look at a time when people listened to baseball games on the radio and had time to explore the woods rather than cyberworlds. ... Read more

Book Description

Upon its initial publication in 1944, Pitchfork Ben Tillman was a signal event in the writing of modern South Carolina history. In a biography the Journal of Southern History called "definitive," Francis Butler Simkins studies one of the state's most controversial political leaders.

Benjamin Ryan Tillman (1847–1918) accomplished a political revolution in South Carolina when he defeated Governor Wade Hampton and the old guard Bourbons who had run the state since the end of Reconstruction. During his political ascendancy as governor and then United States Senator, Tillman introduced the state's dispensary system and shaped the state's 1895 constitution into a bulwark of white supremacy. Almost single-handedly Tillman established the iniquities of Jim Crow that countless other Southern demagogues would imitate. These "accomplishments" would plague the South and the nation until this day. Orville Vernon Burton's new introduction looks at both Tillman and author Francis Simkins as prime examples of southerners with tremendous talent but unsettling accomplishments. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Good Weekend Reading
This is a great book to sit down with on a cold weekend. Just grab a quilt and let yourself be taken to the South where the author writes about his life. Not one of them boring autobiographies but a good story. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Good study on Stephens and all his contradictions
Alexander Stephens is the classic example of the Southern Whig, and shows why the Whig Party ultimately foundered on the rocks of slavery and sectionalism.While Stephens was devoted to Whig principles and the preservation of Union (like many other leading figures in the Confederate government, he was opposed to secession), he nonetheless rigidly opposed any perceived infrigement on Southern rights, as he viewed them.These two impulses within Stephens were of course mutually exclusive; like most other Southern Whigs, he was never able to reconcile the principles to which he was devoted.

It is when examining Stephen's amazing attempts to rationalize his actions & justify them to himself that Schott's book is at its best.Much like Jefferson Davis, Stephens was obsessed with being right and with taking the moral high ground, and he devoted an amazing amount of energy in attempting to defend his positions, perhaps to others but I believe mostly to himself.Of course, Stephens was in the thick of every controversy in Congress in the 1850's, so the reader gets to watch him, along with the rest of the US, get swept along to the inevitable.

A reader expecting a Civil War history will be disappointed.Stephens, despite being Vice President of the CSA, played only the most marginal of roles during the war.His role in the post-war South is similarly marginal, distinguished only by his role in helping to foster the Lost Cause and coining the phrase "War Between the States."

The best section of the book deals with Stephens in Congress in the 1840's and 1850's, but like another reviewer has stated, the events of those times are not discussed in much detail, other than how they had an impact on Stephens.That having been said, I found Schott's discussion of the controversy surrounding the Wilmot Proviso to be as cogently framed as anything I have read.Schott also does a good job capturing the feeling of a country that has lost control & is careening towards catastrophe.

This is about the only recent full-length treatment of Stephens that I know of, and generally is pretty good and well-recommended.It also contains an excellent bibliography that will provide you with other good source material.

Stephens, a Southern, Whig politician
Alexander H. Stephens was a prototypical, antebellum Southern Whig: scholarly, principled, and moral. Yet in many ways his life was compromised as he, along with other Southern politicians, was "compelled to defend the indefensible."

Stephens despite the disadvantages of humble beginnings and a sickly, frail constitution was able, through some fortuitous and generous assistance on the part of others, to climb into the lower ranks of Southern society, first as a lawyer and then as a U. S. Congressman. There, Stephens found himself in entangled in such antebellum controversies as the Mexican Cession, the Wilmot Proviso, the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and the Lecompton controversy.

Stephens as a Whig was a staunch defender of the Constitution, the Union, and the rule of law. He opposed the Texas annexation and the Mexican War as infringing on those cherished beliefs. However, Stephens was constantly walking a tightrope between his Whiggish principles and the political realities of the South over the issue of slavery. He supported Kansas-Nebraska, but by that time he had been forced to jump ship to the Democracy. Later he committed the apostasy of siding with the northern Democrat Douglas in the Lecompton controversy and then supported him for president in 1860. For this reader the author's coverage of these controversies gets a little confused by his focusing on the various tortured rationalizations of the various parties, including Stephens'.

