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

“Blake once described himself as a ‘plunger and promoter,’ but basically he claimed to be a planter.” (page 38)

“Blake held no political portfolio, but his association with Senator Eastland enabled him to obtain government loans easily as he built an agricultural empire. Some of his transactions proved to be as puzzling as the mystery about him.” (page 39)

“In November 1993, after Blake helped head off Scruggs’s indictment in the asbestos case, Scruggs began to make significant loans to Blake. At first he gave him $15,000 a month, but those payments then increased to $25,000 a month. The loans were unsupported by any collateral, other than Blake’s signature on a note and his promise to keep Scruggs informed on political developments.” (page 43)

Reserve a signed copy online or call the store at 800/601.366.7619.

Curtis Wilkie will be signing on Thursday, Oct. 21^st.

Click here to see 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)

“[Steve] Patterson encouraged friends to call him ‘Big Daddy,’ or, more symbolically, to refer to him as ‘King Fish,’ a nod to the nickname of the late Huey P. Long, the populist leader of Louisiana.” (page 11)

“Eager to play national politics, Patterson signed on in 1987 as a regional director in Delaware senator Joe Biden’s first attempt to win the Democratic presidential nomination. After Biden’s failed bid, Patterson refocused on the state level and won election himself, as state auditor of Mississippi in 1991. Officially, his responsibilities included oversight of bookkeeping in state agencies; the job also enabled him to peep into transactions involving public money.” (page 12)

“One evening in 1992, as Scruggs struggled to deal with the case Patterson and [Ed] Peters were building against him, he received a phone call at his home from a man named P. L. Blake. ‘I know what’s going on, and I’m going to help you,’ Blake told Scruggs. ‘You need to come up and see me.'” (page 13)

“Blake was cryptic, but Scruggs understood the significance of his call. Blake’s name was not recognizable in most households in Mississippi, but among the political cognoscenti he was regarded as one of Eastland’s original agents who still had the ability to fix things. Blake had contacted him, Scruggs believed, at the direction of Scrugg’s brother-in-law Trent Lott . . . ” (page 13)

“. . . Scruggs flew in his private plane to Greenwood’s small-town airport, where Blake met him. ‘You helped me a lot,’ Blake told Scruggs. ‘Now I’m going to help you.'” (page 15)

Reserve a signed copy online or call the store at 800/601.366.7619.

Curtis Wilkie will be signing on Thursday, Oct. 21^st.

Click here to see other excerpts from The Fall of the House of Zeus.

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Both John and Joe have worked a lot with Mike so I put their comments together.

John says:

Mike is a real bookstore hound. I’m sure he checks out the bookstores wherever his travels take him. He studies staff, inventory quality, in- store marketing, customer service while formulating judgment on the overall store. Needless to say, Mike is a great guy to toss around a few ideas. He is an avid book collector as he chooses titles for his beautiful home library, his place to read and write.

Mike’s books on the music business have been on the shelves of Lemuria for quite a while. More recently we have come to know Mike and his sons (Mike 3 and Marty) as they have published the much-loved volumes of Gridiron Gold and Ya’ll vs. Us, and the latest publication, Bull Cyclone Sullivan.

We’ve worked so hard together at Mike’s events that I consider him not only an author and publisher but a fine bookseller on the Lemuria team.

Joe says:

Like John said, we’ve been working with him for a while, but you never know what he’s going to come up with. When Mike calls and says he wants to set up a meeting my attitude is to totally clear the brain – he could say anything. I’m almost a little scared to see what he’ll come up with next, but it’s always fun to work with him mainly because you can tell he’s having fun. (We also really like M3, Marty, Judy, and Janice.)

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)

“When Hood refused to drop his investigation, Scruggs grew apoplectic. In a move later characterized by his friends as an ‘afternoon decision’ driven by a large dose of his painkilling medication, Scruggs offered to pay $500,000 to Steve Patterson and Tim Balducci to get the attorney general on board . . . Sure enough, Patterson and Balducci were able to arrange one inconsequential dinner, which Hood grudgingly agreed to attend . . . They got nowhere with him.” (page 168)

“In January of 2007, Patterson warned Cupit that Scruggs was prepared to deliver an ultimatum to the attorney general. Unless Hood agreed to assure State Farm that there would be no indictments, Scruggs would fall back on a plan conceived by his public relations team. There would be a press conference, attended by several high-ranking public officials–including Senator Lott, who had sued State Farm himself–to endorse a settlement benefiting hundreds of Gulf Coast residents. The group would announce that only Hood stood in the way. The publicity could kill Hood’s reelection chances.” (page 170)

“The scenario was the subject of a heated discussion in a private room at the Jackson airport in January 2007, involving Hood, Scruggs, Patterson, and Joey Langston.” (page 170)

“Two days later . . . Hood drove to Memphis . . . to meet with high officials of State Farm . . . During his Memphis talks, Hood first reached a settlement with State Farm on the state’s civil case. The company agreed to pay $5 million to the attorney general’s office as reimbursement for its expenses in the investigation and to set up an apparatus to deal with the unresolved claims that could cost the company as much as $400 million.” (page 170)

“Before he left the Tennessee city, Hood also informed State Farm that he would discontinue the criminal case. This cleared the way for the final settlement of the 640 cases represented by the Scruggs Katrina Group . . . ” (page 170)

Reserve a signed copy online or call the store at 800/601.366.7619.

Curtis Wilkie will be signing at Lemuria on Thursday, Oct. 21^st.

