Author: Guest Author (Page 3 of 28)

‘The Cofield Collection,’ now back in print, is a striking Faulkner portrait

By Allen Boyer. Special to the Clarion-Ledger Sunday print edition (December 1)

“It wasn’t easy to get a smiling photograph of William Faulkner!” That was the fond, exasperated comment of J.R. “Colonel” Cofield, the Oxford photographer in whose studio Faulkner sat for the portraits that graced the dust jackets of his novels.

Dealing with William Faulkner was daunting. Yet Cofield endured and ultimately, he prevailed. He seldom saw Faulkner smile, but he captured striking images of the man. Those portraits, with other photos taken or collected by the Cofield family, supply the heart of William Faulkner: The Cofield Collection–published in 1978, now brought back to print.

Cofield first photographed Faulkner when he published Sanctuary, in 1931. Faulkner was thirty-three, a handsome young author with a tweed jacket and a cigarette. Late in life, when pressed by friends in Virginia, he posed in a fox-hunting outfit, with top hat and riding boots and blazing red huntsman’s coat. Other times he was indifferent; he would sit for Cofield wearing a three-piece suit or a simple blue work shirt.

As well as Faulkner, this book covers the postage-stamp of native soil about which he wrote. Field hands work mules, and farmers sell produce from trucks parked on the Oxford Square. Cotton wagons crowd the lot outside the gin. Barnstormers pose beside grass airstrips. Schoolchildren line up, some outside the Oxford Graded School, others on muddy lawns out in the county. A string band warms up the crowd for a speech by youthful Senate candidate John Stennis.

Some pictures have the glossy look of publicity shots. Years after he had won the Nobel Prize for literature, Faulkner posed at a Memphis preview of Land of the Pharaohs. He had a screenwriter’s credit on the picture, and it was a film by Howard Hawks, the director who took Faulkner dove-hunting with Clark Gable. Faulkner’s own favorite photo looks like something from Hollywood, a studio close-up straight out of film noir.

Faulkner summoned Colonel Cofield to Rowan Oak to record his celebrated costume-party hunt breakfast, that Sunday morning in May 1938. He called him back for two weddings, his daughter’s and his niece’s, and at those receptions Cofield caught him smiling.

Some of Faulkner’s past is dead–very clearly past. There are images here from Life Magazine and the Memphis Press-Scimitar. As a teenager, Faulkner often rode the train to Taylor and hiked back along Old Taylor Road, then a red-dirt track, now choked with the cars of Ole Miss student traffic. Black men and women appear on the edges of their white employers’ family portraits. (John Cofield, grandson of Colonel Cofield, whose internet collections preserve his hometown’s history, energetically documents the past of both black and white communities. Forty years ago, this was harder.)

In Faulkner’s fictional Yoknapatawpha County, the Sartoris family seems modeled on Faulkner’s own relations. But, ironically, there is much of the novelist in a different character, strong-willed black tenant farmer Lucas Beauchamp. Beauchamp is a match for Faulkner in independence and a subdued haughty knightliness, a taciturnity shaped by battles with misfortune. Beauchamp’s face, Faulkner wrote, “was not sober and not grave but wore no expression at all.” Can the same distant unreadable expression be seen in these pages? For in nearly every photograph, studio portrait or snapshot alike, Faulkner’s gaze is similar–serious, reserved, never quite directly into the camera. Cofield knew that expression well. Quoting Kipling, he wrote: “‘No price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.’ Bill Faulkner lived up to this principle to a T.”

Some of these images will be familiar. It was this book that made them well-known. Eudora Welty praised the original edition of “The Cofield Collection.” “These photographs,” she wrote, “eloquently tell us what no voice now can tell, what no words are likely to express so clearly and intimately about William Faulkner’s life.” Miss Welty was no mean photographer herself, and her judgment still holds true.

Allen Boyer lives and writes on Staten Island. He grew up in Oxford, where Colonel Cofield took the Boyer family’s portraits every year.

Lawrence Wells, the editor of The Cofield Collection, will be at Lemuria on Saturday, December 7, from 1:00 to 2:00 to sign copies.

Author Q & A with Phil Keith

Interview by Jana Hoops. Special to the Clarion-Ledger Sunday print edition (December 1)

Author Phil Keith adds his sixth book to his collection as his collaboration with bestselling writer Tom Clavin unfolds the almost unbelievable story of bravery and valor of a little-known World War I hero in All Blood Runs Red: The Legendary Life of Eugene Bullard–Boxer, Pilot, Soldier, Spy.

Bullard was the first African American military pilot who flew in combat, and the only one to serve as a pilot in World War I. He would later become a jazz musician, a night club owner in Paris, and a spy during the French Resistance.

Among Keith’s previous volumes is Blackhorse Riders, winner of the 2012 award from USA Book News for Best Military Non-Fiction. He was also a finalist for the 2013 Colby Award, and earned a silver medal from the Military Writers Society of America that same year.