The author devotes much time to the state of Stephens health in this period (often sick), his mood swings (often in despair), and his need for recognition which is seen in his oratory, his obsessiveness in defending his personal honor (even resorting to challenges for duels), and his somewhat exaggerated views of his own importance. Stephens was a prolific writer of letters, especially to his younger brother Linton, throughout his life, and these are used well by the author to capture Stephens' thinking.

Stephens was one of the leading Southern politicians who opposed the Southern secession. During the War, from his position as Vice-President of the Confederacy, he was a constant thorn in the side of Jefferson Davis, the President. Of course, Stephens construed his opposition as principled. But his opposition to such policies as conscription and the suspension of habeas corpus in the context of Southern survival seems wrong-headed. After the War, Stephens was returned to the House of Representatives and then served as governor of Georgia for four months before his death in 1883 at the age of seventy-one.

At times this book becomes tedious in its detailing of the endless rationalizations and defensiveness of Stephens in his various political dealings through the years. His self-assignment of being more moral, pure, and principled than others wears thin. In addition, for such a lengthy book, it seems that only a glimpse of the broader world shows through and then through Stephens' views and machinations. The reader can become only moderately informed of the events of the day and of Southern society. The book definitely focuses on Stephens, the insatiable and recognition-starved politician, which probably narrows its appeal. ... Read more

Book Description

Waking Up in America is the compelling, inspirational autobiography of a man who has emerged as a pioneer in the field of caring for the growing population of impoverished and homeless Americans, and as a force for social change.

Dr. Pedro José Greer, the son of Cuban immigrants and the founder of Miami's Camillus Health Concern, has traveled from the trash-littered, drug-infested streets of one of America's toughest neighborhoods to the offices of corporate and political power brokers. Throughout his odyssey he has become known for his tireless efforts to bring health care to society's "untouchables" -- homeless drug addicts, hookers, alcoholics, runaways, or people who have simply lost their way. Many of them are in need of medical care, but all of them are in need of compassion, and "Dr. Joe" dispenses both for free.

As a young intern, Dr. Greer watched helplessly as a homeless, nameless man died of a curable illness -- curable if one can get the treatment that had eluded this patient. Galvanized by this incident, and convinced of a need to bring basic health care to those who are not part of "the system," he founded the Camillus Health Concern. Once a one-room storefront operation in Miami's Overtown district, Camillus has now grown into a clinic treating more than 10,000 indigent men, women, and children each year. At the same time, he has become an active and outspoken critic of our current system of health care and welfare reform.

Waking up in America is not only Dr. Joe's story, it also holds the emotion-filled stories of the people whose lives he has changed forever. His message is simple: stop thinking of members of the underclass as "screwups" and start thinking of them as human beings. By putting a human face on poverty -- by gently urging us to take responsibility through simply offering a kind word or a smile, instead of always looking the other way -- Dr. Greer proves that hope exists for every person, no matter, how dire his or her circumstances. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

AMENDMENT AND PRAISE FOR AUTHOR
WHEN I PURCHASED THIS INSPIRATIONAL BOOK ON THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE, I NEVER SAW THE DAY WHEN I WOULD BE READING AND RE READING A BOOK FOR EXTENDED PERIODS OF TIME. BOOK HAS IMPACT ON ANYONE INTERESTED IN SOCIETY AND IT'S ENHANCEMENT AND IMPROVEMENT. THERE SHOULD BE MORE OF DR. GREER'S KIND OF LITERATURE AND FEELINGS EXRESSED IN WRITING. THE TEXT IN GENERAL IS NOT HEAVY READING BUT HAS CONSIDERABLE EMOTION AND GRAPHIC DEPICTION OF AN INDIVIDUAL WITH A WHITE COAT SERVING HIS COMMUNITY ESPECIALLY WITH THE ENDORSEMENT OF HIS WIFE AND FAMILY. THE DOCTOR IS ALSO TRAINING DOCTORS HOW TO BECOME SENSITIVE TO THE NEEDS OF THE COMMUNITY. THE MEDICAL PROFESSION SHOULD BE USING THIS TYPE OF BOOK AS A METHOD OF TEACHING AND EDUCATING OTHER DOCTORS WITHIN THEIR HALLS OF ACADEMIA. AS AM INSTRUCTOR AT AREA COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES IN BUSINESS, I WILL INCLUDE THIS BOOK ON MY SUGGESTED READ LIST FOR ETHICS IN BUSINESS AND AREAS WHERE THEY ARE DEALING WITH PEOPLE.

