Alabama Books

This is a paperback that contains only part of Raphael Semmes memoirs. I would suggest getting the full book.

Fans can compare lists and agree or disagree; casual readers can get a good idea of what it must be like to be a FANatic by reading FANtastic. I have been to several college games, but am not a die hard fan of a single school. Tony's FANtastic made me feel like I belong to the Crimson Tide. Humorouse, light, enjoyable. A must for every Tide fan.

It's an OK book only for Crimson Tide fans... All 'Bama great games in history are reviewed by the own protagonist and the writer... The bad thing is that chapters are short and a few detailed, in my opinion...

Devoted specifically to U.S. sources and resources--books that contain reference literature and source material of a localized nature--this is the first of two volumes listing genealogical books in print that deal with U.S. regions, states, counties, towns, and smaller municipalities. Consistent with the format of the other volumes in the opus, this work starts with coverage of the five major regions of the U.S.--New England, Mid-Atlantic, the South, the Mid-West, and the West--and proceeds alphabetically through the States of Alabama through New York; therein books are arranged under a statewide and regional heading or by county, in alphabetical order. Besides the standard listings, many entries contain brief descriptions of the books; and in a number of cases, where books have been produced or reprinted by two or more vendors, the reader has a choice of formats and prices to choose from.

If you're interested in the local history of Lake Martin, then you'll enjoy this book. It covers the local history of the Alexander City and Dadeville areas of Alabama, in very specific terms related to the construction and impact of Lake Martin. It also includes some history prior to the damming of the Tallapoosa, covering the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. I particularly enjoyed the collection of period photographs.

However, be forewarned that it is a rambling collection of anecdotes and bits of historical fact. I found the author's style to be lackluster and the chapters dealing with recent history were poorly edited. Each paragraph in chapters related to modern history was one short story that was unrelated to the previous or subsequent paragraph. Additionally, book does not cover the Lake in the context of the Great Depression or the World Wars, except in passing. Lake Martin deserves better writing, more complete research, and a better editor than this book offers.

Overall, though, I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in Lake Martin or local Alabama history, as it is an adequate reference.

The text is somewhat dated both in terms of law and clinical practices. Lawyes will find the text narrow in scope, but it can be useful as a guide as to where to begin looking and understanding the legal doctirnes. Clinicians will find the text lacking in detail. The text is only an overview, with not enough specific depth of coverage to act as a refernece for the clinician nor the lawyer. Useful for beginners just starting out in their clinical practices.

I read this book on the recommendation of former Speaker of the House Jim Wright. While I found the prose heavy-handed, its appeal to young, politically aware people in the 1940's was apparent. Congressman Wright cited Huie's work as an important part of his education before he entered the Army Air Corp after Pearl Harbor. The human cost of government programs was being tallied at about this time, and the results as revealed in Mud on the Stars inspired men like the Congressman to make government work for people not become a burden. Whether Congressman Wright and his collegues achieved that balance is debatable, but his political motivation was clear.

The other subject of Mud on the Stars was racism, but a racism defined in multicolored, economic terms. That too was part of the education of the generation which fought a great war and eventually presided over the passage of civil rights legislation in the 1950's and '60s.

Huie drew on his experiences as a j! ! ournalist, particularly in the South, but his observations about government, corporations, and race were universal. For present, at least until I am proven wrong, I'd say it is timeless; well worth a quick reading.

Review excerpted from The Journal of Southern History, May 1999, Volume LXV, by Jennifer Delton, Skidmore College.

This collection of essays is organized around a familiar, yet still unsettled question: did Jews in the South resist white supremacy? If so, did they act out of narrow self-interest or a larger humanitarian vision? Was Jewish opposition to white racism the result of a few individuals who happened to be Jews, or a prophetic mission on the part of Jews as a group? These questions provide the departure point for the sixteen essays in the book....Taken together, the essays offer a more specific and grounded understanding of what life was like for southern rabbis caught between the caution and conservatism of their congregations and the moral imperatives of their faith.....The book covers the period from the 1880s to the present. Three essays deal with the understudied 1880-1940 period, the rest focus on the post-WWII civil rights movement. Arranged chronologically, most of the articles detail the life and experiences of an individual rabbi in a wide variety of southern congregations. ...What emerges is a clear picture of the moral quandary in which southern rabbis found themselves, between serving their conservative congregations and speaking out against racial injustices. Southern rabbis nimbly negotiated this predicament by quietly educating their congregations or by joining the larger fight for civil rights.... The essay format lends itself to repetition. Each essay recounts the history and problems of black-Jewish relations in the South, the statistical data, the dilemma faced by southern rabbis, and examples of Jewisn southerners' vulnerability...The same story unfolds in each essay: a beleaguered spiritual leader who wants to do more but is caught between two different imperatives. There are two notable exceptions to this. Hollace Ava Weiner's delightful essay on Rabbi Sidney A. Wolf is seemingly unconcerned with the question of whether or not Rabbi Wolf had "done enough" and conveys what it was like for a midwestern Jew to come to a place like Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1926 and make himself and his ideas about racial and religious tolerancre an integral part of life there. In a different way, Marc Dollinger also moves beyond the question of whether rabbis did enough to analyze the complex relationship between northern and southern Jews during the civil rights movement. Although offering a comprehensive and diverse set of experiences..., the recurrence of the same story means that the questions raised by the essays rarely get explored in any depth....For instance, many of the rabbis entered civil rights work through their work in interfaith organizations. What exactly were the philosophical and organizational connections between interfaith activities and later civil rights activism and might these connections offer some insight into the later limitations of a black-Jewisn coalition? Similarly, what does it mean that Rabbi Charles Mantinband of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, had to sneak off, behind the backs of his temple members, to participate in the civil rights movement? Casually recounted in the Clive Webb essay on Mantinband, that anecdote raises a number of questions about religious leadership and particularly the question at the heart of this book -- can we talk about specifically Jewish mission to fight racism if the rabbi has to disconnect himself from his community to do the right thing? But in the end, this limitation is a mark of the book's strength. There is a wealth of useful and thought-provoking material in these pages that goes far beyond the book's stated intention.

Two girls, Melindy and Jasmine, befriend each other after Jasmine rescues Melindy from a riverboat explosion and fire. Jasmine is a runaway slave and Melindy is trying to get back to her family in Mobile. The girls experience all the dangers and thrills of living off the land and avoiding those who would return Jasmine to her owners. As they help each other to survive they learn to trust each other and God and become the best of friends. The reader will gain an appreciation for the quality of life of a young girl in the early 1800's from the viewpoint of being slave and free. I only heard the radio adaptation and would like to get a copy of this out of print classic.

The author apparently spent six years in Alabama in the late twenties and early thirties. He made various trips around Alabama and relates stories he heard from people. He was at Decatur, Ala., at the time the second Scottsboro trial was about to be held. He relates comments by people he talked to about the trial and the comments are a sad picture into the racism rampant in Alabama in those years. The book uses the n word without any qualms, and tho the author does not appear to approve of the Jim Crow way of life his condemnation is absent. I did not appreciate this dated book, which in 1934 was a best seller.