The Fall of the House of Zeus by Curtis Wilkie (Crown, October 19, 2010)

“In the fall of 1995, Scruggs called upon his best contact in the nation’s capital, his brother-in-law, the second ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate. He told Senator Lott of a possible breakthrough against tobacco . . .” (60)

“The tobacco issue did not thrill Lott. As a deeply conservative, pro-business lawyer, he was philosophically opposed to the profession of trial lawyers and the idea of mass torts. Over the years, he had become friends with many of the chieftains in the tobacco industry. But like his brother-in-law, Lott enjoyed swimming in political back channels and consummating deals behind closed doors. There could be something in it for him. A business connection. A political IOU. The satisfaction of brokering an important agreement.”

“The process would introduce Scruggs to the Washington branch of the Mississippi network he thought of as ‘the dark side of the Force,’ a consortium of political interests led by Lott and his principal factotum in Washington, Tom Anderson.” (61)

Zeus goes on sale Tuesday, October 19th.

We hope to see you at the signing/reading event with Curtis Wilkie on Thursday, October 21st, but if you cannot attend, you can reserve a signed copy online.

Click here to open an account on our website and we can save your information for future visits to LemuriaBooks.com.

You can also call the bookstore at 601/800.366.7619 and we can put your name on our reserve list.

Read other excerpts from The Fall of the House of Zeus.

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The reviews of Wilkie’s Zeus are starting to appear in our local publications. Adam Lynch of the Jackson Free Press makes comparisons between Zeus and Lange/Dawson’s Kings of Tort published in 2009. Read Lynch’s review here. Bill Minor also wrote a review on Zeus in The Clarion Ledger. Read it here. Read more reviews for Kings of Tort here.

Read Both Books & Form Your Own Opinion

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With The Fall of the House of Zeus, Curtis Wilkie has given us a portrait of Mississippi’s political and legal climate over the last 40 years. Zeus truly is a modern classic of Mississippi history. Zeus will endure, be taught in schools and considered by many as the primary study of these Mississippi times.

We all know the Scruggs story, but Wilkie weaves a path through the people with whom this powerful man came in contact. Political influences by those in charge are more intricate than the newspaper followers of the story, like myself, are aware of. Wilkie gives us first-hand insight into how this powerful game of charades seemed to be played. He exposes not just the flaws of legal character but the flaws of political gamesmanship as well. The quilt Curtis sews covers the gambit of a Mississippi Who’s Who of these two professions. It’s amazing how many characters are a part of the Scruggs web and how many willingly signed on or fell into the trap of Scruggs’s powerful ride to the top. It seemed there was no limit to how many Scruggs influenced with his personal display and hand-me-out payola.

Zeus drips with the sleaze of our system with its players constantly taking advantage of how it works for so much private gain. It appears Zeus hid behind the sharing of wealth for good causes, feeding his ego with the power his success bought. However, this is a confusing character front as Zeus slip-sided his way through the system’s maze to generate huge wealth. Wilkie exposes as much as he can figure out about Scruggs’s personal side, the public image he gave, and his ego.

Five months ago when I finished reading House of Zeus for the first time, I called Curtis to tell him how much I liked and appreciated his hard work. We both loved Willie Morris, and I told Curtis that Willie would have loved this book and would be very proud for him. I wished Willie were alive to experience the reactions to Zeus’s publication.

As I am now rereading House of Zeus, I believe Curtis Wilkie has given Mississippi a great enduring chronicle of our time. It’s impressive Mississippi journalism at its height. I’m very pleased to work on this fine book which I believe every Mississippian should read and talk about. The Fall of the House of Zeus could have long range positive effects on our system and how it should and should not work.

Click here to see other profiles in Mississippians. Editor Neil White will be signing Mississippians at Lemuria on  Thursday, October 28th. Purchase a copy online or call the bookstore 601/800.366.7619.

We hope to see you at the signing/reading event for The Fall of the House of Zeus with Curtis Wilkie on Thursday, October 21st. If you cannot attend, you can reserve a signed copy online.

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Curtis Wilkie reveals the face of the elusive P. L. Blake

The Fall of the House of Zeus by Curtis Wilkie (Crown, October 19, 2010)

“In late May 1994, the case to recover damages from Big Tobacco for Mississippi was filed in chancery court in Pascagoula, the home of Moore and Scruggs.” (page 58)

“For Mississippi, Moore would serve as the public official representing the state’s interests, while Scruggs would emerge as the principle voice for the plaintiffs. They worked in tandem, backed by the investments of others in the group . . . They called themselves the ‘Health Advocates Litigation Team’–HALT for short.” (page 58)

“Scruggs’s practice of making lone decisions for the partnership annoyed some of his associates. His freewheeling style and his propensity to make secret side payments to people such as P. L. Blake also ate into his own resources.” (page 59)

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We hope to see you at the signing/reading event with Curtis Wilkie on Thursday, October 21st, but if you cannot attend, you can reserve a signed copy online.