He holds a degree in history from Harvard University, and is a former Navy aviator. During three tours in Vietnam, he was awarded the Purple Heart, Air Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, and the Navy Commendation Medal, among other honors.

Your book states that Eugene Bullard led a “legendary life” as a boxer, pilot, highly decorated soldier, and a spy. Why has his story been so little known?

Phil Keith

Three reasons, primarily: Gene fought for France in World War I, and, of course, he was black. Not many in America, during World War I, were interested in hearing stories about courageous African Americans. The times were still too racially charged, and even the American Air Service had an official policy that banned blacks from serving.

Secondly, all during his World War I experiences, he was constantly badgered and put down by a particularly racist American living in Paris, Dr. Edmund Gros. This doctor was the founder of the famed American Ambulance Service and co-founder of what became the Lafayette Flying Corps. He was a virulent hater of blacks, and of Gene in particular, because Bullard had been so successful despite Gros’ best efforts to ground him. Gros constantly omitted his name from recognition of Americans helping in the war effort and eventually was successful in getting Gene bounced out of French aviation.

Thirdly, when Gene returned to America, he wrote his autobiography in the late 1950s. That was at a time when Franco-American relations were at a low ebb; and, the editors who reviewed his manuscript thought it was too fantastical to be true, especially for a barely educated black man.

How did you hear about Bullard, and how did you handle the research for this book, working with information that was not only hard to find, but often conflicting?

Doing research for a book on World War I, with a chapter on America’s famous aviators, I came across a footnote in some Eddie Rickenbacker material that mentioned Bullard. That was the first I had ever heard of him. I was fascinated and began to dig.

I found the only existing archive on Bullard at Columbus State University in his hometown of Columbus, Ga. I spent a week combing through their boxes. We also found bits and pieces of the Bullard story in other bios, particularly his famous contemporaries.

And, yes, there were conflicting stories, so we had to set up a rigorous process of “triangulation:” Nothing got in the book unless it could be confirmed by at least two other sources.

Despite the obstacles, why did you and your co-author Tom Clavin believe Bullard’s story needed to be told?

Bullard is clearly one of the most fascinating historical figures of the 20th century yet very few people know about him; so, from that standpoint alone, his story is important–fills in a missing piece. Perhaps even more importantly, Bullard’s story should be a role model for today’s African American young men and women. He is a true hero who can be looked up to and his examples of determination and persistence are crucial, we think, to the telling of the experiences of post-slavery blacks in America and Europe.

How did you two split up the writing of this book?

Tom is a dogged researcher, so he got the task of “story-hound,” except for the sojourn to Georgia. Much of the original sleuthing went to Tom. We also wrote to our individual strengths: I concentrated on the military aspects of Gene’s life, for example, and Tom, who has written several sports books, did the work on Gene’s boxing days. I did most of the rough draft manuscript, and Tom did the vast majority of the editing and smoothing. I had never done a collaboration before, but Tom has. I have to say it went very smoothly. It was so smooth, in fact, that our editor at Hanover Square Press immediately optioned our next book idea, which is in progress now. It will be a ripping good sea story about the Civil War’s most famous sea battle between the USS Kearsarge and the CSS Alabama.

Please share the story of how the title of this book was chosen.

“All Blood Runs Red” is the Anglicized version of the French “Tous Sange Que Coule C’est Rouge.” This was the motto Bullard had stenciled on the sides of his SPAD fighter plane, with the words surrounding a large red heart with a dagger stuck in it. For Bullard, he wanted to make the point that “we’re all in this (the war) together.” It did not matter the color of any man’s skin: when any soldier bled, all the blood was red. This was also the title of his never published autobiography (1960) and we wanted to use it in his honor.

Phil Keith will at Lemuria on Tuesday, December 3, at 5:00 p.m. to sign copies of and discuss All Blood Runs Red. Lemuria has selected All Blood Runs Red its December 2019 selection for its First Editions Club for Nonfiction.

Sarah Broom’s award-winning memoir ‘The Yellow House’ demonstrates the powerful pull of home

By Emily Gatlin. Special to the Clarion-Ledger Sunday print edition (November 24)

Childhood homes are harbors of our rearing, keepers of our secrets and reflections of our parents. It’s our first understanding of what “home” actually means, and the way it always pulls us back.

Memories made there supersede the physical house itself. We don’t remember the stains on our bedroom carpet, but we know that our feet were warm when we rolled out of bed to get ready for school. The walls were filled with tokens of what we loved, be it a watercolor painting or old family portraits. We don’t remember what the upholstery looked like on the formal dining room chairs, just that on holidays, we gathered as a family and laughed along with stories of our shared history. Often, our parents upsized, downsized, separated, became snowbirds or passed on, but we can still drive by our homes and be filled with warmth and gratitude.

Sarah M. Broom’s memoir The Yellow House takes us on a journey of her life through her New Orleans East home, which was purchased by her mother Ivory Mae in 1961. As a young mother and widow, Ivory Mae invested her entire life savings at nineteen years old to purchase the shotgun house, in what was a promising up-and-coming area of New Orleans, and home to a major NASA plant during the height of the space boom.

