Lee Harrington, the central figure of the novel, is a young man trying to sort out his memories of the tales of the Civil War told him by his grandfather and his father, and to imagine what their lives must have been like, and what the War had done to them. The tale ranges from past to present, from Gettysburg and Savage's Station and Shiloh to present-day Kansas. Pennell employs a fragmented, interior-monologue narrative style, giving his reader a view of the War as his characters must have experienced it, and he does it with amazing control.
This collection of essays probes the values in a variety of authors who have had in common the fact of popularity and erstwhile reputation. Why were they esteemed? Who esteemed them? And what has become of their reputations, to readers, to the critic himself? No writer here has been asked to justify the work of his subject, and reports and conclusions about this wide variety of creative writers vary, sometimes emphasizing what the critic believes to be enduring qualities in the subject, in several cases finding limitations in what that writer has to offer us today.
This unique collection of writings by the celebrated author David Madden provides a multitude of reflections on the Civil War and Reconstruction, from nonfiction to fiction. Included are Madden’s examination of key works by historians James McPherson and Fletcher Pratt, the story of the effort to simultaneously burn nine bridges by nine unionist guerrilla bands in the most complicated and coordinated guerrilla tactic of the war, and rediscoveries of both classic and contemporary works of Civil War fiction from William Faulkner, Joseph Stanley Pennell, and more. Alongside these essays are pieces from Madden’s Civil War novel, Sharpshooter, which illustrate the interconnectedness of fiction and nonfiction. This meshing of iconoclastic and controversial pieces includes varied perspectives on every aspect of the war and reconstruction, from culture and civilian life to an imagining of Abraham Lincoln’s critique of how historians have recorded the war and its aftermath. By exploring this web of perception, we can better understand the war and, in turn, shed greater light on the present and the future.
Nobody Yet Knows Who I Am: A Personal History: 1943 - 1953 is the second volume in Robert Ayres Carters memoir. The first volume, Sundays Child, was published in 2005 by Xlibris. This volume opens with the authors military service as an enlisted man in the United States Army in World War II, highlighted by a tour of duty in the China- Burma Theater. Returning to the States in 1946, Mr. Carters story then resumes with his career as a book salesman, a student in New York City, a Fulbright Scholar at the Sorbonne in Paris, and as an Instructor of French at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. The book closes in 1953, with Mr. Carter once again back in New York City, this time determined on a career as a professional writer.
New York Times–Bestselling Author: “Yet another brilliant addition to the best series of Civil War novels ever written.” —William Martin, author of The Lincoln Letter The fourth installment in the Boyd Award–winning series As Grant pinned Lee to Petersburg and Richmond, the Confederacy’s stubborn Army of Northern Virginia struggled against a relentless Union behemoth, with breathtaking valor and sacrifice on both sides. That confrontation in the bloody summer and fall of 1864 shaped the nation we know today. From the butchery of The Crater, where stunning success collapsed into a massacre, through near-constant battles fought by heat-stricken soldiers, to the crucial election of 1864, The Damned of Petersburg resurrects our Civil War’s hard reality, as plumes and sabers gave way to miles of trenches. Amid the slaughter of those fateful months, fabled leaders—Grant and Lee, Winfield Scott Hancock and A.P. Hill—turned to rising heroes, Confederates “Little Billy” Mahone and Wade Hampton, last of the cavaliers, or Union warriors such as tragedy-stricken Francis Channing Barlow and fearless Nelson Miles, a general at twenty-four. Nor does Ralph Peters forget the men in the ranks, the common soldiers who paid the price for the blunders of leaders who’d never know their names. In desperate, now-forgotten battles such as Deep Bottom, Globe Tavern, and Reams Station, soldiers pushed to the last human limits fought on as their superiors struggled to master a terrible new age of warfare. The Damned of Petersburg revives heroes aplenty—enriching our knowledge of our most terrible war—but, above all, stands as a tribute to the endurance and courage of the American soldier, North or South. “[An] excellent historical novel.” —John Horn, author of The Siege of Petersburg
After the author heard Jimmy Driftwood's ballad "Tennessee stud" he began to imagine the story behind the lyrics and set out to research the song's history: a story of the legendary exploits of the greatest horse that ever lived and his owner. Traveling the same route that the song chronicles, he invented characters along the way. The resulting novel captures the spirit of the ballad while telling the story of Robert Johnson, a man who holds love in his heart though adventure rules his time. Pursued by a bounty hunter, Indians, and his conscience, Johnson and his horse are tested, strengthened, and made resolute.
A descriptive and informative guide to more than 100 sites of literary significance in the greater St. Louis area, Literary St. Louis: A Guide includes historical and biographical information, maps, literary anecdotes, and photographs. Edited by William H. Gass and Lorin Cuoco, the volume includes selections by T. S. Eliot, Mark Twain, Sara Teasdale, Fannie Hurst, William S. Burroughs, Tennessee Williams, Kate Chopin, Thomas Wolfe, and many others who have helped define American literature over the past 150 years. This book is indispensable for understanding the region's rich literary landscape.
