Sean
The editor does a great job of pulling together a compelling collection of histories here. He does a good job of setting the expectations in the introduction by pointing out the larger realities that cast some shadows over the accuracy of the accounts: interviewers’ biases and tilt toward their audiences, some subjects’ hesitation to be fully honest about the families that owned them and remain nearby decades later, and just accuracy of the transcription overall. Some of this is fairly explicit in the small preface at the beginning of each account. Some of it feels more subtle in the presentation of the narrative.
All in all a good read. A difficult one to be sure in some ways, but important.
The editor does a great job of pulling together a compelling collection of histories here. He does a good job of setting the expectations in the introduction by pointing out the larger realities that cast some shadows over the accuracy of the accounts: interviewers’ biases and tilt toward their audiences, some subjects’ hesitation to be fully honest about the families that owned them and remain nearby decades later, and just accuracy of the transcription overall. Some of this is fairly explicit in the small preface at the beginning of each account. Some of it feels more subtle in the presentation of the narrative.
All in all a good read. A difficult one to be sure in some ways, but important.
I really enjoyed this book. The author leads us from the day he just suddenly decided to pick up a trade through his development into a seasoned craftsman. His descriptions of his calling as a carpenter and his love for the work mirror the pride I felt when wearing my tools but also the shifts in my life that told me it was time to step away from the trade.
The author does a fantastic job of avoiding unexplained jargon (he even includes a glossary) while also including details that only an experienced tradesman could anticipate and appreciate. Small details like describing the replacement of carpenter pencils with more precise pencils as the work shifts from rough to finish carpentry.
I don’t know that I give this the full hearted endorsement for anyone to pick it up and read, but I know some folks who would love it and I can see myself dropping it in conversations that follow a certain trajectory. For the right person at the right place in their timeline, this is a must read.
I really enjoyed this book. The author leads us from the day he just suddenly decided to pick up a trade through his development into a seasoned craftsman. His descriptions of his calling as a carpenter and his love for the work mirror the pride I felt when wearing my tools but also the shifts in my life that told me it was time to step away from the trade.
The author does a fantastic job of avoiding unexplained jargon (he even includes a glossary) while also including details that only an experienced tradesman could anticipate and appreciate. Small details like describing the replacement of carpenter pencils with more precise pencils as the work shifts from rough to finish carpentry.
I don’t know that I give this the full hearted endorsement for anyone to pick it up and read, but I know some folks who would love it and I can see myself dropping it in conversations that follow a certain trajectory. For the right person at the right place in their timeline, this is a must read.
I promise I don’t love every book I read, I’m just working through a backlog of highly recommended books I own after not reading for several years.
This book is an interesting look at Natchez, MS trying to reconcile history and tradition. These are two very different things that have the same origin point. The author is an outsider and uses his unique perspective to look at the town from angles from which it has long ago lost the ability to see itself.
He weaves this contemporary narrative with an older one highlighting the life of a formerly enslaved man who spent decades on a plantation near Natchez. Both stories are compelling and well told. I recommend this book.
I promise I don’t love every book I read, I’m just working through a backlog of highly recommended books I own after not reading for several years.
This book is an interesting look at Natchez, MS trying to reconcile history and tradition. These are two very different things that have the same origin point. The author is an outsider and uses his unique perspective to look at the town from angles from which it has long ago lost the ability to see itself.
He weaves this contemporary narrative with an older one highlighting the life of a formerly enslaved man who spent decades on a plantation near Natchez. Both stories are compelling and well told. I recommend this book.
I promise I don’t love every book I read, I’m just working through a backlog of highly recommended books I own after not reading for several years.
This book is an interesting look at Natchez, MS trying to reconcile history and tradition. These are two very different things that have the same origin point. The author is an outsider and uses his unique perspective to look at the town from angles from which it has long ago lost the ability to see itself.
He weaves this contemporary narrative with an older one highlighting the life of a formerly enslaved man who spent decades on a plantation near Natchez. Both stories are compelling and well told. I recommend this book.
I promise I don’t love every book I read, I’m just working through a backlog of highly recommended books I own after not reading for several years.
This book is an interesting look at Natchez, MS trying to reconcile history and tradition. These are two very different things that have the same origin point. The author is an outsider and uses his unique perspective to look at the town from angles from which it has long ago lost the ability to see itself.
He weaves this contemporary narrative with an older one highlighting the life of a formerly enslaved man who spent decades on a plantation near Natchez. Both stories are compelling and well told. I recommend this book.
Added to listOwnedwith 16 books.