Ivory Mae was optimistic about her investment and when she married her second husband Simon Broom, Sarah’s father, they forged their family together through constant home renovations and family additions—twelve children in all—until Simon died when Sarah was only six months old. Ivory Mae’s thirteenth child, the half-finished yellow house, was left in mild disrepair after Simon’s death, but it didn’t really matter. The family held together tightly, and sent each of the twelve children out into the world to find their own way.

Broom left the crumbling home and New Orleans after graduating from high school, but found herself continuously drawn back to the yellow house after career shifts and general twenty-something malaise until ultimately, it was destroyed after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. She decided to come back to do what she could for her beloved city and other residents in her former neighborhood, becoming a frustrated speechwriter for embattled Mayor Ray Nagin, while getting to know a different side of New Orleans. She did not win many friends that go around.

Recently winning the the National Book Award for nonfiction, The Yellow House is a love letter to Broom’s family, while at the same time a reckoning of politics, race, and class in New Orleans as it deals with the disparity between New Orleans East, which was all but wiped off the map by Katrina, and the more luscious and populated tourist centers of the city.

Broom’s writing is masterful and unflinching, cuts deep to the bone, while being affable and full of love for her native city. She conjures the spirit of New Orleans in a way that only someone who came from its soil can, shining a light on its lesser-known, but always visible residents. They are the ones who fled to the Superdome, cut themselves out of their attics, and remained in New Orleans to try and reclaim their lives any way they could.

While heartbreaking at times, The Yellow House is a necessary read in the fact that it’s a unique firsthand, well-researched exploration of inequality, the American experience, place and identity, and a true definition of family. Broom proves once and for all that you really can go home again.

Emily Gatlin is the Digital Editor of WONDERLUST and the author of The Unknown Hendrix and 101 Greatest American Rock Songs and the Stories Behind Them. She lives in Oxford.

Lemuria selected The Yellow House as its September 2019 selection for its First Editions Club for Nonfiction. Signed first editions are available in our online store, and regular hardback editions are available in our physical store.

Author Q & A with William “Bill” Morris

Interview by Jana Hoops. Special to the Clarion-Ledger Sunday print edition (November 24)

William H. (Bill) Morris would tell you that he has had more than his share of “magic moments’ in his lifetime, and he shares many details of his close-knit friendships with some of the greatest musicians of the R & B, Rock and Roll and Doo-Wop era of the ‘50s and ‘60s in his heartfelt memoir, This Magic Moment: My Journey of Faith, Friends, and the Father’s Love.

Growing up in Jackson during this period, Morris became especially fascinated with the popular melodies and harmonies of the doo-wop musicians–and though he would go on to establish a highly successful insurance firm, he never forgot his fondness for the music of that period.

William Morris

Through a series of providential circumstances, Morris would go on to befriend several of the most famous among those musical legends, including members of the Moonglows, the Drifters, and other groups. These deep lifelong relationships would see him offer aid and encouragement to musicians whose careers had waned, including at least one who found his health, finances, and hope declining.

Through it all, Morris steadfastly credits his strong faith in God for allowing him the opportunities to forge “enduring bonds that would last beyond their lifetimes,” creating examples to inspire others.

A lifelong resident of Jackson, Morris and his wife Camille have been married 47 years and their family includes two daughters and five grandchildren. He has also authored a coffee table book entitled Ole Miss at Oxford: A Part of Our Heart and Soul.

In the introduction of your book, This Magic Moment, you tell readers that you have always had “a deep and abiding bond with music”–one that led you to seriously consider music promotion as a career. Why did you decide to pursue a career in insurance instead?

My father knew college would be more valuable to me if I had “skin in the game,” as in paying for half of the cost myself. The way I was able to earn that money was by hosting and promoting dances around Jackson, which I loved doing. Fourteen of those dances were big successes. The one that wasn’t made me realize that music promotion was an unpredictable career and would not give the financial stability I wanted to support an eventual wife and family.

My father was a successful insurance executive who was devoted to the welfare of his clients, and they loved him for it. I decided to follow his path, which proved to be the right decision. I am proud and grateful for the success I have had with the firm, and as I discovered, it was possible for me to also pursue my passions for music, photography, and writing at the same time.

You grew up during a time when popular music changed from listening to Guy Lombardo on the radio to rock and roll and “doo-wop” songs on 45 rpm records. How did you come to form lasting relationships with singers who were among the most famous in the country during the 1950s and 1960s?

I fell in love with R&B/doo-wop from the first time I heard it in high school. The rich harmonies and the passionate delivery of the music was different from anything I had heard before. I began listening to WOKJ in Jackson, WLAC in Nashville, and WDIA in Memphis, which were some of the only stations accessible in the area that played the African American sounds of rhythm and blues and doo-wop. I would also go to Capital Music in downtown Jackson to sample the newest 45s. This touched my soul, and I could not get enough of it.

