Missouri Books

I remember how avidly (at age 15)I followed by radio the excitement which was the 1944 Democratic Convention. This little book does an excellent job of trying to tell what happened behind the scenes, and reads like a novel--where one must continually remind oneself that it IS going to come out all right, that Truman will be nominated, that he will go on to be an outstanding President, and that some things do work out for the best. An entralling and fascinating book, it brought back to me all the excitement which permeated Chicago and the people who were following what went on there in those momentous July days in 1944.

My Aunt was born and raised in Illasco Missouri where the book takes place. Her Father worked for the cement company in the book. I gave it to her for mothers day it brought tears to her eyes as well as many happy memories.

This book of short stories about Harlem in the 1920's proved to be quite satisfying. His characters seemed real, his stories were interesting, and his use of the English language (both slang and proper) was excellent. His plots were different as the stories and sometimes the good guys won and sometimes they didn't as in real life. There were a few characters I would have liked to have set down and talked to, like the Grandma who stopped a fight between her grandsons by pitching her Bible through the window. It's too bad Fisher died young, I imagine he had many more stories to tell.

I'm a huge fan of Missouri history and Civil War history and love this book. I haven't completely finished reading it yet...but it seems well researched and detailed. A must have for the Missouri history or Civil War in Missouri researcher.

This book is a coffee table-sized paperback. Printing and binding are good quality.

The design of the book is such that it can be used as an on-site tour guide to Civil War St. Louis. Current directions, locations, and street names are given along with War era descriptions of the sites. Significant places are described--what existed then as well as what is on the site now. Also the burial locations of important people from both sides are given with biographical information about them.

Now, if you're not planning a trip to St. Louis, it's still good reading. I enjoyed the narrative style and found much useful information. It also helped put in geographical perspective places I'd been reading about. Lots of good photos and maps. It's a well-done book. Indexed and footnoted.

I accidentally came across this book at a gay studies workshop a few years ago. I had never heard of the author, and have yet to encounter anyone else who has read the book. It is an autobiography ... the author grew up in Missouri in the late 1800s and writes of his coming of age as a gay man in a time and place where such a thing was literally unknown and even unimaginable. The writing is clear and direct. The story is simple and touching. I very much recommend this little book to anyone who is interested in learning more about our history as a people. It is not a book about neurosis or alienation. It is the life and words of a man who I would very much like to have known.

Jean Marcy is in fact a mystery writing duo of Jean Hutchison and Marcy Jacobs. Long time partners, they reside just across the Mississippi river from St. Louis, where Marcy works at a shelter for battered women. Jean is a retired teacher.

Private Investigator Meg Darcy is hired by Diane Mann to find out who her daughter, Jessica's, mother is. Diane is married to a retired cop, who follows an all too familiar pattern of abuse. She wants to leave, but is afraid she'll lose custody of her beloved daughter. Meg quickly learns that a prominent family, Heitner, is now Doug Mann's employer. Could there be a connection? Meg starts digging into the past to discover that there was an unsolved murder around the time the Manns would have gained custody of Jessica. Booth Heitner was on the scene, but was he involved? No one wants to give out any information:

"Colleen had her own thought. 'How did Booth take Teresa's death?' Twyla snuffed out her cigarette with extra vigor. 'Can't tell you. He didn't show up for the funeral. I haven't seen him since. He just dropped off the radar screen.' She gave a wry smile. 'Sometimes I see his name in the papers.'"

The fourth in a series of Meg Darcy mysteries, A Cold Case of Murder presents the reader with delightfully developed characters caught in an interesting pulp situation. Meg Darcy and police detective Sarah Lindstrom have a romantic relationship that is heavy, but undeclared; Sarah is herself fighting off the homophobia of her police department; and crooked cops keep littering the landscape. Meg is determined to solve Jessica's birth mother's murder, even if she has to put life and limb on the line, which she repeatedly manages. Sara Lindstrom is still reeling from the death of her former partner; a tragedy for which she blames herself and her profession.

