Georgia Books

In 1972 two Auburn University professors approached Delta Air Lines about writing a scholarly history of the company. Since Delta would soon be celebrating its fiftieth anniversary in 1979, Delta's executives were receptive to the idea. The book that W. David Lewis and Wesley Phillips Newton authored, Delta, The History of an Airline, is a scholarly history but, since it was to be distributed free to employees, one written in a narrative style. However it includes enough detail to make it worthwhile for the academic community. Delta is appropriately organized chronologically for easy reading and extensively researched and documented with footnotes and a large bibliography.

The authors hypothesize that their work is probably "the first history of an American commercial Airline to be written by professional historians having full access to the business records, correspondence, and personnel of the corporation involved." (ix) This is made particularly more meaningful because the origin of Delta Air Lines is unique in the annals of American aviation. Other airlines grew out of the federal promotion of commercial aviation through the Post Office. On the other hand, Delta's genesis was in the fight against the boll weevil. Its predecessor was Huff-Daland Dusters, Inc., a crop dusting company organized to counter the cotton scourge from the air. It was strictly a private venture without government assistance.

Following WW I, Thomas H. Huff and Eliot Daland organized the Huff-Daland Company in Ogdensburg, New York to build military aircraft. Seeking a new commercial use for its aircraft, George B. Post, vice-president and a pilot for Huff-Daland, landed in Tallulah, Louisiana where B. R. Coad, at the USDA's Delta Laboratory, was conducting experiments with aircraft to apply calcium arsenate on cotton fields infested by the boll weevil. The military type aircraft being used were inadequate and Post returned to Ogdensburg where he urged his company to develop a more satisfactory aircraft. Huff-Daland redesigned one of its military types and organized a subsidiary company, Huff-Daland Dusters, which began operations at Macon, Georgia in 1924. Soon afterward its general manager, Harold R. Harris, an Army Air Corp pilot on leave from the military, moved the operation to Monroe, Louisiana. In 1925 C. E. Woolman, an agent with the agricultural extension service, was hired as a salesman. Woolman was to play an enduring and patriarchal role in Delta up through his death in 1966.

About this time the army worm became a serious cotton pest in Peru and Harris and Woolman traveled to Lima in 1926 and 1927 in order to secure permits and contracts to operate there. Since the seasons were reversed, this was seen as an opportunity to work year round. Successful in this endeavor, Harris' and Woolman's attention turned to the formation of an airline back home. Mail contracts were being awarded to private companies following the Kelly Act of 1925 and, even though they did not have a Post Office contract, Woolman and others nonetheless bought out the assets of the duster company. Reorganized as a passenger airline, Delta Air Service began flying out of Monroe in 1929. Utilizing six person, single engine Travel Air 6000 aircraft, Delta flew a route that by 1930 stretched between Atlanta and Ft. Worth. The name "Delta" came from the Mississippi Delta region. Unfortunately, because of Post Master General (PMG) Walter F. Brown's desire to award contracts to heavily capitalized companies, Delta was not granted a mail contract. Despite an exemplary safety record, it was forced to cease carrying passengers and reverted to its original dusting business to survive. The next years, during the depths of the Great Depression, would be very difficult but Woolman held the company together waiting for better times.

Under Franklin D. Roosevelt accusations of favoritism in the award of mail contracts under Postmaster General Brown led to a full scale investigation by Senator Hugo Black of Alabama. Woolman, speaking before the Senate committee, testified that it was impossible to make money without a mail contract and that Delta had been forced to shut down because the contract had been given to a rival airline even though Delta had pioneered the route. FDR cancelled all mail contracts and ordered the Air Corps to carry the mail with disastrous results.

As an outgrowth of this situation an order was issued which let new contracts but which prohibited previous "guilty" airlines and managers from bidding. Fortunately Delta was exempt from these restrictions and in 1934 was granted Contract Air Mail route 24 along the trans-southern route from Charleston to Ft. Worth. From this point forward there would be no more interruptions in passenger service, though there would be other trials and tribulations to overcome.