Click here to open an account on our website and we can save your information for future visits to LemuriaBooks.com.

You can also call the bookstore at 601/800.366.7619 and we can put your name on our reserve list.

Read other excerpts from The Fall of the House of Zeus.

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The Fall of the House of Zeus by Curtis Wilkie (Crown, October 19, 2010)

[In the 1997 tobacco settlement] “. . . Big Tobacco would pay out $368 million to compensate for health costs related to smoking.” (page 65)

“The total amounts coming to Scruggs seemed incalculable. Some news accounts had him getting as much as $848 million . . . ” (Page 65)

“Looking back on the period a few years later, Scruggs would tell a friend, ‘The money was obscene. Nobody thought we’d make money like this. It was a frenzy.'” (page 65)

“. . . Scruggs had been given a title: King of Torts. It complimented his college nickname, Zeus, king of the gods.” (page 66)

We hope to see you at the signing/reading event with Curtis Wilkie on Thursday, October 21st, but if you cannot attend, you can reserve a signed copy online.

Click here to open an account on our website and we can save your information for future visits to LemuriaBooks.com.

You can also call the bookstore at 601/800.366.7619 and we can put your name on our reserve list.

Read other excerpts from The Fall of the House of Zeus.

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My first connection with Caroline Herring was spending several summers together at Camp DeSoto. I was a counselor, she a camper but I remember her sweet, shy smile and long blond hair. Several years later, I was visiting DeSoto and she was there, on staff, and was in charge of the singing!

I don’t recall hearing her sing alone until years later when she was in Oxford and doing Thacker Mountain Radio. She was still shy and sweet but she was developing a sense of strength and poise that comes with genuine talent. Her winsomeness was tempered with a fierce determination to be heard and people have been listening ever since. Caroline Herring has grown into being an acclaimed artist; an incredibly gifted songwriter and a southern voice that has a way of slipping into one’s mind and never leaving! To see her now, I am so proud and quite amazed at her progression. She is a treasure whose time has come. Caroline has worked to be where she is and I, for one, am thrilled to know an artist of her caliber–pure gold inside and out.

I will use her own words to convey my feelings:

From “Fair and Tender Ladies”:

You write about a place so dear
In all its good and evil
A loving cup, an aching scar
You need no thread and needle
To sew your name into your clothes
Or hem a ragged line
All muscular and luminous
Oh, heroine of mine

-Norma

Click here to see all of “Lemuria Reads Mississippians.”

Editor Neil White will be signing at Lemuria on  Thursday, October 28th.

Purchase a copy online or call the bookstore 601/800.366.7619.

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The Fall of the House of Zeus by Curtis Wilkie (Crown, October 19, 2010)

“. . . [Mike] Moore built name recognition by challenging the Jackson County [Pascagoula] Bosses.”

“One of them was the legendary Eddie Khayat, known on the Gulf Coast as ‘The Godfather’ long before Francis Ford Coppola made his sequence of movies with that name. Not only was Khayat the president of the Jackson County Board of Supervisors, but he had long led the statewide association of supervisors, acting as chief representative for their interests in the state legislature. He was the ultimate insider, a fixture in the vast political constellation established by Senator James Eastland.” (8)

After Hurricane Frederick, Khayat “deployed county workers and public equipment to clear private property, repair private roads, and install culverts contrary to law. It was the old-fashioned approach to government, but the new district attorney, Mike Moore, found it unacceptable and was willing to confront the system.” (9)

“Moore indicted Khayat on eight counts of misusing public property . . . Khayat fought the charges for a while, but in the end, he agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor…” (9-10)

“[Scruggs’s] homeroom teacher [ninth grade] turned out to be the Godfather’s son, Robert Khayat . . . (21) In a way, Khayat, eight years older, represented the big brother Scruggs never had. Dickie called Khayat ‘Coach’. He used the honorific for decades . . .” (22)

“Appealing for leniency from Judge Biggers, the Scruggs Law Firm defendants mobilized a letter-writing campaign among their friends.” (314)

“. . . the letter that generated the most interest came from Scruggs’s old friend Robert Khayat. Writing on the university’s letterhead stationery, Khayat cited Scruggs’s ‘compassion and generosity’ and ended with a proposal:

‘It is my belief that any time he spends being incarcerated is an absolute waste of a great deal of talent and ability. He has much to offer society and is a public-spirited person. Furthermore, it would appear to be a waste of tax payers’ money. Punishment is relative to the individual. A man such as Dick has been amply punished by the loss of his profession and public stature.'” (315)

The Fall of the House of Zeus by Curtis Wilkie goes on sale October 19th.

We hope to see you at the signing/reading event with Curtis Wilkie on Thursday, October 21st, but if you cannot attend, you can reserve a signed copy online.

Click here to open an account on our website and we can save your information for future visits to LemuriaBooks.com.