True Medical Dedicated Professional
I purchased and read Dr. Greer's book and was expremely impressed with the details that were modestly included. I did see his presentation on cable TV and his image is is as modest as the book is written. I feel that he is an asset to the medical profession and writing profession and would sincerely like to see more work by him in literature. I would like to stresss here that I have read this book 4 times and still pickup different things while reading this text. The book is an excellent credit to his modesty, profession, humbleness, an sincerity to society.

"action and compassion towards the silent majority "
DR.PEDRO JOSE GREER,M.D.-REKINDLED THE PHRASE BY PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY-ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU-ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY."THE COMPASSION THAT THIS MAN SHOWS TOWARDS THE LOST AND FORGOTTEN SOULS IN AMERICA NEEDS TO BE REKINDLED IN ALL OF US.IT REMINDED ME OF THE TIME I SPENT AT THE LOS ANGELES FREE CLINIC DURING THE EARLY 70'S.DR.GREER SHOWED US THAT SOCIAL AWARENESS AND COMPASSION MUST BE AVAILABLE 7 DAYS A WEEK -24 HRS/DAY.TACKLING MEDICAL PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN SOCIETY CAN BE ACHIEVED IF ALL OF US WORK TOGETHER AS A TEAM FOR THE BETTERMENT OF A HUMAN BEING.

Exellent book
The book was exellent. It made me really see what goes on with the homeless. Dr. Greer has struggled with giving the homeless medical service, as well as becoming their friend. The same way Dr. Greer has learned from the homeless, we all should learn from him and help him in this.

One Man can make a Difference
This book is an inspiration to anyone who reads it. Students who have seen Joe Greer work at the shelters and free clinics in Miami, are inspired to follow in his footsteps and to participate in solving the problems in their communities. Now, readers everywhere can meet this courageous doctor and feel empowered to also make a difference. Ultimately, he is right, it will take the personal involvement of private citizens to change the world- not government agencies. I am grateful to Dr. Greer for this beautiful book. Like a stone cast into a pond, the ripple effect of this book will have positive and far reaching consequences. Above all, it will help make us more sensitive and encourage us to make our own small contribution to create justice and peace. Peace to you, Dr. Greer! ... Read more

Book Description

The wealthiest, most glamorous, decadent, self-indulgent, sinful spot on earth, Palm Beach is home to billionaires like Donald Trump, trust fund babies, women addicted to staying beautiful, and the sophisticated "walkers" who escort them.

In this juicy, entertaining book, New York Times bestselling author Ronald Kessler introduces you to some of the most fascinating and bizarre people you'll ever meet. And he reveals the social rituals that culminate in the season, a five-month whirlwind of parties, balls, and charity events that no one who is anyone dares to miss. The very rich are very different. Find out how in The Season.

Reviews (20)

More of a Waste of Time or Money???
After consuming this book, the only aftertaste left in my mouth was dissatisfaction. I was unfamiliar with Kessler's writings, and I must say that this unflowing novel did not leave a good first impression. I'll just say that I am not anxious to read anymore of his writings.

My purpose for purchasing this novel was to learn more about Palm Beach's society. After reading the book, I feel that I knew more before opening it. The characters portrayed in the novel do not seem to give an accurate portrayal of the majority of Palm Beach's population. For example, he is informed by a restaurant owner that the trust fund babies are spoiled, tight handed party animals. How would this restaurant manager know? Even if he saw a group of trust fund babies partying, are all or most of them party animals? If you go to a club or bar anywhere in the US you are likely to see some people getting wasted, but this wouldn't mean that the town's population should be categorized as wild clubaholics. He also gathers information about anti-semitism in the Private clubs from people who are active members and who have witnessed it. However, I feel that such second hand knowledge is partly responsible for discreditting his book. Why not interview a good selection of trust fund babies, or take accounts from those who have been discriminated against, first hand? These biased and one-eyed accounts make it impossible to draw a credible conclusion of Palm Beach's society.