By the advent of WW II, the company's management team was well established, a modern aircraft fleet acquired, which included the venerable DC-3, a new north-south route from Cincinnati to Savannah inaugurated, and a cadre of dedicated employees hired. Following the war, this foundation, combined with new opportunities, such as the 1945 award of the Chicago to Miami extension by the Civil Aeronautics Board, permitted the company to expand. However Delta was not the only carrier seeking new opportunities.

Competition was stiff, particularly from its rival, Eddie Rickenbacker's Eastern Airlines. Delta's purchase of reconditioned four engine C-54s, the military version of the DC-4, demonstrated Delta's conservative fiscal management style and enabled the company to get a jump on Eastern which had ordered brand new DC-4s. But Rickenbacker leapfrogged ahead when Eastern introduced the pressurized Lockheed 049 Constellation, eclipsing the now obsolete DC-4s. Later the debacle of the turboprop Lockheed Electras redeemed Delta's management. Delta had decided to forgo the jet props and to wait for the pure jets. A design flaw, with dire consequences, resulted in the early obsolescence of the Electras and Delta was first to introduce the DC-8 jet liners in 1959.

With routes controlled by the government, competition between carriers focused on service. In-flight service was a Delta hallmark - even when considering its liquor policy! The company steadfastly held back from serving liquor on its flights. Ultimately, despite strong passenger and internal employee dissent, the policy was changed with the inauguration of service between Houston and New York in the 1950s.

For competitive reasons securing routes to New York (1955) and the west coast (1961) were long sought after and hard fought for objectives by the Delta team. In the regulated environment, under which airlines were operating at the time, the only way to expand was by route awards granted after a long competitive process before the CAB or through mergers. In the course of the post war years, Delta merged with Chicago & Southern (1954) and Northeast Airlines (1972). [Author's note: I was hired in 1972 just after the merger, when Delta was expanding its service following the acquisition]

There is a lot of information packed into the pages of Delta, The History of an Airline but the relationship between management and employees is a major theme. In Delta, there is infused throughout the book the understanding of a sense of loyalty and commitment between managers and employees. The "Delta Family" tradition grew out of this relationship. Much of the credit belongs to the benevolent leadership style under C. E. Woolman. Delta, the company, imbued in its employees the values from its Southern heritage and was dedicated to servicing its customers accordingly. Delta's promote from within policy, open door policy, intensely cost-conscious management, practical informational advertising program, and its emphasis on quality were enduring traditions at the time of the company's fifty year mark.

Perhaps the most significant event foreshadowing the future was the 1977 award of the Atlanta to London route by the CAB. International expansion became a key element of Delta's growth plan. In 1979 there was no reason not to be optimistic for the future. But, if the past was any indication of what was to come, it was not the time to rest on laurels.

As a postscript, since 1979 the greatness of Delta has been tested again many times over. Fuel spikes, stagflation, recessions, the air traffic controller's strike, and the effects of deregulation have all occurred since then. Delta managed to surmount these obstacles and continue its climb to greatness. However, after 9/11, in its seventy-fifth anniversary year, Delta is being tested like never before...at least so it would seem. Each crisis in Delta's long history has threatened the company's very existence and, in that light, was as severe as the present situation. Delta survived in the past by adapting to market realities. Delta people are again making the difficult adjustments necessary for the company to survive in a very competitive world. Analysts predict only one or two of the legacy carriers will remain but, if the past is any indication of the future, Delta will be one of them.

As Mr. Woolman commented about the airline industry, "the only constant is change."

My aunt Dorothy Hart compiled the research and wrote this book and gave copies to family members. It is well researched and contains all the information she obtained about the direct descendants of James Madison Hart, b. 7/3/1846 in Carroll County, Georgia. He served in the War Between the States, first enrolled in Atlanta on 9/9/1862 in Company 6, 25th Battalion Georgia Infantry as Provost Guard. In April 1863 he was sent to Company F, 5th Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry. He served as a Private and fought in battles around Atlanta. In April 1864 he enlisted in Company E, 1st Georgia Cavalry in Oxford, AL. He was paroled at Greensboro, NC, May 1, 1865. He married Martha Vella Wright December 24, 1874. James Madison Hart (known as "Doll") was the grandson of Samuel Hart, Sr., b. 1755 in NC and who served as Lt. 9th NC Regiment. This book contains information about Doll's descendants and also his ancestors as well as she could research them. She traveled to many cemeteries to find graves, visited libraries to perform research, and finally self published this book. I appreciate her labor and commend her efforts to preserve the history and heritage of our family.

