Nathaniel and his awkward son Willis take a summer road trip to reunite with their quirky relatives in the Deep South. His plan is simple. A relaxing vacation will offer an escape from the pressures that he left behind. The fresh air and slow pace of the country are just the remedy he needs to put his life back in order. However, plans do not always work out as intended. The Great Willis Tate gives an account of a father and son's journey as they struggle to find their footing in a strange place that they once called, home.
Part biography, part history, and all adventure, the life of Catherine Willis Murat leaps from the pages of “Twice a Princess” like a fantasy of Scheherezade. Niece of George Washington, niece of Napoleon Bonaparte, princess consort of the Kingdom of Naples, and a princess of France, this daughter of America remained true to her southern heritage as she blazed across the pages of history with her husband, Prince Achille Murat, nephew of Napoleon and son of his greatest cavalry commander. Together Prince Murat and his unlikely princess joined families, continents, and political powerhouses. In the epiphany of her final years she freed her slaves who freely and out of respect chose to remain with her until death. From rough and tumble frontier Florida to the throne rooms of Europe follow “Princess Kate” through a journey so astounding it scarcely seems real.
This is the fifth volume of Dr. Justin Glenn’s comprehensive history that traces the “Presidential line” of the Washingtons. Volume One began with the immigrant John Washington, who settled in Westmoreland Co., Va., in 1657, married Anne Pope, and became the great-grandfather of President George Washington. It continued the record of their descendants for a total of seven generations. Volume Two highlighted notable family members in the next eight generations of John and Anne Washington’s descendants, including such luminaries as General George S. Patton, the author Shelby Foote, and the actor Lee Marvin. Volume Three traced the ancestry of the early Virginia members of this “Presidential Branch” back in time to the aristocracy and nobility of England and continental Europe. Volume Four resumed the family history where Volume One ended, and it contained Generation Eight of the immigrant John Washington’s descendants. Volume Five now presents Generation Nine, including more than 10,000 descendants. Future volumes will trace generations ten through fifteen, making a total of over 63,000 descendants. Although structured in a genealogical format for the sake of clarity, this is no bare bones genealogy but a true family history with over 1,200 detailed biographical narratives. These in turn strive to convey the greatness of the family that produced not only The Father of His Country but many others, great and humble, who struggled to build that country. ADVANCE PRAISE “I am convinced that your work will be of wide interest to historians and academics as well as members of the Washington family itself. Although the surname Washington is perhaps the best known in American history and much has been written about the Washington family for well over a century, it is surprising that no comprehensive family history has been published. Justin M. Glenn’s The Washingtons: A Family History finally fills this void for the branch to which General and President George Washington belonged, identifying some 63,000 descendants. This is truly a family history, not a mere tabulation of names and dates, providing biographical accounts of many of the descendants of John Washington who settled in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1657. . . . Each individual section is followed by extensive listings of published and manuscript sources supporting the information presented and errors of identification in previous publications are commented upon as appropriate.” John Frederick Dorman, editor of The Virginia Genealogist (1957-2006) and author of Adventurers of Purse and Person “Decades of reviewing Civil War books have left me surprised and delighted when someone applies exhaustive diligence to a topic not readily accessible. Dr. Glenn surely meets that standard with the meticulous research that unveils the Washington family in gratifying detail—many of them Confederates of interest and importance.” Robert K. Krick, author of The Smoothbore Volley that Doomed the Confederacy and Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain
In Music from the Hilltop, Benjamin A. Kolodziej studies three significant academic musical figures to weave a narrative that not only details the role musical studies played in the development of Southern Methodist University but also relates a history of church music and pipe organs in Dallas, Texas. Bertha Stevens Cassidy (1876–1959), the first organ professor and the only woman on the faculty of the new university, established herself as a leader and veritable dean of the church music community, managing a career of significant performances and teaching. Her student and protégé, Dora Poteet Barclay (1903–1961), a Waco native, exhibited such musical potential that she was hired by SMU the day after her graduation. Taking over the organ program upon Cassidy’s retirement, Barclay broadened the pedagogical horizons for her students. The great French composer Marcel Dupré, with whom she briefly studied, extolled Barclay’s talents: “She is my best American student!” Many of her own students achieved great professional heights as performers and church musicians. With the hiring of Robert Theodore Anderson (1934–2009), SMU solidified its reputation as a school able to provide excellence not only in performance training but also in scholarship. A Chicago native who studied in New York and in Germany, Anderson represented a new, modern outlook to teaching and performance. He was intellectually able to bridge the gap between the theologians of the Methodist seminary and the performers at the Meadows School of the Arts. Through his example and guidance, organists were taught to think critically, whether about music or any other subject, and to attain excellence in the craft of organ performance. During the 1980s Anderson consulted with the Dallas Symphony to prepare for the installation of an organ in the new Meyerson Symphony Center, an organ that would influence concert hall instruments in subsequent decades. These three pedagogues played important roles in the development of the musical curriculum as well as the building of important organs on the SMU campus and around the city, each in their own ways nurturing the practice of sacred music in North Texas.
