Tag Archives: race

Selma 1965

Posted on March 18, 2015 by smellincoffee

Selma 1965: the March that Changed the South© 1974, 1985, 2015 Chuck Fager257 pages (2nd edition), Last weekend, my hometown suddenly became host to two presidents, a hundred members of Congress, and enough people to see it swell over ten times … Continue reading →

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Runaway Slaves

Posted on March 13, 2015 by smellincoffee

Runaway Slaves: Rebels on the Plantation© 2000 John Hope Franklin, Loren Schweninger480 pages Easily the most horrible aspect of American history, is the institution of slavery.  Indentured servitude had been a historical norm for centuries before, of course,  usually the … Continue reading →

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The Strange Career of Jim Crow

Posted on December 12, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Strange Career of Jim Crow© 1955, 1965 C. Van Woodward245 pages             Fifty years ago, racial and civil unrest swept the United States as organized resistance to the morally outrageous and legally dodgy practice of … Continue reading →

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Race with the Devil

Posted on December 3, 2014 by smellincoffee

Race with the Devil: My Journey from Racial Hatred to Rational Love© 2013 Joseph Pearce264 pages How does a neo-Nazi become a Catholic literary critic?  An act of God?   Joseph Pearce would surely make the claim, his life having … Continue reading →

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Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Posted on July 8, 2014 by smellincoffee

Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly© 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe          500 pages Written as an indignant response to the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law, Uncle Tom’s Cabin shook the American landscape in the mid-19th century as few other novels … Continue reading →

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This week at the library: the Spirit of ’76

Posted on June 30, 2014 by smellincoffee

Greetings, dear readers! It’s been a busy week for me, reading-wise, because work at the library has been slow. Oprah and Brad Pitt have been wandering around town filming for a movie,  and a lot of our usual patrons and traffic … Continue reading →

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The Burden of Southern History

Posted on June 2, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Burden of Southern History © 1960, 1968, 1970 C. Vann Wordward 250 pages Louisiana State University Press The publication of these essays on southern character and its tragic history, from Civil War to the abandoned civil rights efforts of … Continue reading →

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Away Down South

Posted on May 31, 2014 by smellincoffee

Away Down South: A History of Southern Identity © 2007 James C. Cobb 416 pages             What does it mean to be southern, beyond a fondness for turnip greens and cornbread?  The answer is an evolving one, as the South’s … Continue reading →

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Confederates in the Attic

Posted on April 3, 2014 by smellincoffee

Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War© 1999 Tony Hortwitz432 pages           For most of the United States, the Civil War is like any other entry in the history books, of interest but not very consequential. . … Continue reading →

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Sycamore Row

Posted on March 20, 2014 by smellincoffee

Sycamore Row© 2013 John Grisham 464 pages  I have been less than impressed with John Grisham’s books in recent years; The Racketeer made me suspect Grisham or his publishers were merely milking the success of his name.  Sycamore Row, however, … Continue reading →

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