Click here to see other excerpts from The Fall of the House of Zeus.

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After a series of extensive interviews in their homes, Curtis Wilkie met with Dickie Scruggs in the Lafayette County jail in Oxford before he appeared before the grand jury in 2009. Scruggs asked Wilkie, “‘When all this is over, are you going to be able to tell me how I got mixed up with these guys?'” (4)

The Fall of the House of Zeus provides an intense education on Mississippi politics over the past twenty-five years and the power of greed to take over one’s life. While pulling from numerous sources, Curtis Wilkie was also able to interview Dickie and Zach Scruggs. Although Dickie Scruggs initially declined to interview because he did not “‘feel right about the appearance of exploiting it,'” he eventually opened up to Curtis Wilkie with the desire to share his side of the story (3).

If you have been following the Scruggs story from the beginning, you need to read The Fall of the House of Zeus by Curtis Wilkie. If you have not been following the Scruggs story from the beginning, you need to read The Fall of the House of Zeus. It’s a must-read for any inquiring citizen.

Zeus does not come out until October 19th. In the meantime, Lemuria will be giving you exclusive peeks. Stay posted . . .

Reserve a signed copy online or call the store at 800/601.366.7619.

The Fall of the House of Zeus will be the October selection for the First Editions Club. Curtis Wilkie will be signing on Thursday, Oct. 21^st.

Click here to see other excerpts from The Fall of the House of Zeus.

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On January 22, 1989 I learned one of those important “how to be a grown-up” lessons. It was the night of Super Bowl XXIII and I was 13-years-old. I had picked the Bengals because, as a thirteen-year-old, I thought the red tiger uniforms were cool. They also had a quarterback named Boomer and another guy named Ickey.

I didn’t grow up in Mississippi and didn’t know about “world” or “The Satellite Express” or that Jerry Rice had managed to be a Heisman trophy candidate coming out of little Mississippi Valley State.

Growing up in Knoxville, Tennessee I didn’t even know who Joe Montana and Jerry Rice were before that night, but after a two touchdown fourth quarter and an MVP trophy for Jerry Rice I was a fan. In fact . . . I think that was the night I became a football fan. And (ask my wife) I really, really like football.

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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I had always intended “to get to” Natasha Trethewey’s poetry, but when I saw that she had a new book coming out, that she was coming to Lemuria, and that she had been featured in Mississippians, there was no time to waste. To begin, I explored some of her poetry and ended up finding a book of Bellocq’s photography.

In the early 1900s, E. J. Bellocq photographed the prostitutes of of Storyville, the red-light district of New Orleans. Bellocq’s was largely unknown until the 1970s and many years later, in 2002, Trethewey published a collection of poetry inspired by these women and Bellocq’s photographs. The photographs can be painful to look at, but the viewer also recognizes the respect with which the photos were taken. Similarly, when reading Trethewey’s poetry, she leaves the reader the tenderness with which she writes.

I just finished reading Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Although I have been reading Trethewey’s work on a variety of subject matters, each piece leaves me with the care and tenderness she gives to the subject while never neglecting the hard truths of a situation. In reflecting on the possibilities that her family hopes lie ahead for her brother, Trethewey writes:

“There was still the possibility of a life he imagined–prosperous, stable, perhaps even emotionally rewarding, as it had been when he was first renovating houses. And it must have been in sight, reflected in the images of the “good life” plastered on casino billboards up and down Highway 49 to the beach: attractive people, in elegant clothes, laughing into cocktail glasses poised above plates of beautiful, abundant food. The casinos were among the first to recover, and they broadcast their message of affluence above the heads of people struggling to reconstruct their lives from remnants.” (page 92)

I will continue to read her work and no doubt we are proud she is a Mississippian. Natasha Trethewey will be at Lemuria this coming Wednesday, September 8th for a signing at 5:00, reading at 5:30.

See Nan’s blog on Beyond Katrina.

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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An ultimate compliment for Lemuria was to be Eudora Welty’s hometown bookstore. Her graceful light shone on us as she shared her heart. Through her goodness and belief in our work, she gave herself in our support. Eudora’s sharing of her love for books made Lemuria better. Her wisdom guided our evolution, enabling us to be the bookstore we are today. Our Queen of Literature in Mississippi.

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 King of the Blues

The Father of Country Music

The King of Rock & Roll

The Most Powerful Woman in Entertainment

The Most Beloved Actor of our Time

The Founder of MTV

The Greatest Novelist of the 20th Century

All from Mississippi? The state with the lowest income in the country? The state that is the butt of many jokes across the Northern states? A hot spot in the struggle for civil rights? Struggles produce fighters, soulful individuals.

For the past couple of weeks Lemuria booksellers have been passing around a new book about notable Mississippians. Edited by Neil White, this collection of Mississippi profiles ranges from individuals on stage and behind the scenes, longtime iconic figures of Mississippi like William Faulkner and Richard Wright, little-known Mississippians and colorful characters as well as people we should keep our eyes on in the coming years.

This is the kind of book you pass around and everybody has their own reaction or recalls a special memory. And there always seems to be the surprise of finding that person you never knew was from Mississippi.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing our reactions. Share your thoughts with us by clicking the Comment button on any of our blog posts devoted to Mississippians.

Mississippians complements photos with written profiles for over 300 individuals and will be available in October. Click here or call 601.366.7619 to reserve a signed copy. Or join us on Thursday, October 28th for a signing with Neil White. xxxx