This is an excellent source for anyone researching the surname McGaha or McGaughey. Also included are early Townsend and Dyer lines. These began in Pensylvania, Delaware, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia and details the migration to Oklahoma.

As an alumni of the University of Georgia with a BA in English, if there is one thing I know how to do, its how to read. And I have to say that I enjoyed reading this work of genius better than just about anything I have picked up in my entire life. Mark Schlabach is the modern day Shakespeare of sports writing. He combines Edgar Allen Poe's sense of mystery with Mark Twain's unique perspective, and then ties it all together with John Steinbeck's multiple levels of depth and message. In today's world of over-the-top reality entertainment, Mr. Schlabach's keen eye brings us back to the greatest reality entertainment ever invented - football.
I also have a long history of reading magazines where the focus is the photography. This endeavor has always been less academic and more individual (so to speak). Regardless, as someone who appreciates photography, this book has great pictures.
Finally, my favorite chapter was the one that focused on Tubby. Tubby clearly represents a combination Old Yeller's and Hairy the Dawg's best attributes. When he takes the field during the Kentucky game to inspire the Dawg Nation, I almost cried. Mark Schlabach is a great writer, the AJC is a great newspaper, Tubby is a great dog, and Tattletales is a great establishment.

A mythos of invincibility was the source of the diehard experience of a significant proportion of Confederate military forces refusing to give up even though they suffered serious reversals and did not have the resources to ever overcome these. Decisive defeat at Gettysburg and Sherman's march through the South culminating in the capture of Atlanta were two such reversals coming after a couple of years of warfare during which the South had never managed to gain the upper hand despite some successes in early parts of the War.

"Elements that supported Confederate notions of invincibility--religion, stereotypes, combat, rumors, camaraderie, and more--formed the fabric of the diehard experience." Phillips--assistant professor of history at Mississippi State U.--treats these different facets of this mythos of invincibility with cultural study of the Southern states, reading of historical circumstances, military analysis, and also letters, battle reports, and newspaper stories both feeding into the myth and subtly questioning it. Demonization of Northern troops played with a belief in the superiority of the Southern soldier. Rumors trumped facts, as when reports circulated that New Orleans had been retaken. Slanted or incomplete newspaper articles were seized upon as gospel. Confederate soldiers deified their generals; and many generals and field officers developed strategies for prolonging combat as long as possible when a rational, objective assessment of circumstances would lead to the conclusion that defeat was inevitable.

Phillips' book is engaging and illuminating for bringing together diverse material in support of his topic; and in so doing, bringing out new perspectives on always interesting subjects such as cultural differences between North and South and the course of the Civil War.

My name is Georgia Hedrick. This is one of my great all time books. I was given back my publishing rights by the Publisher one year and one-half ago.

HOW DARE YOU PUBLISH IT WITHOUT MY CONSENT OR WITHOUT ANY ROYALTIES GIVEN???

I notice you have your own ISBN number to it. You cannot do this. There shall be a legal investigation over this situation. Georgia Hedrick, author, and illustrator.

I live in Connecticut, with a family of two elementary aged twins. We take a lot of day-trips, and as we are learning about our Connecticut History in the fourth grade, we've decided that there are still so many places to visit nearby. With our current gasoline "crisis"---if you live in Connecticut, or even close by in NY or RI or MA, coastal CT is still worth visiting. You don't have to be rich & famous, as some would have you to believe. Read this book and step back only about 30 years in time to a quieter life in a small town along the south east coast in CT, and you'll peek into a world that is sadly, slowly--disappearing.

With his meticulous research and easy going writing style, you will see into the very heart of the village--as it grew from those old dry Puritan societies of religious and farming men, to the lively tapestry of ethnic groups that it still is, today. The town of Stonington shifted its center from upland at the Road Church, in old "Wequetequock" to a place on the water called "Long Point" and so began its life as a major seaport.