I was able to meet some of my musical heroes while promoting dances and later booking groups for my fraternity in college. However, the relationships were formed much later in life as a result of my friendship with Prentiss Barnes, the original bass singer of The Moonglows. He invited me to be his guest at major musical events that gave me the opportunity to meet and come to know a virtual who’s who of rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and doo-wop musicians. It was my friendship with Prentiss that led to my long and dear friendship with Bill Pinkney of the Original Drifters and later Harvey Fuqua and Rufus McKay. I spoke and sang at all four of their funerals. They became like brothers to me.

You state that your book is “a love story of deep friendship, given from above.” How did your relationship with Prentiss Barnes begin, and how did it develop through the years?

The Moonglows were one of my favorite groups. While on a business trip to Washington D.C. in 1980, I attended a performance of The Moonglows. I took the opportunity to meet them during a break and before long we were singing some of their hits. Bobby Lester heard something in my voice that prompted him to insist I sing the lead on a song with them in the next set. I never considered myself to be a singer and had never had a mic in my hand. Although I was reluctant, singing with some of my musical heroes was one of the biggest thrills of my life. It also played a big role in my eventual relationship with Prentiss.

Almost exactly a year from this event, I picked up the Clarion-Ledger and saw the front-page story about Prentiss Barnes, who was now living in Jackson in complete despair. He was broken in every way–physically, financially, spiritually. The Holy Spirit made it clear to me that I was to reach out and help him. When I first tried, Prentiss was very unreceptive and skeptical until I told him about singing with The Moonglows in Washington.

We were able to help get him the help he needed, and our friendship grew over three decades to be one of the most important relationships of my life. He included me in all the big moments in his life–including The Moonglows’ induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Several years later he gave me his award, saying that it would have never happened if I had not come into his life. I cannot express how gratifying it was to see him go from someone with one foot in the grave who was hopeless to having him know that he was appreciated and loved by so many.

Would you briefly share some of the music-related highlights that are part of the journey you write about in your book?

  • Forming Hallelujah Productions and producing two gospel CDs with the Original Drifters in 1995.
  • Serving as chairman of a 2002 benefit at the Country Club of Jackson in honor of Prentiss Barnes and establishing a fund for musicians in need. Morgan Freeman was the honorary chairman.
  • Performing with The Moonglows at Boston Symphony Hall as part of their Doo Wop Hall of Fame induction in 2005.

Please tell me why you wrote this book, who should read it, and why you titled it This Magic Moment.

It is my intent to bless and inspire people. By acting on the urgings of the Holy Spirit, my life was enhanced beyond measure and in ways I could have never imagined. I hope people will be encouraged to trust and obey our Heavenly Father when he speaks to you.

The other important message I want to share is that people from different backgrounds, circumstances, political beliefs, etc. can find what they have in common and build meaningful relationships and all will be blessed. We all have far more in common than we have differences.

This Magic Moment is not only the name of one of the Drifters’ most famous songs, it is a metaphor for life. We have many “magic moments” in our lives that lead to other “magic moments” if we take the time to recognize them. Sometimes it is only when we look back that we realize how everything magically worked together.

William Morris will be at Lemuria on Friday, November 29, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. to sign copies of This Magic Moment.

Author Q & A with Lara Prescott

Interview by Jana Hoops. Special to the Clarion-Ledger Sunday print edition (November 17)

Lara Prescott’s fictional account of three young women employed in the CIA’s typing pool who rise to the upper echelons of espionage during the 1950s Cold War is based on the true story of the agency’s undercover plan to smuggle copies of Boris Pasternak’s Dr. Zhivago into the USSR.

The Secrets We Kept, Prescott’s debut, has been released to much acclaim that included the possibility of movie rights.

The winner of the 2016 Crazyhorse Fiction Prize for the first chapter of The Secrets We Kept, Prescott’s stories have been published in the Southern Review, The Hudson Review, Crazyhorse, Day One, and Tin House Flash Fridays.

Prescott received her MFA from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, Austin, and today she resides in Austin.

The Secrets We Kept is based on a true but probably little-known slice of Cold War history during the 1950s that saw the American CIA make a strategic push to have Russian author Boris Pasternak’s epic novel Doctor Zhivago published and made available to Soviet readers. The ploy not only resulted in the book’s publication in 1957, but to top it off, it was (much to the embarrassment of Russia’s Communist officials) granted the Nobel Prize for literature the following year. How did this event come to your attention, and what inspired you to base your debut novel on this feat?

Lara Prescott

I first learned about the Doctor Zhivago mission in 2014, after my father sent me a Washington Post article about newly declassified documents that shed light on the CIA’s Cold War-era “Books Program.” With my interest piqued, I devoured the incredible true story behind the publication of Doctor Zhivago. What I discovered was that the CIA had obtained the banned manuscript, covertly printed it, and smuggled it back into the USSR.

The first CIA memos on Doctor Zhivago described the book as “the most heretical literary work by a Soviet author since Stalin’s death,” saying it had “great propaganda value” for its “passive but piercing exposition of the effect of the Soviet system on the life of a sensitive, intelligent citizen.”