You can also call the bookstore at 601/800.366.7619 and we can put your name on our reserve list.

Read other excerpts from The Fall of the House of Zeus.

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The Fall of the House of Zeus by Curtis Wilkie (Crown, October 19, 2010)

“As they plotted into 1994, word of the plan to use Mississippi’s Medicaid program as the fulcrum for their [tobacco] lawsuit spread among politicians in the state, and it did not meet unanimous approval.” (page 52)

[Charlie Capps, legislator for Bolivar County]: “The state is not going to pay for a single pencil.”

[Mike Moore, Attorney General]: “You see how much help we’re going to get from the state.”

“Scruggs called P. L. Blake and told him, ‘We don’t want a rear-guard attack by this group.’ He promised to pay Blake ‘to keep his eyes and ears open.’

“For good measure, Scruggs called Steve Patterson . . . Scruggs wanted Patterson to stay on top of things, to serve as a back channel, passing on information quietly.” (page 53)

The Fall of the House of Zeus by Curtis Wilkie goes on sale October 19th.

We hope to see you at the signing/reading event with Curtis Wilkie on Thursday, October 21st, but if you cannot attend, you can reserve a signed copy online.

Click here to open an account on our website and we can save your information for future visits to LemuriaBooks.com.

You can also call the bookstore at 601/800.366.7619 and we can put your name on our reserve list.

Read other excerpts from The Fall of the House of Zeus.

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In late November of 2008, when Kathryn Stockett came to Lemuria to discuss a signing for her first book, no one had any idea that The Help would become the phenomenal success that it has, least of all Kathryn herself.

My first inkling of what was to come arrived in the form of a galley proof of The Help from Kathryn’s editor Amy Einhorn.  Accompanying it was a glowing cover letter explaining that as a 20-year veteran of the publishing business Ms. Einhorn had just been given her own imprint and from many options had chosen The Help as her first title.  After reading the manuscript it was obvious to me, as well, that Kathryn was a gifted storyteller with a book whose message would have universal appeal.

With the signing and reading set for mid-February, our next job was to get the word out.  By the time the event itself took place, the word was indeed out and consequently it was a huge success with a great turnout.  Meanwhile Joe and Maggie, after some debate, decided to make The Help a First Edition Club choice.

And—as they say—the rest is history.  Since its release in February of 2009, The Help has spent 73 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List–with many weeks at the number one slot. It has sold over 2 million copies world-wide and has been translated into 40 languages.

Through it all Kathryn has remained the charming, unaffected young woman she was when she was absolutely sure that her book would be read only by her family and a few close friends. -Billie

Click here to see all of “Lemuria Reads Mississippians.”

Editor Neil White will be signing at Lemuria on  Thursday, October 28th.

Reserve your copy online or call the bookstore 601/800.366.7619.

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The Fall of the House of Zeus by Curtis Wilkie (Crown, October 19, 2010)

“Zach was meeting with his own attorneys in a conference room at the law firm when Mike Moore took him aside. ‘We need to talk,’ Moore said. They were joined by Scruggs in Zach’s small office.

“Scruggs took a seat in an armchair by the window, looked at his son, and said, ‘This is the latest government offering: They’re willing to give me five years, Sid three, and one for you.’ He paused. ‘I’m going to take it. I wish you would, too.’

“Zach was stunned. He had never expected the case to come to this. ‘Hell no,’ he said. ‘I’m not going to do it.’ He rose from behind his own desk, repeated his vow and walked out . . .” (298-299)

“‘Look,’ Keker said, ‘we’ve been overruled on every motion. I can destroy Tim Balducci and I can destroy Henry Lackey on  cross examination, but at the end of the day we’re still looking at this November the first tape.’ He reminded Zach of the negative results of the mock trial in Shreveport where the ‘jurors’ had little sympathy for the lawyer defendants. A real jury in Oxford would likely come down hard, too, Keker said. ‘Zach, they’ll look at you like a rich, white boy.’

“‘I’m not going to do it,’ Zach said.

“‘You don’t want to blow up the deal, put your Dad in trouble.’

“‘All right,’ Keker said. He did not press Zach further.

“Zach walked back into his own office. His father was still there, sitting quietly, staring out the window. His son was overwhelmed by the poignancy of the moment. He thought the scene would stay with him the rest of his life: the sight of his father, as if he were a monarch, looking out at his kingdom and watching it disintegrate–Zeus, the King of the gods, falling.

“Father and son sat together saying nothing.” (299)

The Fall of the House of Zeus by Curtis Wilkie goes on sale October 19th.

We hope to see you at the signing/reading event with Curtis Wilkie on Thursday, October 21st, but if you cannot attend, you can reserve a signed copy online.

Click here to open an account on our website and we can save your information for future visits to LemuriaBooks.com.

You can also call the bookstore at 601/800.366.7619 and we can put your name on our reserve list.

Read other excerpts from The Fall of the House of Zeus.

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