The team of Meg Darcy conjure up a denouement Nevada Barr and V.I. Warschawski would be proud of, making use of old tunnels which run under and around the old Heitner Brewery. A Cold Care of Murder is an excellent follow-up to the first three novels in the series. Great read!

Shelley Glodowski

John William Corrington is one of the South's finest, if largely unknown, writers. His prose is exquisite and he is a masterful storyteller. His ability to get a story underway and keep it moving equals anything we find in today's action-oriented writers.

Corrington is also worth reading because he was an awfully interesting man (and it shows in his writing). He began his career as a professor of English at LSU and soon began to make his way as a poet. He befriended Charles Bukowski and they carried on an extensive correspondence before they had a falling out that ended the relationship (Bukowski wasn't much for loyalty to friends and he was no better with Corrington than so many others). Corrington published several collections of poetry, but he eventually gave up poetry to write serious fiction. Corrington's first novel, And Wait for the Night (set in the closing days of the Civil War and the early days of reconstruction) is a beautiful, if painful, story and marked Corrington's skill and craft as a writer. While Corrington's novels are all worth reading, in particular And Wait for the Night and a later novel, The Bombbardier, it is in his short fiction that Corrington reveals his greatness.

Corrington took up screenwriting (for Roger Corman) and gave up his academic position. At age 40 he took up the study of law and practiced law in New Orleans for three years. After his first exposure to law, Corrington began to feature lawyers and judges in his fiction. There are six (quite long) short stories in The Collected Short Stories of John William Corrington which are law-related and they are, in my opinion, some of his strongest writing. A reading of any one of these legal stories is enough to suggest that Corrington was a great master and deserves far more attention that he has received to date. In my view, Corrington produced in these law-oriented short stories, and in two novellas collected in All My Trials (University of Arkansas Press, 1987) some of the best legal fiction of the 20th century.

Corrington's work and life are more fully explored in two recent symposium issues of the Legal Studies Forum (Volume 26, 2002).

Corrington is a fine writer and I highly recommend his work.

I have been searching for good resources regarding the architectural style known as collegiate gothic. This book provides a good, broad look at the development of this style at one college, Rhodes (previously Southwestern). The book gives a thorough review of the planning and acquisition of the current campus. It continues through the various stages of building that have occurred up to present times. The key figures of each of the periods of construction are highlighted. Discussion is non-technical, but does not omit key aspects of the process (I speak as an architect).

If you are interested in how a campus can--sometimes tenuously--maintain one style throughout its life, this may provide insight. If you love beautiful buildings that are well photographed, this book could grace your coffee table.

This book has been overshadowed in the last few months by another new book by the same author that is more directly relevant to current political controversies. A Common Human Ground is at least as worthy of attention, although for different reasons. The book strikes me as providing an alternative to what the other book criticizes, which is ideological and political partisanship that undermines relations among states, but it is philosophically more demanding and may not attract as many readers even though it is written with grace and clarity. People who do understand its issues will be greatly challenged and stimulated by it in fundamental ways. The book presents a refreshingly original, even daring approach to the great issues of multiculturalism and globalization. It explains what needs to happen if mankind is to avoid an historical period of unexampled conflict. The author's thesis about the possibility of reconciling unity and diversity is fascinating. It is effectively argued. The book overcomes difficulties that are left unadressed by the now dominant intellectual currents. The argument has postmodernist traits, but these are incorporated into philosophy of a different kind. If it weren't for the philosophical chaos and ideological passions among today's intellectuals, this book might cause a major change in how we address the central issues of the twentyfirst century. In time it may. This strikes me as the kind of book that will sooner or later make a real difference. I find it fascinating that the author has been able to lecture on this subject at the invitation of Beijing University. I can't imagine a book less compatible with Marxism. Every university library will need a copy.