And it was seeing the actual memos and so many other declassified documents like them–with all their blacked-out and redacted names and details–that first inspired me to fill in the blanks with fiction.

Explain how art, music, and literature were considered so important to Soviet culture that they could be used to spread the idea of freedom among its citizens during this time.

During the Cold War, both the Soviets and Americans believed in the unmatched power of books. Joseph Stalin once described writers as, “the engineers of the human soul.” And in a 1961 secret report to the U.S. Senate, the CIA’s former chief of covert action described books as, “the most important weapon of strategic propaganda.”

Each side believed the longtail of cultural influence–how people could read a book, view a work of art, or listen to a piece of music and come away from the experience a changed person. In the case of Doctor Zhivago, the CIA wanted Soviet citizens to question why a masterpiece by one of their most famous living writers was kept from them.

Tell me about the main female characters and why they were so well suited for their roles as spies.

The characters of Sally and Irina are very much inspired by early female spies. Elizabeth “Betty” Peet McIntosh’s book Sisterhood of Spies first exposed me to a world of real-life heroines, including Virginia Hall, Julia Child–yes, that Julia Child–and Betty herself. These women got their start in the OSS, which was the precursor to the CIA, during World War II, and, after the war, some transitioned to the CIA, just as Sally does in the novel.

Today, we may have a woman as the head of the CIA, but, back then, most women–even those who had served their country so courageously–were relegated to secretary or clerk positions. The character of Irina is first hired for such a position, but quickly is utilized in the Agency as someone who picks up and delivers classified documents. These were jobs women were suited for, as they’d often go undetected as someone who could possibly be handling secret information.

Considering the different cultural and economic roles of women at the time of the book’s setting–when they were often held back from career success–you portray intelligent, hardworking women who genuinely enjoy their work and are good at it. At what stage was what we now call “feminism” in those days?

I believe the experiences of these hardworking and highly qualified women being held back from advancing in their careers were the seeds of modern-day feminism. During this time period, women were already beginning to question why they were being paid less money than their male counterpoints and why they were not given promotions. This sense of workplace inequality gradually developed into second-wave feminism in the 1960s.

Have you been surprised by the book’s acclaim to this point, beginning even before its publication, and with movie rights already in the works?

Absolutely! It has been an almost surreal experience. I feel so very grateful to have had the opportunity of such a large platform for people to discover and read my debut novel. The greatest joy comes from meeting readers who have been touched by the book in some way.

Lara Prescott will be at Lemuria on Thursday, November 21, at 5:00 p.m. to sign and discuss The Secrets We Kept. Lemuria has chosen The Secrets We Kept as its December 2019 selection for its First Editions Club for Fiction.

The secret is out on ‘The Secrets We Kept’ by Lara Prescott

By Valerie Walley. Special to the Clarion-Ledger Sunday print edition (September 29)

The Secrets We Kept is a debut novel by Lara Prescott based on the true events surrounding the 1957 publication of Dr. Zhivago, a 20th century literary masterpiece combining a sweeping love story with intrigue, political hardship, and tragedy, set between the Russian Revolution and WWII. One of the greatest love stories ever written, it was made into the haunting film featuring Julie Christie and Omar Sharif. Boris Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for it, which he was made to turn down by an embarrassed and outraged KGB. It was banned reading there until 1988. But if you haven’t read it, now you’re up to speed, and you can read The Secrets We Kept!

Set in 1957, The Secrets We Kept tells of the CIA’s mission to weaponize a work of art by using this publication against Russia behind the Iron Curtain. The novel is set against the backdrop of the decades long love story between author Boris Pasternak and his muse, Olga (the inspiration for Lara), who spent years in and out of Russian prisons. The stuff of her own life and her relationship with Boris could be a novel in itself. The novel alternates between this story and the stories of two contemporary, unconventional, and mold-breaking women ahead of their time. Sally and Irina are seduced and spurned by the CIA’s typing pool, eventually becoming spies themselves. Their stories, along with a chorus from their co-workers–in some cases first generation college graduates, speakers of multiple languages, and pilots–have now been relegated to the CIA typing pool once the men have returned from WWII. These are the voices telling the story of bringing Dr. Zhivago into print by smuggling it back into Russia. These three women–Olga, Irina, and Sally–do change the course of history through the secrets they keep.

In settings from the Russian countryside, and Pasternak’s own dacha, and on to 50’s Milan and Paris, and grounded back into the reality of an era in which women were trying to find a meaningful workplace in male dominated postwar fifties DC, this is an unputdownable, stylishly plotted and told novel for all.

I urge you to pick up The Secrets We Kept and be swept away into Russia and intrigued by the thrilling story of spy craft. Ultimately, though, it will be each woman’s story that will haunt you for a long time. And while you don’t have to have read or watched Dr. Zhivago, you will probably want to.
Fun fact–Lara Prescott is named after Boris Pasternak’s heroine and as a child often listened to “Lara’s Theme” played by her mother’s jewelry box. You’ll be able to find out more about her obsession with all things Russian, and Dr. Zhivago in particular, when she’s here for a reading at Lemuria on November 21.