Another big problem I find in this book is Kessler's wishy washy details. For each critism he throws, he seems to pay three or four compliments. For example, yes Palm Beachers have scandalous affairs, but they are so physically attractive, protective, and forgiving. Yes, Palm Beachers are stingy, but they are also humame, helpful, generous, and sincere. Yes, Palm Beachers are anti-semitic, but they are also pro-american, accomodating, and inviting. It is so ironic how Kessler proclaims to expose Palm Beach's scandals whenever he takes so much time to view each Palm Beacher who bothers to interview with him in such a positive light. He manages to paint the Palm Beachers who have taken him in as the sheep among wolves. These inconsistencies crushed any existing confidence I may have had that Kesslers accounts of Palm Beach Society are totally accurate.

I must say that there is one thing that I am confident of and that is that this book did not satifactorily open up the world of Palm Beach to me. I do not know if I wasted more time or more money on this book. Now I will have to spend more money on a different book that will do for me what "The Seasons" should have done. On the other hand, I do not want to risk wasting anymore of my time, in whatever season, reading a novel as lifeless and unreal as this one. Now I must ask myself is the risk of wasting more time and money worth reading about these people who are unconcerned about me?

Interesting read but not earthshattering
I initially picked up this book because I thought that life in Palm Beach would make for an interesting story. I was wrong. Dead wrong. Instead I find tales of deceit and lies interwoven to form a web of snobbery, elitism, and low self-esteem. Yes, low self-esteem. For if one really reads betwen the lines and asses the information in Kessler's book, one will find that the people are lacking inmany ways that money cannot fix. Overll the book was interesting. However, I feel that Kessler indeed got bogged down with too much namedropping and with too many vague and uninteresting characters. The story could have flowed a bit better and perhaps would have been more interesting had he gone more indepth about the bigotry that currently inhabits Palm Beach. Still, this was not Kessler's best work.

Author's forum against anti-semitism???
The book was an easy read in that respect it was well written. It flowed well. However, I could not help but to think repeated throughout the book how the author harks on anti-semitism in Palm Beach by the upper class. For example, there is more than enough chapters about how the country clubs exclude Jews, over and over. I am not anti semitic, nor do I support anti semitic views and practices but I think the author mentions this way too much in his book. There is prejudice everywhere but what is so appealing in being a member of "members only" establishment is that it does exclude most.

There are more pics of author with the so-called "rich and famous" than the rich and famous themselves!

The book, I feel does give some insight into the lives of the inabitants of Palm Beach but not really into the lives of the original inhabitants, the "old guard". The people he interviews all seem to be poseurs trying to fit in and be a part of the "old guard" and even if theydo float on the "fringes" of "society" they don't really seem to be an insider or a real member. His sources are restaurant managers, real estate brokers, waitresses at hotel bars - how many of the old money-ed Palm Beachers would have these types of occupation? I just question how accurately these sources know the real workings of the truly wealthy, old money-ed Palm Beachers since they are not one themselves.

All in all, pleasant read but take the information with a grainof salt.

Interesting & Well-written
In THE SEASON, Ronald Kessler gives an interesting overview into life in Palm Beach. Palm Beach is very much America's Riviera, and Kessler offers his readers a bird's eye look into the resort's peculiar rhythms, and into its manners. In every situation, Palm Beach marches to the beat of its very own drummer, a drummer who is banging out his music with "D" color, Asscher-cut, flawless diamonds encrusted on platinum drumsticks.

My biggest complaint is a backward compliment: I wish that this book were longer, and that it could have covered more of PB's inhabitants and their fascinating escapades. Still, no question that author Kessler has done a thorough job of communicating what life is like in this gilded community. If the book is somewhat superficial, nattering on about Grand Dukes and Duchesses, famous charity balls that raise almost no funds for their charities, rare cars, exclusive jewelers, dressmakers and decorators, well, this also perfectly reflects the superficiality of the town itself.

I also found it disruptive to the flow of Kessler's text when he interjected personal comments about himself and his wife, such as the facts that he is Jewish while she is a member of the DAR. Really, this wasn't a family biography. Still, Kessler's own endnotes thank his editor for insisting on this literary device, so I guess that the inclusion of personal details was not his decision.

For those who are curious about America's own Cannes-off-Interstate 95, THE SEASON is the best book around!

Vapid Rich People . . . Fawning Author
Ronald Kessler's The Season says it intends to expose the sordid world of wealthy Palm Beach, Florida . . . and it sort of does. But The Season also shows us how a self-proclaimed investigative journalist can reveal things he probably didn't intend to: the sad story of Ronald Kessler's own infatuation with these vapidly boorish people.