I have lived in Connecticut most of my life and one of my very favorite places to wander through--is Stonington Borough. Sadly, the fishing fleet is depleted, but you can still hear the old ghosts of seacaptains and the Portuguese families who made this small village one of the best reasons to take a day-trip to explore it.

Wear GOOD walking shoes, and take your camera. Come in Autumn when the tourists are mostly gone. Water Street is where all the shops are, and you can find a pleasant place for coffee in quite a few establishments. The street is very narrow and becomes "one-way," so the best thing to do is find a spot to park at its beginning and walk down, and back up. The Lighthouse is a museum now, and well worth a visit too. If you are a painter, don't forget your easel or sketchbook. There are so many wonderful spots to visit, read the book for the fun of it and you may agree that Stonington is worth a visit. Even if "you can't get there from here" as the Yankee saying goes, the book is a fun and intimate read about life in a small, coastal New England village. How I wish it could remain frozen in time!

Peter Crow's finely crafted, deftly written narrative recounts, in thier own words, the lives of people in Dante and St. Paul, two small southwest Virginia communities caught in the backwash of history and struggling to maintain an economic and cultural foothold in the post-industrial world. A must-read for anyone interested in modern Appalachia.

Having read Paola Gemme's book while being a student in her American Literature to 1900 class, while it constituted a lot of reading, was certainly time well spent, indeed. Dr. Gemme speaks with a highly scholastic, qualified voice that is authoritative but playfully so and never pedantic. Her book sets about to debunk perceptions of the Italian Risorgimento as viewed through the lens of the American world view of the latter half of the 19th century. She brings to bear upon this issue the thorough inquiry of a historian, the eloquence of a professor of literature, and the insight of an Italian (as in Dr. Gemme resides part-time in Genoa--the home of Colombus--, where she was born, raised, and educated). It is truly a gifted work, the creation of a genuinely gifted scholar. In addition, I might add--as a student--that Dr. Gemme is a tremendous individual, irrespective of her scholastic and literary achievements. 10/10!

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: "Every institution is the lengthened shadow of one man." Whenever I visit the University of Georgia campus-six times a year for the home football games-and enter the mammoth stadium (fifth largest on-campus stadium in the nation), I translate Emerson's statement this way: "The highly successful athletic program at Georgia is the lengthened shadow of Vince Dooley."

Really, the analogy could extend further, because the development of the athletic program paralleled the expansion of the University in enrollment, campus improvements, academic directions, and prestige, as well as the emergence of Athens, Georgia into the Classic City it claims to be. Vince Dooley's influence and direct involvement made these advances possible, too.

Because he advocates team accomplishments more than individual heroism, Dooley-Georgia's Head Football Coach for twenty-five years, who retained his Director of Athletics title until June 30, 2004-might refute this claim. Still, those who have followed Georgia's progress during his four decades of leadership will agree that these achievements would not have happened without him.

Co-author Loran Smith once captained UGA's track team, then became the longtime Executive Secretary of the Georgia Bulldog Club. In many ways, Smith serves as the Bulldogs' scribe, because Dooley's Dawgs is one of several books he has produced to chronicle "The Bulldog Nation." On game days, he's the radio host for the Bulldogs' Tailgate Show, and fans hear his post-game interviews. Additionally, his newspaper and magazine articles appeal to sports fans nationwide.

I recommend Dooley's Dawgs as the finest sports book I have ever read. Bombarded as we are by news reports about college athletic scandals, you will be uplifted by the story of how discipline, fairness, integrity, respect for academics, and hard work turned Georgia football from an also-ran into national champions-and produced principled young men who became lifelong leaders.

To Dooley and Smith's credit, the book does not gloss over the tough times. You'll read about criticisms of Dooley's conservative offense ("Georgia kicked off, then let the air out of the ball," an Athens sports writer charged), the frustration of mediocre seasons, and the highly controversial non-extension of Dooley's contract in 2003. I applaud the book's candor.

Even readers who are unfamiliar with Georgia's tradition will enjoy Dooley's Dawgs. I give this book my highest recommendation.