This bold and unconventional historical thriller is already a runaway bestseller. Perfect for book clubs, it was also chosen by Reese Witherspoon‘s Hello Sunshine book club.

And along the way you’ll find out how a piece of art changed the world and the course of history in so much a lovelier, more meaningful way than anything social media will ever be able to do.

Valerie Walley is a Ridgeland resident.

Lara Prescott will be at Lemuria on Thursday, November 21, at 5:00 p.m. to sign and discuss The Secrets We Kept. Lemuria has chosen The Secrets We Kept as its December 2019 selection for its First Editions Club for Fiction.

Author Q & A with Sean Brock

Interview by Jana Hoops. Special to the Clarion-Ledger Sunday print edition (November 10)

Sean Brock, the James Beard Award-winning author of Heritage follows up his nationally acclaimed debut book with a decidedly enthusiastic probe into the nurturing and connecting qualities of his favorite cuisine with South: Essential Recipes and New Explorations.

With an immutable passion for preserving and restoring heirloom ingredients, Brock offers up 125 recipes in South, with chapters that include everything from “Snacks and Dishes to Share” to “Grains,” “Vegetables and Sides” and even a section titled “Pantry,” complete with recipes and tips for preserving and canning–not to mention two full pages on “How to Make Vinegar.”

Sean Brock

Brock was the founding chef of the award-winning Husk restaurants and is now the chef and owner of Audrey, a distinctly unique dining destination set to open in east Nashville next year.

Brock has been recognized with the James Beard Award for Best Chef Southeast in 2010 and was a finalist for Outstanding Chef in 2013, 2014, and 2015. He has appeared on the TV series Chef’s Table and The Mind of a Chef, for which he was nominated for an Emmy.

Raised in rural Virginia Brock now lives in Nashville.

You made a national name for yourself crafting the heritage cuisine of the award-winning Husk restaurants in Charleston and Greenville, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; and Nashville. Tell me about your decision to shift gears and settle in Nashville as you start a new chapter of your life and career.

After my son was born, I had a health scare the last couple of years. I realized that I have to take better care of myself. I was working way too much and I worried way too much. I was operating eight restaurants in five cities. Finally, I had to say “goodbye” to that chapter and start a new path.

Your first book, Heritage, won the James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook and the IACP Julia Child First Book Award, and was called “the blue ribbon chef cookbook of the year” by The New York Times. Were you surprised by its huge success, and would you say that this achievement that helped change your career path?

I can hardly fathom that I ever even got a book deal–and that there would be so much interest in what I was doing with food.

Writing a book is really scary. With my first book, I knew I had one shot to get it out there the way I wanted. There is a gap of about a year between writing a book and getting it published–and a lot can happen in between. Once it’s out there, it’s out there. All I could do was cross my fingers and hope people would get into it. I remember holding it in my hands after it first came out, and seeing others holding it in their hands. That’s when it became real to me.

Winning the James Beard Award was such a stretch that I could have never even imagined it. I remember that day and what a whirlwind of excitement it was.

I think that book came out at a perfect time in America because I began to realize people were really, really interested in Southern food. As a place, it has many cuisines, not just one. It has a strong historical aspect that affects its preset and future.

You have said that you believe Southern cuisine ranks among the best in the world. Please tell me about South, and your motivations for writing it. What message do you want this book to convey?

It’s about how we all can contribute to our own food history. The way I see it, place has its own ingredients and its own cultural influences and natural geography. That’s how cuisine is shaped–restoring the old so we can now have the new. We look to many cultures much older than ours and how they handled their ingredients. It’s important that we can all contribute something to our own culinary history.

You grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, and attended cooking school in Charleston while you were still a teenager. What influenced your early culinary interests at such a young age?

I grew up living with my grandmother for a while. I was around 11 to 14 years old at that time, and those were such formative years. I loved eating at her table and being in her garden. It gave me a different perspective about food, and I just fell in love with it.

I started working in (restaurant) kitchens at age 15. Food Network had just started on TV, and that was where I began to see that side of food preparation as a more serious craft.

Thanks to my grandmother, I learned the power of food to nurture and comfort, and I never wanted to do anything else.

Sean Brock will be at Cathead Distillery on Thursday, November 14, a5 5:00 p.m. in conversation with John Currence to sign and discuss South: Essential Recipes and New Explorations.

S.C. Gwynne provides riveting, smartly crafted history of Civil War’s end in ‘Hymns of the Republic’

By Jim Woodrick. Special to the Clarion-Ledger Sunday print edition (November 3)

In his second inaugural address, delivered in March 1865, Abraham Lincoln expressed his hope that “this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away” but also allowed that it might yet be God’s will that “every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword.”

As it happened, the war would finally draw to a close a little more than a month later, but the nation could hardly have paid a steeper price in blood than had already been shed in the final, horrific year of the Civil War. Lincoln himself would, of course, be among the war’s last victims at the hands of an assassin.

