Tennessee Books

From the Miners' Doublehouse: Archaeology and Landscape in a Pennsylvania Coal Company Town
Metheny has captured the essence of life in a coal mining town.
Following a brief history of company towns in the United States, Metheny focuses her study on the mining town of Helvetia, Pennsylvania in the bituminous coal field.
Using oral histories of people who lived in Helvetia during the 1930's and 1940's, she examines the relationship between the coal company and the miners and their families.

I just came back from my first trip to Memphis and Nashville. I have to say that this book was my life source. We only had a limited amount of time to see everything on our wish list, and this book made it possible to plan the best sites, the best restaurants, where to stay, shop and everything. All of the information it gave was useful and was essential to our amazing trip. They even include fun and comprehensive walking tours. I would recommend this book to anyone going to Nash and Memphis.

Derr does an insightful and entertaining job of providing and up to date and reflective history of Davey Crockett. Crockett is a man of simple means, follower of Jackson who remarries to a better station and he is known for his outdoorsman accomplishments along with his wry wit and sometimes-contrary views. Aside from his frontier accomplishments that may well have been embellished by his gift of story telling and sense of humor, Crockett favors the Indians while in congress and opposes Jackson's relocation of the Indians and other bills that do not favor his constituents. Crockett is a fascinating frontiersman/politician and Derr brings the interesting man to earth as he corrects historical exaggeration, which is sometimes Crockett's own as he sometimes lengthens and overstates his service in the Creek War and the war of 1812 and some of his frontier stories. Particularly interesting is that among the frontier of Tennessee; Crocket was a shrewd owner of properties and investment property. However, the man that lost his local election at the height of his national fame and exclaimed, "You can go to hell, and I'll go to Texas!" is a fascinating historic figure of the frontier and of the 1800 era politics. Derr even updates Crockett's death at the Alamo where in reality; he was one of six captured but Santa Anna that was brutally put to the sword. This book is a good read on a fascinating man enhanced to a greater legend first by a ghostwriter than by Disney.

Excellent perspective on Tennessee football. I bought this for my brother-in-law, who is a big UT fan. He was really jacked up when he opened it Christmas morning. It's a quality book.

I was impressed with the seller's service. The book arrived as you described it.

Having read "Our Restless Earth" by E. Luther, and having just completed a course in geology, I found "A Geologic Trip..." to be the perfect source document for increasing my knowledge of geology. Harry Moore takes you to a site, describes the geology, and gives explicit directions to locate examples of the geology at each site. This book is a must for any amateur paleontologist or geologist, and anyone who has the opportunity to travel I-40 across Tennessee. The book is organized with sidetrips as well, complete with mileage references, and descriptions of what you are viewing at each checkpoint. Mr. Moore has included numerous photos, maps and figures to flesh out what is a very entertaining book, and having read any part of the book, the reader will want to get on the road to visit the locations described.

A highly technical, comprehensive review of the geology of the Carolinas, this book is not an easy read, nor should one expect it to be. Prepare by having a good glossary available, and perhaps a good basic text in geology as well. Then brace yourself - the geology is extraordinarily complex. These authors provide good insight.

Amanda Wingfield, the matriarch of "The Glass Menagerie," always tells her daughter, Laura, that she should look nice and pretty for gentleman callers, even though Laura has never had any callers at their St. Louis apartment. Laura, who limps because of a slight physical deformity, would rather spend her time playing with the animals in her glass menagerie and listening to old phonograph records instead of learning shorthand and typing so she can be employable. When she learns Laura has only been pretending to go to secretarial school, Amanda decides Laura must have a real gentleman caller and insists her son Tom, who works at a shoe factory, find one immediately. After a few days, Tom tells Amanda he has invited a young man named Jim O'Connor home for dinner and at long last Laura will have her first gentleman caller.

The night of the dinner Amanda does every thing she can to make sure Laura looks more attractive. However, when Laura realizes that the Jim O'Connor who is visiting is possibly the same Jim on whom she had a crush in high school, she does not want to go through with the dinner. Although she has to be excused from the dinner because she has made herself physically ill, Laura is able to impress Jim with her quiet charm when the two of them keep company in the living room and she finally loses some of her shyness. When Jim gives Laura her first kiss, it looks as if Amanda's plans for Laura's happiness might actually come true. But no one has ever accused Tennessee Williams of being a romantic.

