Pete Candler’s A Deeper South is an intriguing deep dive into the American South — its history, legacy, attractions, and complexities. In his search, Candler also discovers things he never knew about his prominent Georgia family. It’s a wild read. Here’s my review for Alabama Writers’ Forum:
During the years that I have reviewed books for Alabama Writers’ Forum, I occasionally run across a mention of somebody I know, especially in those books with Alabama roots. I was recently asked to review Accidental Activist: Changing the World One Small Step at a Time (Livingston Press, 2024). Accidental Activist is the memoir by Alabama-born progressive activist Mary Allen Jolley, who passed away in 2023. Jolley, who worked for years in Washington, D.C., was instrumental in programs and legislation that were beneficial nationally and to Alabama.
Early in the memoir, Jolley mentions an early teaching position at Cold Springs School in Cullman County. My mother attended Cold Springs School and I realized she might have been a student there when Mary Allen was a teacher. I asked, “Do you happen to recall a teacher at Cold Springs named Mary Allen?”
Mother’s face brightened. “Mary Allen was one of my favorite teachers!” she responded and began to recount memories of Mary Allen and classmates at the time.
The Cold Springs experience is a very small part of Jolley’s memoir, but knowing that Mary Allen of Sumter County was known and remembered fondly by my mom gave the story and the life a more vivid resonance.
Whether or not you have a personal connection to Mary Allen Jolley, her story is an inspiring one, recounting a remarkable life. Here’s my review:
The astonishing fiction of Brad Watson (1955-2020) is available in a new collection, There Is Happiness: New and Selected Stories, an enduring record of a fearless writer whose work should be treasured.
It was my pleasure to review There Is Happiness for Alabama Writers’ Forum. Read the full review here:
William Crawford Gorgas’s impressive career included his battles against yellow fever around the globe in the early twentieth century. He receives much of the credit for eliminating yellow fever in the Panama Canal zone and his family left a lasting legacy at my alma mater, the University of Alabama. His contributions to medical science are now largely forgotten, but military medical historian Carol R. Byerly’s new book, Mosquito Warrior, seeks to clarify the record. I reviewed the book for Alabama Writers’ Forum recently.
The sub-genre of literary and very personal reckonings with grief includes works like the novel Someday, Maybe by Onyi Nwabineli, Tess Gallagher’s poetry in Moon Crossing Bridge, and the memoir Passing: A Memoir of Love and Death by Michael Korda. Of course, Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking is the masterpiece of the genre and, more recently, Daniel Wallace entered the category with This Isn’t Going to End Well.
Small Altars, by Justin Gardiner, is a distinctive new addition to this sub-genre. Gardiner recounts the challenging life of his brother, Aaron, who was born with a borderline learning disability, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in his twenties, and succumbed to a rare form of cancer at age forty-four.
Here’s my recent review of Small Altars for Alabama Writers’ Forum:
I recently interviewed writer Norman McMillan about Fireball, his new play for a solo actor based on the autobiography of Hazel Lindsey by Lindsey and Julia McMillan Walker. We discussed adaptation and challenges of the playwriting process. You can read the Alabama Writers’ Forum interview here.
” ‘Poetics of place’ is a phrase used by Michael K. Steinberg in his captivating book, Searching for Home Waters: A Brook Trout Pilgrimage. The phrase references a morning spent on Vermont’s Robert Frost Interpretive Trail, but it applies to Steinberg’s very personal pursuit for habitats of the brook trout on the east coast of North America. His quest encompasses diverse waterways encountered over four years of fishing from the southern Appalachians of north Georgia to Canada’s Labrador region.”
Steinberg’s book is a pleasurable read whether or not you’re an angler or an environmentalist. My recent review for Alabama Writers’ Forum may whet the appetite for an important and understated search for a special kind of “home.”
In this reissue of Frye Gaillard’s A Hard Rain, the veteran writer brings clarity and insight into the complex landscapes of the 1960s, one of the most significant American decades. Alabama Writers’ Forum has just posted my review. Here’s the link.:
Alabama Writers’ Forum has just posted my two latest reviews. Circulation is poet Ken Autrey’s exploration of larger truths beyond familiar surfaces.
Odyssey of a Wandering Mind is Jennifer Horne’s biography of Sara Mayfield, a twentieth century writer who overcame significant personal challenges to live a “fully felt and deeply experienced” life.
New Year. New reviews. Alabama Writers’ Forum has just posted my review of poet Theodore Haddin’s new poetry, The Pendulum Moves Off. Check it out along with other new reviews.
Professional Southerner 