Author S.C. Gwynne, who has previously written an acclaimed biography of Stonewall Jackson Rebel Yell, offers a fast-paced and engaging look on the last year of the Civil War in Hymns of the Republic. In his book, Gwynne focuses initially on Grant’s Virginia campaign which evolved into a series of battles that produced long lists of Union casualties but made little headway in winning the war.

The stalemate in Virginia, along with William T. Sherman’s struggle to capture Atlanta, gave renewed hope in the South that an increasingly war-weary North would turn against Lincoln in the November elections and choose someone willing to let the Confederacy go. But it was not to be.

With the fall of Atlanta on September 2, 1864, the war took a dramatic turn. Not only had prospects brightened for Lincoln, but a new style of warfare emerged. Sherman, who the author describes as a “restless, nervous, fidgety, kinetic” man, would use his army in the subsequent March to the Sea and into the Carolinas not to take and hold territory but to destroy the Confederacy’s ability to wage war, and, perhaps more importantly, to destroy the South’s will to continue the struggle.

In Virginia, Phil Sheridan slashed and burned his way across the Shenandoah Valley with similar goals. Caught in the crossfire were countless civilians, both slave and free.

Gwynne’s military narrative closes with a compelling account of Appomattox and explores a number of long-held myths about the surrender of Lee’s army. Throughout, Gwynne pays particular attention to the increasingly important role of African Americans as Union soldiers and as a political and moral force in shaping the outcome of the war.

Gwynne is perhaps at his best in bringing to life the main characters in the unfolding drama. While he is fairly critical of Grant’s tactical skills, or lack thereof, he draws a parallel between Grant’s ability to overcome setbacks, both personal and professional, with his determination to keep up the pressure on Lee in spite of a chorus of critics in Washington.

Robert E. Lee, meanwhile, is presented as a somewhat tragic figure who sacrificed everything for a cause and country that could no longer be sustained. Lee, he writes, was a man increasingly burdened by “sadness, frustration, unhappiness and loss.”

Yet Lee, like Grant, seemed to understand that the game had to be played out, even if it resulted in thousands more lives sacrificed on Virginia’s blood-soaked fields. Readers will also gain fresh insight into Sherman’s character, along with Phil Sheridan, Clara Barton, John Singleton Mosby, Salmon P. Chase and, of course, Lincoln.

There are certainly more in-depth studies on the campaigns of 1864 and 1865, most notably Gordon Rhea’s multi-volume work on the Overland Campaign, but Gwynne’s book includes just enough detail on the movements of the armies to satisfy military historians and appeal to those who might not otherwise read a book on the Civil War. Hymns of the Republic is a riveting and beautifully crafted story and would be a valuable addition to any library.

Jim Woodrick is the Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer at MDAH, the author of The Civil War Siege of Jackson, Mississippi, and a Licensed Battlefield Guide at Vicksburg National Military Park.

Lemuria has selected Hymns of the Republic its November 2019 selection for its First Editions Club for Nonfiction.

Will Jacks’ ‘Po’ Monkey’s’ allows one last visit to famous, shuttered Delta juke joint

By Chris Goodwin. Special to the Clarion-Ledger Sunday print edition (October 27)

Becoming a famous and beloved institution is no guarantee of permanence. So with Po’ Monkey’s Lounge outside Merigold, the creation and full expression of Mr. Willie Seaberry—farm laborer by day, internationally known juke joint proprietor by night.

After decades of those-who-know-don’t-need-to-ask operation catering to locals in search of a Thursday evening respite, the establishment rose to prominence as white photographers and journalists enthralled by its authenticity brought news of its existence to their audiences, turning it into a must-see site for blues tourists traveling the Mississippi Delta.

Alas, the death of Mr. Seaberry in 2016 was also the death knell for the lounge. We’re fortunate to have Will Jacks’ moving photographic tribute, Po’ Monkey’s: Portrait of a Juke Joint (University Press of Mississippi), to document—and remind us—of what has been lost.

A trained photographer and gallery owner who grew up not far from Po’ Monkey’s, Jacks spent a decade at the lounge, connecting with the people who worked there and reconnecting with school friends who were some of its regulars. Jacks often had his camera in hand to capture the riotous, exuberant dance floor as well as quieter moments off to the side. More than seventy of those images are reproduced in black and white in this oversized hardcover edition. That color choice denies readers the full glory of Mr. Seaberry’s famous bright outfits, but it perfectly suits the fundamental nature of a vernacular structure begun nearly 100 years ago.

Jacks gives equal time to the people and the place in his selection of shots. There are women and men, black and white, young and old pictured shooting pool, dancing, or listening to music (in the tight confines of the lounge usually provided by a DJ or jukebox, not a live band), sitting together at the tables with drinks at hand, or posing for portraits outside the building in front of an improvised screen.