Kessler spends lots of time salivating over the fabulous possessions and tawdry pastimes of the Palm Beach crowd, making it clear that he's really just a wannabe who thinks these folks are cool.

Cool? How can anyone be worthy of sustained interest or respect who spends their entire life partying "for charity" and then only donating a small fraction of the gains from these balls to the actual needy beneficiaries. The rest of the money collected, Kessler asserts, goes to pay for the parties themselves.

This book is an amalgam of wandering, sometimes disjointed stories about the RAF (Rich AND Famous) and about Mr. Kessler and his wife getting to hang out with them. Oooooooo, cool. Sort of like the guy in high school with the pocket protector feeling thrilled that the jocks and the cheerleaders "let" him hang out with them. Sure, you can hang out with the In Crowd, so long as you do them a service, which Kessler does for this group by effervescing about their houses, their clothes, their multiple cars, servants, facelifts . . . the list of their accomplishments, darling, is endless.

Some things seem to grow more pathetic with time: it's pretty sad to see a late-middle-age, educated man like Kessler still wanting to hang out with the rich kids. And, by the way, these rich kids are especially awful examples of spoiled trust fund babies: anti-Semitic to a fault, tight-fisted, hedonistic, and never seen reading a book or talking about an idea beyond which champagne or caviar is best.

One wonders why Mr. Kessler, a Jew himself, wanted to be part of this crowd. But want to he did . . . and he doesn't let the reader forget that he was "close" to these wealthy Palm Beachers for even a page . . . how many pictures do we need to see of Kessler and his wife with Donald Trump? If he really wanted to show his readers what Palm Beachers were "like," Kessler could have written a sustained, professional investigation of their charities, their anti-Semitism and other prejudices, their classism, their childishly indulged sexual and culinary appetites, and their anti-intellectualism? Despite its claims to the contrary, The Season is not an example of high quality investigative journalism, nor of well-crafted prose, for that matter.

Of course, Kessler's giving these folks this type of glossy, sycophantic coverage is actually very appropriate and befits their real "importance" . . . to have done otherwise would have been to accord the super-wealthy residents of Palm Beach more respect than they deserve.

If you want to read this book, check it out of a library . . . if you've already bought it, use it as a doorstop, although it's kind of light--physically and intellectually--to be of much use against anything other than a little gust of hot air . . . which is exactly what The Season and its subject matter is. ... Read more

Book Description

"I was brought up in [Kentucky]. Or, more correctly speaking ...I was flogged up; for where I should have received moral, mental, and religious instruction I received stripes without number, the object of which was to degrade and keep me in subordination. ...I have been dragged down to the lowest depths of human degradation and wretchedness, by Slaveholders."-Henry Bibb

First published in 1849 and largely unavailable for many years, The Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb is among the most remarkable slave narratives. Born on a Kentucky plantation in 1815, Bibb first attempted to escape from bondage at the age of ten. He was recaptured and escaped several more times before he eventually settled in Detroit, Michigan, and joined the antislavery movement as a lecturer.

Bibb's story is different in many ways from the widely read Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave and Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. He was owned by a Native American; he is one of the few ex-slave autobiographers who had labored in the Deep South (Louisiana); and he writes about folkways of the slaves, especially how he used conjure to avoid punishment and to win the hearts of women. Most significant, he is unique in exploring the importance of marriage and family to him, recounting his several trips to free his wife and child. This new edition includes an introduction by literary scholar Charles Heglar and a selection of letters and editorials by Bibb.

"This new edition will be invaluable to students and scholars of the slave narrative tradition and of the broader African American literary tradition. Demonstrating sound scholarship and an eye for detail, Heglar's introduction shows how Bibb's story diverges from other slave narratives in its emphasis on the importance of the slave family."-Christopher De Santis, author of Langston Hughes and the Chicago Defender

"Bibb's compelling narrative of escape and recapture, of love and renunciation, is virtually unique in the annals of the slave narrative.Bibb offers a striking self-portrait of a man caught between two worlds, a slave past that he could not cast off or forget, and a future in freedom to which he urgently desired to commit himself.Bibb's dilemmas touch our sympathies in ways that Frederick Douglas, who seemed to assimilate and succeed in the North without so much as a longing look backward, does not move us. -William L. Andrews, coeditor of the Library of America anthology Slave Narratives ... Read more