Books are rarely about what they’re “about.” This seems especially true with memoirs. A great memoir is often descriptive and detailed because the author found a passion for something that helped distract from something else. Something powerful, too powerful to face at the time. This is why few memoirs I’ve enjoyed have a sequel. That part of life has been processed and put away.
The thing the author is trying to distract themselves from tends to bleed into the story eventually. In Shelley Armitage’s case, it is loss. This memoir of place becomes a memoir of coping. When she’s ready, Armitage reveals what prompted her to dive deeper into the history of her surroundings. Why now. Not with a direct explanation but by dropping in glimpses of her life outside of the Panhandle arroyos. One doesn’t need commentary to understand the appeal of escaping beyond the reach of cell phones.
And yet, this book remains a compelling portrait of a landscape rarely praised. An expanse of land that has been inhabited for thousands of years and dismissed by all outsiders for just as long. Armitage has convinced me that it deserves to be celebrated and protected beyond the state parks.
A unexpectedly great book. If anyone had told me I’d be giving five stars to a book about the Panhandle from the OU Press, I’d’ve laughed them back across the Red River where they belong. And yet…
Books are rarely about what they’re “about.” This seems especially true with memoirs. A great memoir is often descriptive and detailed because the author found a passion for something that helped distract from something else. Something powerful, too powerful to face at the time. This is why few memoirs I’ve enjoyed have a sequel. That part of life has been processed and put away.
The thing the author is trying to distract themselves from tends to bleed into the story eventually. In Shelley Armitage’s case, it is loss. This memoir of place becomes a memoir of coping. When she’s ready, Armitage reveals what prompted her to dive deeper into the history of her surroundings. Why now. Not with a direct explanation but by dropping in glimpses of her life outside of the Panhandle arroyos. One doesn’t need commentary to understand the appeal of escaping beyond the reach of cell phones.
And yet, this book remains a compelling portrait of a landscape rarely praised. An expanse of land that has been inhabited for thousands of years and dismissed by all outsiders for just as long. Armitage has convinced me that it deserves to be celebrated and protected beyond the state parks.
A unexpectedly great book. If anyone had told me I’d be giving five stars to a book about the Panhandle from the OU Press, I’d’ve laughed them back across the Red River where they belong. And yet…
I’m not quite finished with the book, but I wanted to put these thoughts together before I forgot them.
Books are rarely about what they’re “about.” This seems especially true with memoirs. A great memoir is often descriptive and detailed because the author found a passion for something that helped distract from something else. Something powerful, too powerful to face at the time. This is why few memoirs I’ve enjoyed have a sequel. That part of life has been processed and put away.
The thing the author is trying to distract themselves from tends to bleed into the story eventually. In Shelley Armitage’s case, it is the failing health of her mother. This memoir of place becomes a memoir of coping. When she’s ready, Armitage reveals what prompted her to dive deeper into the history of her surroundings. Why now. Not with a direct explanation but by dropping in glimpses of her life outside of the Panhandle arroyos. One doesn’t need commentary to understand the appeal of escaping beyond the reach of cell phones.
And yet, this book remains a compelling portrait of a landscape rarely praised. An expanse of land that been inhabited for thousands of years and dismissed by all outsiders for just as long. Armitage has convinced me that it deserves to be celebrated and protected beyond the state parks.
I’m not quite finished with the book, but I wanted to put these thoughts together before I forgot them.
Books are rarely about what they’re “about.” This seems especially true with memoirs. A great memoir is often descriptive and detailed because the author found a passion for something that helped distract from something else. Something powerful, too powerful to face at the time. This is why few memoirs I’ve enjoyed have a sequel. That part of life has been processed and put away.
The thing the author is trying to distract themselves from tends to bleed into the story eventually. In Shelley Armitage’s case, it is the failing health of her mother. This memoir of place becomes a memoir of coping. When she’s ready, Armitage reveals what prompted her to dive deeper into the history of her surroundings. Why now. Not with a direct explanation but by dropping in glimpses of her life outside of the Panhandle arroyos. One doesn’t need commentary to understand the appeal of escaping beyond the reach of cell phones.
And yet, this book remains a compelling portrait of a landscape rarely praised. An expanse of land that been inhabited for thousands of years and dismissed by all outsiders for just as long. Armitage has convinced me that it deserves to be celebrated and protected beyond the state parks.
I’m not quite finished with the book, but I wanted to put these thoughts together before I forgot them.
Books are rarely about what they’re “about.” This seems especially true with memoirs. A great memoir is often descriptive and detailed because the author found a passion for something that helped distract from something else. Something powerful, too powerful to face at the time. This is why few memoirs I’ve enjoyed have a sequel. That part of life has been processed and put away.