But equally rewarding are the images of the building. Po’ Monkey’s was located in the house where Mr. Seaberry lived for much of his life. He reserved for himself a small bedroom at the back—the rest was richly decorated with stuffed monkeys (the juke joint took its name from Mr. Seaberry’s nickname) and posters, photographs, beads, and strand after strand of Christmas lights, which transformed the Spartan interior of a sharecropper’s cabin into a joyous space where people came to forget their cares for the night.

The photographs highlight the textures of that space, from the plastic hung to keep out the rain—a pragmatic decision that became a design feature when they were tufted to the ceiling—to the corrugated tin and candy-striped handrails of the exterior. The hand-painted signs near the front door clearly laid out the owner’s positions: No loud music, dope smoking, rap music, or beer brought inside.

An introductory essay by journalist Boyce Upholt and a photographer’s statement at the end of the book tell the particulars of Willie Seaberry’s life story as well as they can be teased out, his close relationship with the Hiter family who owns the house and farmland on which it sits, and the story of Po’ Monkey’s during its years of operation and in the time following his death.

It seems unlikely that the lounge will ever reopen, and even if it were to, it would be a different place from what its patrons have known. It was the larger-than-life personality of its owner that made Po’ Monkey’s the welcoming place that it was for so many, and it is thanks to Will Jacks that we have this record of that time and that place.

Chris Goodwin lives in Jackson. He visited Po’ Monkey’s for the first time in 2007 and hasn’t danced that much since.

Complex campaign, Grant’s triumph given in-depth, rousing treatment in Donald Miller’s ‘Vicksburg’

By Jim Woodrick. Special to the Clarion-Ledger Sunday print edition (October 27)

On May 1, 1863, Ulysses S. Grant’s Union Army of the Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River on a flotilla of steamboats, gunboats and barges and landed on Mississippi soil at Bruinsburg. It was the largest amphibious landing by an American army in history and would remain so until World War II.

More importantly, it was the culmination of months of hard campaigning by the Federals; not the end of the campaign by any means, but certainly the beginning of the end. As Grant would later relate in his memoirs, “All of the campaigns, labors, hardships, and exposures” to that point were for the accomplishment of “this one object”–the capture of Vicksburg and the reopening of the Mississippi.

In his new one-volume history of the Vicksburg Campaign, Donald L. Miller brings the reader to this dramatic moment–and many other twists and turns–not merely as an observer but as a participant through his elegant prose.

Vicksburg: Grant’s Campaign That Broke the Confederacy is first and foremost an in-depth look at U.S. Grant during this critical period of the Civil War. Grant, of course, has been the subject of a great deal of attention from biographers of late, especially Ron Chernow’s celebrated work, and Miller’s book is a welcome addition.

In an almost intimate fashion, he brings Grant to life without heaping too much praise for his military successes or being overly critical of his personal and professional failings (of which there were many) and he ably handles the most controversial aspect of Grant’s character—his reported affinity for alcohol. Along the way, the author introduces a host of interesting characters who played their own parts, both large and small, in the drama that unfolds.

In addition to the increased interest in Grant, there has been, in recent years, a renewed focus on the Vicksburg Campaign, a focus that is both well-deserved and long overdue. For those who wish to delve deeply into the complexities of the movements of armies and logistics, there are many excellent choices available, including Edwin C. Bearss’ monumental three-volume study and the late Michael Ballard’s one-volume treatment.

For the casual reader, however, Miller’s book provides a good overview of a very complex campaign without getting lost in the details and places the Vicksburg story within its proper context. Rather than focusing on minutiae of individual battles, the author uses a wide-angle lens for his campaign study and includes the earliest efforts by Union military authorities to reopen the Mississippi, beginning with a dramatic account of the capture of New Orleans in 1862.

From there, Miller describes Grant’s single-minded focus on achieving his goal of capturing Vicksburg, from his overland march in north Mississippi to the failed expeditions in the twisted bayous of the Mississippi Delta. Throughout, he pays particular attention to the critical role played by the U.S. Navy, an aspect of the Vicksburg Campaign which is all too often overlooked.

Once Grant’s army lands at Bruinsburg, Miller’s prose quickens as the action and the urgency of the campaign swells to a bloody crescendo at Champion Hill, which Miller argues—and convincingly so—was the most decisive engagement of the Civil War. All along the way—whether in the malarial swamps of Louisiana or the hot and dusty trenches at Vicksburg—Miller’s poetic descriptions of the sweeping landscape adds to the reader’s experience.

In the acknowledgements, Miller relates that he first began research on the Vicksburg Campaign in 1997 and, due to circumstances of life and other research projects, did not return to working on the book until 2013. We are indeed fortunate that he kept at it, as the result is a magnificently written and thoroughly readable account of what is arguably the most significant and complex campaign of the Civil War.

Jim Woodrick is the Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer at MDAH, the author of The Civil War Siege of Jackson, Mississippi, and a Licensed Battlefield Guide at Vicksburg National Military Park.

Lemuria has selected Vicksburg: Grant’s Campaign That Broke the Confederacy its October 2019 selection for its First Editions Club for Nonfiction. Signed first editions of Vicksburg are available in our online store

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