Book Description

Cracker Times and Pioneer Lives brings together the reminiscences of two pioneers who came of age in antebellum Florida's Columbia County and the nearby Suwannee River Valley. Though they held markedly different positions in society, they shared the adventure, thrill, hardship, and tragedy that characterized Florida's pioneer era. With sensitivity, poignancy, and humor, George Gillett Keen and Sarah Pamela Williams record anecdotes and memories that touch upon important themes of frontier life and reveal the remarkable diversity of Florida's settlers. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

This book is GREAT!
This book is a great book for anyone who enjoys a good, humourus, story. The first narrator, Geroge Gillet, is the Florida equivlent to Mark Twain. His humor and writing styles are remnants of a time long ago. The second narrator, Sarah Pamela, is a southern daughter caught in problems not of her time. It is her diary and her story of live in historic Florida. This book illustrates Florida as it has long been forgotten as the expanse of condos on the beach has given it a new face. This is a story of old Florida as it will never be totally forgotten. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

a good book for anyone, anywhere, not just in Mobile
This is a brilliantbook. Hoffman draws fascinating portraits of a barrage of characters from in and around Mobile, and also ex-Mobilians. I am from Long Island, New York, and this was an incredibly readable, vastly enjoyable, slice of life from a different part of the country. Hoffman is a talented journalist and top-notch writer. He gives turns the local into the universal, while vividly analyzing a small cross section of the world.

Mobile Revisted
It is impossible to grow up in Mobile, Alabama without this historic Southern city leaving its indelible mark. Even though I moved away 25 years ago, I still call Mobile home. Roy Hoffman's collection of articles about the people and places that make Mobile unique, brought back many memories and has stayed with me long after I turned the last page. The Mobile Register is indeed fortunate to have such a talented writer at its disposal.

You Can Go Home Again
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You Can Go Home Again
Roy Hoffman has disproved the theory that you can't go home again. With the turn of each page, I'm transported from central Texas to the city of my birth. His book, BACK HOME : JOURNEYS THROUGH MOBILE, is truly that. My mind journey's to Bienville Square, the Saenger Theater, Toolen High School, The Cathedral, the variety of languages that greeted my ears as I walked with my grandmother down Dauphin Street, the Electric Maid Bakery, whose lemon puffs were to die for, and the Gene and Roy movies at the Century on Saturday mornings. I go back somewhat earlier than Mr. Hoffman in my personal memories. Streetcars, marching in endless parades down Government Street (Catholic schools loved parades), and the beautiful Christmas eve midnight mass conducted by Bishop Thomas J. Toolen. His history of the ferry to Fairhope brought back memories of my parents who "courted" on that ferry. Fairhope was also the site of several family vacations. Floundering in the bay, a one-time Jubilee occurrence, and playing around Battles Wharf are very fond memories. The mention of Grand Bay brought thoughts of cousins who lived there and summer visits complete with catching fireflys, wading in cold creeks and eating scuppernongs from the vine. Mr. Hoffman has accomplished what he set out to do - at least for this reader. For a few days, I can sit on my couch with his book and travel back to a long-ago time and place that I still call home. This is the first of Mr. Hoffman's books that I've read, but it certainly won't be the last. And even if you aren't an expatiate of Mobile, you'll certainly be planning a trip to this historical and beautiful city soon. Thanks for a wonderful journey, Mr. Hoffman. ... Read more

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Fascinating
Being raised a few miles from one of the first Gennett sawmills, I found this to be one of the most interesting books I have ever read. Gennett describes in fair detail various logging practices, and the technical vernacular is even footnoted to assist the reader with terms he/she has probably never heard.

The brothers' Gennett certainly had a knack for making money, but it was always after much investigation and hard work, and certainly risk. It was interesting to me how Andrew, from the upper crust of society, rolled his sleeves up and learned the art of cruising timber and sawmilling. Accounts of the long nights in the cold camping or boarding with mountaineer families while on timber cruises and logging operations were fascinating.

Gennett's views of the long arm of Uncle Sam and issues regarding private property rights are still echoed today.

I highly recommend to this book to anyone interested in the history of the Southern Appalchians, natural resource management, logging, or the American entreprenural spirit. ... Read more

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More of a Unit History than a Memoir
This memoir reads more like a unit history of the Third Alabama than General Battle's memoirs. He does not spend much time talking about himself. Instead, General Battle describes the war as his unit experienced it.