The thing the author is trying to distract themselves from tends to bleed into the story eventually. In Shelley Armitage’s case, it is the failing health of her mother. This memoir of place becomes a memoir of coping. When she’s ready, Armitage reveals what prompted her to dive deeper into the history of her surroundings. Why now. Not with a direct explanation but by dropping in glimpses of her life outside of the Panhandle arroyos. One doesn’t need commentary to understand the appeal of escaping beyond the reach of cell phones.
And yet, this book remains a compelling portrait of a landscape rarely praised. An expanse of land that been inhabited for thousands of years and dismissed by all outsiders for just as long. Armitage has convinced me that it deserves to be celebrated and protected beyond the state parks.
I’m not quite finished with the book, but I wanted to put these thoughts together before I forgot them.
Books are rarely about what they’re “about.” This seems especially true with memoirs. A great memoir is often descriptive and detailed because the author found a passion for something that helped distract from something else. Something powerful, too powerful to face at the time. This is why few memoirs I’ve enjoyed have a sequel. That part of life has been processed and put away.
The thing the author is trying to distract themselves from tends to bleed into the story eventually. In Shelley Armitage’s case, it is the failing health of her mother. This memoir of place becomes a memoir of coping. When she’s ready, Armitage reveals what prompted her to dive deeper into the history of her surroundings. Why now. Not with a direct explanation but by dropping in glimpses of her life outside of the Panhandle arroyos. One doesn’t need commentary to understand the appeal of escaping beyond the reach of cell phones.
And yet, this book remains a compelling portrait of a landscape rarely praised. An expanse of land that been inhabited for thousands of years and dismissed by all outsiders for just as long. Armitage has convinced me that it deserves to be celebrated and protected beyond the state parks.
I’m not quite finished with the book, but I wanted to put these thoughts together before I forgot them.
Books are rarely about what they’re “about.” This seems especially true with memoirs. A great memoir is often descriptive and detailed because the author found a passion for something that helped distract from something else. Something powerful, too powerful to face at the time. This is why few memoirs I’ve enjoyed have a sequel. That part of life has been processed and put away.
The thing the author is trying to distract themselves from tends to bleed into the story eventually. In Shelley Armitage’s case, it is the failing health of her mother. This memoir of place becomes a memoir of coping. When she’s ready, Armitage reveals what prompted her to dive deeper into the history of her surroundings. Why now. Not with a direct explanation but by dropping in glimpses of her life outside of the Panhandle arroyos. One doesn’t need commentary to understand the appeal of escaping beyond the reach of cell phones.
And yet, this book remains a compelling portrait of a landscape rarely praised. An expanse of land that been inhabited for thousands of years and dismissed by all outsiders for just as long. Armitage has convinced me that it deserves to be celebrated and protected beyond the state parks.
I’m not quite finished with the book, but I wanted to put these thoughts together before I forgot them.
Books are rarely about what they’re “about.” This seems especially true with memoirs. A great memoir is often descriptive and detailed because the author found a passion for something that helped distract from something else. Something powerful, too powerful to face at the time. This is why few memoirs I’ve enjoyed have a sequel. That part of life has been processed and put away.
The thing the author is trying to distract themselves from tends to bleed into the story eventually. In Shelley Armitage’s case, it is the failing health of her mother. This memoir of place becomes a memoir of coping. When she’s ready, Armitage reveals what prompted her to dive deeper into the history of her surroundings. Why now. Not with a direct explanation but by dropping in glimpses of her life outside of the Panhandle arroyos. One doesn’t need commentary to understand the appeal of escaping beyond the reach of cell phones.
And yet, this book remains a compelling portrait of a landscape rarely praised. An expanse of land that been inhabited for thousands of years and dismissed by all outsiders for just as long. Armitage has convinced me that it deserves to be celebrated and protected beyond the state parks.
Added to listOwnedwith 15 books.
Warning: The details in this book can get pretty explicit. Mr. Lehmann’s matter of fact recounting of the brutal tactics of the Apaches is eye opening. To think that his story, taking place in the 1870s and beyond, is happening at the same time as the history we’ve been taught is amazing. Such a stark difference in existence. Of course I’m not completely unaware of the plight of Native Americans, but this is the first narratives of this type that I’ve read. Much more compelling than detached history books and overly dramatized “documentaries.”
Warning: The details in this book can get pretty explicit. Mr. Lehmann’s matter of fact recounting of the brutal tactics of the Apaches is eye opening. To think that his story, taking place in the 1870s and beyond, is happening at the same time as the history we’ve been taught is amazing. Such a stark difference in existence. Of course I’m not completely unaware of the plight of Native Americans, but this is the first narratives of this type that I’ve read. Much more compelling than detached history books and overly dramatized “documentaries.”