"The Glass Menagerie" was the first big success in the long and storied career of playwright Tennessee Williams. Written in 1944, the drama consists of reworked material from one of Williams' short stories, "Portrait of a Girl in Glass," and his screenplay, "The Gentleman Caller." In many ways it is an atypical drama from Williams, with the character of Tom (a role I will confess to playing on stage) serving as a narrator who breaks the "fourth wall" and addresses the audience, which evinces Williams' affinity for Eugene O'Neill (e.g., "The Emperor Jones") at this point in his career. Tom tells the audience that this play offers truth dressed up as illusion, and in his stage directions (which are usually not taken full advantage of in the various performances I have seen because what was cutting edge in 1944 is overly quaint today) he uses not only monologues but also music and projections to enhance the memories on display. Williams also explicitly tells his audience that the gentleman call is the symbol of "the expects something that we live for."

This "memory play" tells of a family trapped in destructive patterns. After being abandoned by her husband, Amanda Wingfield, a woman of the Great Depression, has become trapped between worlds of illusion and reality. She says she wants what is best for her children, but seems incapable of acknowledging what that would be or actually providing it for them. Tom, tired of only watching adventure at the movies, is determined to break away from his dominating mother, but stays only for the sake of his sister. Laura may not be the glamorous belle of the ball her mothers wants, but she has her own inner charm and when confronted with Jim, a visitor from the normal world, there is the chance that she will finally claim her life as her own. This is a poignant drama on the importance of love and it represents a memory of not only family but also of loss.

Amanda Wingfield, the matriarch of "The Glass Menagerie," always tells her daughter, Laura, that she should look nice and pretty for gentleman callers, even though Laura has never had any callers at their St. Louis apartment. Laura, who limps because of a slight physical deformity, would rather spend her time playing with the animals in her glass menagerie and listening to old phonograph records instead of learning shorthand and typing so she can be employable. When she learns Laura has only been pretending to go to secretarial school, Amanda decides Laura must have a real gentleman caller and insists her son Tom, who works at a shoe factory, find one immediately. After a few days, Tom tells Amanda he has invited a young man named Jim O'Connor home for dinner and at long last Laura will have her first gentleman caller.

The night of the dinner Amanda does every thing she can to make sure Laura looks more attractive. However, when Laura realizes that the Jim O'Connor who is visiting is possibly the same Jim on whom she had a crush in high school, she does not want to go through with the dinner. Although she has to be excused from the dinner because she has made herself physically ill, Laura is able to impress Jim with her quiet charm when the two of them keep company in the living room and she finally loses some of her shyness. When Jim gives Laura her first kiss, it looks as if Amanda's plans for Laura's happiness might actually come true. But no one has ever accused Tennessee Williams of being a romantic.

"The Glass Menagerie" was the first big success in the long and storied career of playwright Tennessee Williams. Written in 1944, the drama consists of reworked material from one of Williams' short stories, "Portrait of a Girl in Glass," and his screenplay, "The Gentleman Caller." In many ways it is an atypical drama from Williams, with the character of Tom (a role I will confess to playing on stage) serving as a narrator who breaks the "fourth wall" and addresses the audience, which evinces Williams' affinity for Eugene O'Neill (e.g., "The Emperor Jones") at this point in his career. Tom tells the audience that this play offers truth dressed up as illusion, and in his stage directions (which are usually not taken full advantage of in the various performances I have seen because what was cutting edge in 1944 is overly quaint today) he uses not only monologues but also music and projections to enhance the memories on display. Williams also explicitly tells his audience that the gentleman call is the symbol of "the expects something that we live for."

This "memory play" tells of a family trapped in destructive patterns. After being abandoned by her husband, Amanda Wingfield, a woman of the Great Depression, has become trapped between worlds of illusion and reality. She says she wants what is best for her children, but seems incapable of acknowledging what that would be or actually providing it for them. Tom, tired of only watching adventure at the movies, is determined to break away from his dominating mother, but stays only for the sake of his sister. Laura may not be the glamorous belle of the ball her mothers wants, but she has her own inner charm and when confronted with Jim, a visitor from the normal world, there is the chance that she will finally claim her life as her own. This is a poignant drama on the importance of love and it represents a memory of not only family but also of loss.

I wish I had read this play earlier. It really is a great story. I say it is mysterious because it is told from the memory of one of the characters. Laura, a crippled girl who has dropped out of school, spends all her time playing with small animals made of glass (i.e., the glass menagerie). She has never had a boyfriend, but one day her brother Tom brings home a man from his work. It turns out that in high school Laura had a crush on this man, who went to school with her. It takes some thinking, but it is a wonderful work. See for yourself--find a copy of this somewhere. It can be read in no time at all.