I thought the book was interesting, and easy to read. It is very short, so don't look for too much detailed information. The thing I liked most were the battlefield vinettes that General Battle describes.

I recommend this book for anyone interested in learning more about how the soldiers and leaders of Lee's army viewed the war.

A Missing Link of Civil War History
Third Alabama, ed. by Brandon H. Beck is in my opinion one of the most valuable resources for studying the American Civil War.

Cullen A. Battle the author , Col. of the 3rd Alabama and then a brigade commander fought in all of the major engagements of the Army of Northern Virginia from Seven Pines to Appomattox. This book does not only go into detail about the campaigns in which Battle was involved but it also puts them into a proper historical context. With the use of context you are able to learn not only about the role of the 3rd Alabama and Cullen A. Battle, but you are also able to learn the fates of both sides during any of the campaigns covered in the memoir.

The book includes six excellently detailed maps of the positions of the 3rd Alabama in various engagements. The maps also depict surrounding brigades and the Federal opponents that they faced off with. These maps are a very crucial part to this book for they give a visual aid of Battle's memoir.

I think that Beck and his cartographer should be given a great deal of credit for making this memoir available to the Civil War community.

It is definitely a must for everyone to have on their bookshelves! ... Read more

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An easy-reading and understandable book. Great!!!
I highly recommend this book to everyone, especially young teenagers who are getting ready to be adults. It is a light true picture of reality. This is a real education. This man, Jimmie Davis, surely knew how to cut hair when he tended a barber shop one day for a barber. He put a bowl on top of the customer's head and cut all around the bowl. Now that's nearly 100 years ago. This man will be one who has lived in 3 centuries. Get it! ... Read more

Book Description

For the first half of the twentieth century, Texas literature, culture, and folklore were dominated by J. Frank Dobie, the man Lon Tinkle called "Mr. Texas." Dobie's Texas was a land ofexuberance and romance, a time when Texas was proud of itself andnot loath to let the world know it.

But the culture of the state changed in the 1960s, and the figure who replaced Dobie as the dominant Texas writer and literary icon was Larry McMurtry. The Texas of Larry McMurtry is a far different landscape. The old certainties were replaced by irony and cultural revolution. The high, wide, and handsome posture of Texans was muted by politics, student unrest, and war. In the first two essays in this volume--"The Age of Dobie" and "The Age of McMurtry"--James Ward Lee places the writers, the politicians, and the cultural leaders in the context of each age.

Subsequent chapters discuss writers and trends in Texas literature. Lee discusses long-standing arguments about Texas literature and surveys bodies of work that have had an impact on it.

Another part of the book looks at Texas folklore and culture. "The Uses of Folklore," "The Folkways of the Arklatex," "Texas: Land of Legends and Myths," and "The Texas Sidekick" all study the way Texans live and work and see the world.

The final section of the book is made up of some personal essays by a man whose ideas and attitudes are sometimes odd but always humorous. Lee writes of the life he has led in Texas as a college professor and takes a backward look at his life from boyhood to service in the U.S. Navy. ... Read more

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A Significant Contribution to Confederate History
When I first learned a few months ago that a biography of Lucy Holcombe Pickens was going to be published I anxiously awaited its publication. I was not disappointed. This is a first class biography of a significant person in the history of the Confederacy that has been overlooked too long. Several years ago I wanted to learn more about this interesting lady; but I found the sources about her few and far between. She does not have her own separate entry in the Encyclopedia of the Confederacy. She is only passingly mentioned in John B. Edmonds, Jr.'s book "Francis W. Pickens and the Politics of Destruction" published in 1986 and this is only because she was Picken's third wife. I could not find much information about her life after Pickens death. He died in 1869 and Lucy lived until 1899. So what happended to Lucy from 1869-1899? This beautiful biography fills in the blanks and Elizabeth Wittenmyer Lewis deserves our thanks for writing it. It is carefully researched and well written. The photographs show Lucy in her later years as well as her younger years when she enjoyed the reputation as the most beautiful woman in the Confederacy. This book is a true treasure and one that I would put on the same level with Elizabeth Muhlenfeld's biography of Mary Boykin Chesnut first published in 1981. A superb work and a significant contribution to the history of Confederate women. ... Read more