Robert Morgan. Lions of the West: Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2011. Good histories don’t just tell stories; they make arguments. Robert Morgan’s arguments in Lions of the West, subtle though they are, run as follows: historians and storytellers cannot help but view dramatic […]
“MISS JULIA ROCKS THE CRADLE,” BY ANN B. ROSS
December 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Paul H. Yarbrough If you haven’t read any of Ann Ross’s Miss Julia series, you have missed a clever protagonist and delightful character with whom you could have become quite close. Miss Julia is a light-plotted Miss Marple with a touch of Jan Karon’s easy-going, Southern, genteel, feminine style (think Mitford series). Ms. […]
“The Lacuna,” by Barbara Kingsolver
December 14, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Bonnie Armstrong Barbara Kingsolver’s first novel in ten years, The Lacuna, opens with the words: “In the beginning were the howlers.” The howlers are monkeys on an island off the coast of Mexico, and the year is 1929. Born in the United States, Harrison William Shepherd spent his boyhood in Mexico with his […]
December Read of the Month: “Larry Brown: A Writer’s Life,” by Jean W. Cash
November 29, 2011 by 1 Comment
Reviewed by Philip K. Jason Professor Cash’s life story of Mississippi author Larry Brown sets a high standard for biographies of contemporary authors. Her study is a model of how to absorb abundant and varied research materials into a sturdy, accessible prose style. Cash neatly balances materials about Brown’s personal life, his progress as a […]
“The Color of Lies,” by Donna Meredith
November 15, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Philip K. Jason In the season of Barack Obama’s successful presidential campaign, the stability of a small South Georgia town is threatened by racial stresses and strains. A racial slur is found on a school blackboard. A dynamic Afro-American minister threatens a law suit against the school system, challenging its treatment of Black […]