Missouri Books

Clare Eby has written something new and provocative about Dreiser. This book is elegantly written, and argued with style and wit. Those who are interested in American studies, in Dreiser, and in Veblen while find some revelatory analysis. Professor Eby's book will stay relevant for many years to come.

Gwynn's first collection is out of print, so you'll have to search around to find a copy of it, but it is worth it. If you are familiar with Gwynn's work then you already know he is a master satirist and has mastered form, meter, and humor. (If you're not familiar with his work, then make sure you get his new and selected poems, _No Word of Farewell_). There are only a dozen or so poems that he didn't select for the new and selected poems. But you should read them, and not only them, but the selected poems in their original order. It makes interesting reading.

Homer utilizes his poetry (Skies of Such Valuable Glass, What We Did After the Rain, Tattoos) to create a new way of writing creative non-fiction. The scope of the slim volume is stunning in that Homer distills the Ozark sociology, discusses Ozark's dialect, and describes the bonds between step-dad and son.

The beauty of the writing is what hooked me, and I liked Homer's take on the Ozarks, it helped me to understand this strange land in which I had lived for several years. The people have to be tough to live and work here. The terrible summers and ticks and fleas are hard on children and animals. Ice storms freeze people home for days, several tims a winter, yet, to look at it from the comfort of home or car, one thinks of Britain's greens and forests, it's beautiful lakes and rolling hills. It looks like a soft rich land, from the window, but it is a harsh land, with hardy people who deliberately practice suspicion of strangers, and who are, mostly from British stock, and who still speak in the Elizabethen Dialect. Ozarks people pushed further into the wilderness from the Appalachians, and it has only been fifty years that passable roads have been built through them, bringing tourists and retirees who have changed and are changing the Ozarks. Homer in Drownt Boy, reveals why people leave the Ozarks, and sometimes, why they come back. A super read, a book to be kept forever.

This lavishly illustrated book is aa source of delight to anyone who has a feel for local history, and will be enjoyed by all who have any connection with Dubuque. It begins in earliest times and goes through to 1988, with the sure touch of one who has mined the records and has the scholar's respect for what he has found. I know of no local history book which is its equal.

Empty Bed Blues is an anthology of fifteen stories by award-winning author George Garrett, each unique, yet many mixing fact with fiction, memoir with adventure, comedy and tragedy. Nearly all stories are prose, though "A Short History of the Civil War" is in the form of a series of poems by two participants, a Confederate and a Yankee. Other tales include "Pornographers", a gritty tale about a sleazy reporter searching for the ultimate crime story, and "A Story Goes with It", the tale of a much-beloved friend now gone, as remembered through retelling a favorite yarn. From dark and brutal to wistful and contemplative, the stories run the gamut of diversity, yet each demands to be read to the end and fully and absorbed. Highly recommended.

Although Derek Walcott's Caribbean meditation on Homer's Odyssey stands by itself as an eloquent and thrilling work of epic poetry, to read it without a helping hand--or book--is to miss many of its riches. In accessible language (no unintelligible academic posturing here), Hamner reveals the allusions and untangles the threads: Homer, history of St. Lucia, Walcott's autobiographical allusions, etc. It can be used while one is reading the poem, or skimmed afterward. (It took me a day.) Either way, it's excellent and readable support.

I think Joseph Carroll has written a work that is perhaps too ranging in content. He has an admirable intellect and his knowledge is so sweeping that he reminds one of those Victorians who converged the unexpected into their immediate intellectual pursuit. Wide learning is very much absent from academic centers where specialization is the rule. Carroll's unique intellect is a welcome sign in this respect. I was mostly intrigued by his estimate of Arnold's participation in the debates between the rising professional scientists and the entrenched Greek studies at Oxford. I think the book could have been more beneficial if focused on late nineteenth century Britain when the concept of human nature that developed from the study of Greek literature was not so radically incompatible with evolutionary theories propounded by Spencer, Huxley, and Darwin.

A good place to begin such an analysis might be the commonplace notebooks of men like Wilde, and the Essays, Speculative, and Critical of John Addington Symonds. Therein lies the truth of the the thesis that compatibility existed between Arnold's "Literature and Science" (1882). Arnold proposed: "Let us, therefore, all of us, avoid indeed as much as possible any invidious comparison between the merits of humane letters, as means of education, and the merits of the natural sciences."

Those critics that Carroll takes to task for their lack of knowledge about their own subject matter (i.e. critics of late nineteenth century writers like Wilde, Symonds, Pater, Vernon Lee, Grant Allen, etc.) would be presented with stronger arguments for why they should begin reading Spencer, Huxley, and Darwin. These writers all contributed to the various magazines, reviews, and periodicals of their time making their knowledge of scientific issues an everyday concern. One of the salient features of such reviews is the propensity for synthesis
which grew decidedly more idealist toward the 1890's. Out of that environment emerged the New Woman, Fabianism, and the very society that financed Wilde's rise.

I was surprised that Carroll did not quote Wilde's Intentions where the darling of queer theory made his statement avant la lettre: "Aesthetics, in fact, are to Ethics in the sphere of conscious civilization, what in the sphere of the external world, sexual is to natural selection." (Ellman, 406) Did Geoffrey Miller not propose this same thesis? Surprisingly the Victorians were brave in their speculations and showed little fear to venture new readings. Evolutionary psychologists interested in history and literature have a gold mine in the Fornightly Review, Cornhill Magazine, Mind, Nineteenth Century, etc. This is where the New Historicists dip and double dip. What they must find there in those archives of the politically incorrect necropolis of DWEMS must be a sadist's delight. Thousands of old white Victorian fannies to kick and whip. A scholar needs to enter such sites with a healthy dose of scepticism and an open mind. Carroll's method will prepare the Victorian scholars of the future, hopefully, to think and observe before they speak and write. So much of our literary theory today is bred in an isolation tank. What Carroll proposes is that we take a good hard look at the evolutionary science being written today and connect to it.

Carroll has chosen his fate well. He has the backing of great minds from the nineteenth century, minds that mostly appear unfathomable to today's dwarfs. This book deserves close study if for that reason alone. I don't know that he argues convincingly that the greater concerns of the queer theorists are banal, I do concur with him however, that much of what passes for literary study really belongs back in the locker room or the public facilities.

There is such a thing as tactful and insightful literary exploration of same-sex themes in texts. I don't think Carroll argues against that. Although these concerns are not the burden of Carroll's argument, it might have benefitted his case to have presented the subject with more grace. In particular, his characterization of Sedgwick seems unfair in light of her equally brave move to have relentlessly worked to carve out a space for alternative readings of Victorian literature. The attack on queer theory as pure rhetoric simply will not do when one considers that the more substantive issues lead directly to concerns germane to biological study. Though much is said of Foucault, no time is given to Boswell or Simon LeVay. This is a great error in his attack on queer theory and readers will quickly perceive a lack of balance. Again, considering that this book was written in the mid ninties, some slack must be given.

I have other major concerns with some of his readings that I cannot voice here, but I think this work is valuable as a source for ideas not available in Sparta (my term for the empire of academia).

Investigative reporting has proved a challenge from America's first newspaper publication, but was a subtle practice until the 1960s when it became a vital issue. THE EVOLUTION OF AMERICAN INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM offers the first history of the medium, surveying how such journalism took place from colonial to modern times, considering its rise to its critical position during the 1960s and 70s, and the founding of an investigative journalist group in the 70s to promote active investigative process. Social and newspaper history combine in a fine study of freedom of speech rights and journalistic effort.

"Exile In Erin", Fr. Faherty's second book on Rev. John B. Bannon, tells the story of Bannon's the multi-careered life. Drawn largely from Fr. Bannon's diaries and the writings of those whose lives he touched, it records a fascinating sequence of details about a life which would challenge the imagination of a writer of fiction.

Bannon was born in 1829 in Ireland where he was educated and ordained to the Catholic priesthood. Upon hearing the plea for priests in America, Bannon offered his services to Archbishop Peter R. Kenrick of St. Louis. In St. Louis Bannon rose rapidly, being appointed pastor of the largely Irish St. John's parish in 1858 where he supervised the construction of the Church which still serves downtown St. Louis. When war broke out in 1861, Bannon followed many of his parishioners South to serve as chaplain of the First Missouri Confederate Brigade. After serving at Pea Ridge, Vicksburg and other battles, Bannon was eventually asked by President Jefferson Davis to undertake a mission to Ireland. Many Irish had been enlisting in the Union Army. Bannon proceeded to Ireland where his efforts enjoyed considerable success in stemming the flow of recruits to the North. While in Europe he personally implored Pope Pius IX to recognize the Confederacy, a plea which did result in a letter addressed to "Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America" which was advanced as defacto recognition. Prevented from returning to Missouri by acts of the legislature and the presumed hostility of Archbishop Kenrick, Bannon remained in Ireland where he joined the Society of Jesus and became one of the most renowned preachers in the Isle. Fr. Bannon's status as the only pastor to sacrifice a big city parish in order to minister to his soldiers and his bravery under fire command our admiration. A painting of the Battle of Pea Ridge now hanging in the White House of the Confederacy prominently featuring Fr. Bannon ministering to the wounded honors his memory.

Drawing on writings by Bannon and his companions, "Exile In Erin" not only gives the reader the story of this magnificent life but also snippets of the world in which he lived. We are treated to eyewitness descriptions of the battles of Pea Ridge and Corinth and the siege of Vicksburg. We are admitted into his relationships with his men and their officers. The reader is present while Bannon carries the struggle across the seas to Ireland and senses his successes. One can only wonder what might have happened had he gotten to Europe before Irish has swelled the Union ranks and battlefield defeats had made recognition unattainable.

The story of Bannon's career in Ireland after the war tells of his efforts to build up the Church in his native land. The descriptions of localities, including one from which my ancestors came, bring a sense of connection to the book. The need to build the Church in Ireland after centuries of British oppression shocks Irish Americans who may assume that the Faith was always alive and vibrant on the Auld Sod.

I have read and reviewed other biographies of Fr. Bannon. This one is more extensive in its breadth and detailed in its narration than others. Whether your interests include the Civil War, St. Louis history, Irish history or just an unbelievable story eloquently told, "Exile In Erin" is a book for you.

Ruthy Donohue is on trial. For murder! When the 12-year-old picked up Pa's loaded rifle and shot her friend Jeremiah dead, was it a terrible accident? Or another time when the redhead's fiery temper got the best of her? That's the exciting opening of this historical novel set in 1837. The fast pace continues when her Tennessee neighbors vandalize her family's farm, hoping to run her off. Her actions have put her family and her pet dog in danger. So Ruthy makes the biggest decision of her life. She, alone, joins a wagon train headed to the Missouri frontier. The rest of the story keeps readers turning pages to find out how Ruthy manages as the only young girl on the trip, especially, how she copes with the teasing of Will Grogan, who reminds her of the boy she shot back home. Well-researched details show the wagons rolling across the rugged land, Ruthy helping cook meals in a downpour to feed the hard-working men, wagons and mules being loaded onto ferries to cross the wide rivers, and finally the weary travelers making it to Springfield. Immediately another hard decision faces Ruthy. Will she go back home with the first wagon train headed east? Or will she stay in Missouri? Read Exiled to find out. -Sheila Wood Foard, author of the historical novel, Harvey Girl