Alabama Books

In a speech before the Organization of American Historians, scholar Jacquelyn Dowd Hall offered a window onto "the long civil rights movement" -- a struggle for human rights, economic and social citizenship, and human dignity that began long before Brown v. Board of Education and continued long after the assassination of Martin Luther King.

In her pathbreaking book, Defying Dixie, professor Glenda Gilmore gives texture and character to the long civil rights movement, using indigenous southern activists, black and white, to give her story shape. These activists, from the fearless and foolhardy Lovett Fort-Whiteman to the brilliant and indomitable Pauli Murray, all faced the demon of American white supremacy and did their best to slay it. They did not always prevail with strategies they dreamed up and pursued, but their vision and dedication bequeathed us a social movement, more expansive than the classic civil rights movement, that still informs drives for justice and equity.

Gilmore's book moves beyond the tired debates of Cold War historiography and the simple hagiography of civil rights heroes to give us a dynamic movement filled with complex characters. In giving these people their due, and rooting them in American soil, Defying Dixie helps us to understand the promise and possibilities of American politics, and to contend with the present in which we live.

Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore's DEFYING DIXIE: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights, 1919 - 1950 is the history of the civil rights movement from that time until the early 1950s. It gives inside history, interviews and information on how the Civil Rights movement that we are aware of today, came about. In the beginning, the Communist party was deeply involved. Their plan was to get the workers of America - black and white - to fight for better salaries from the companies they worked for. The only way to accomplish that was to get the two groups to work together. Naturally, the South, with its legacy of slavery, wasn't too happy with the mixing of the races. The companies, to keep their profits high, wanted to continue to pay blacks less than they paid whites and the only way to do that was to keep them separate. Many residents of the South didn't want blacks involved in the job market because they felt it would reduce their ability to have those jobs. There were, however, many people, of both races, who were determined that segregation/Jim Crow, would end. They were brave enough to defy the system and as a result, they frequently ended up in jail or worse.

During the Second World War, as Stalin took power, the involvement of the Communist party began to lose its appeal. The House Un-American Activities became concerned and the FBI spied on Communist and suspects. Any contact with a Communist could cause problems. It didn't stop those who were determined to force America to honor what it claimed it went to war for, from pushing their agenda for social and economic equality for all, even though many of them suffered for it.

Gilmore has written a heart rending account that covers history that is either missing or glossed over in our history books. So often we don't know the brutal history that brought us where we are today and Gilmore lets us know in no uncertain terms. Some of the unfair situations that blacks face will break your heart. It is a book every American should read in order to understand where we have come from and where we are going. It should be required reading for both high school and college students.

Reviewed by Alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

My friend owns this book. It was given to her by her grandfather who is a coushatta. She is learning the language and is teaching it to me because I am interested in her culture. Many times she has let me borrow the book. The book is very helpful because it has guides to help you pronounce the words.

This dictionary is crucial chronicle of the Alabama language. It took the author Sylestine, almost fifty years to complete (Actually completed after her death). The Alabama language is a part of the Muskogeon band of languages that include: Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, Coushatta, and other tribes of the southeast. It is an essential part of my tribe's survival to preserve our culture, and our language is a crucial part in accomplishing this. The dictionary offers translations from Alabama to English( in the first half of the book) and English to Alabama ( in the second half). I recommend this book to all interested in Native languages, and those interested in the Muskogeon languages (for they are not in written form until recently). My recommendation comes from knowing Cora Sylestine (the author) for years, and also my grandmother is one of the contributing speakers credited in the book.

Miller's Egotopia presents an iconoclastic, highly critical view of modern America. Miller's central thesis is that the suppression of the public individual in favor of the private individual has had drastic consequences on our culture and environment; while Miller's focus is on aesthetics, his argument can be modified to bear on discussions of the environment and ethics as well. To blame for the rise of the private individual, Miller argues, are psychotherapy and neoclassical economics. The former is problematic in that it encourages individuals to satisfy primarily, if not only, their own egos. The latter replaces aesthetic, ethic, and cultural values with strictly economic value. The result of combining these two forces: the New American is taught to increase utility and profit at the expense of beauty, right, and goodness. All forms of value are replaced with economics; and, further, economic value is personal and subjective. The private individual is heralded as the measure of all things, and as a consequence society and culture decline. As a general warning, this book should probably not be read by economists, advertising agents, or "outdoor advertisers". For the rest of us, however, it serves as both an enlightening expose of the true American culture and a call to arms.

This is a bold and powerful look at American life outside of political cliches like "evil corporations" and "evil Hollywood," thrown around by PBS / Naderites and conservatives respectively. Even though I am what Miller would consider a conservative, I could very much appreciate his book. It is a diagnosis like no other; it is coming straight from the heart of the beast -- a PR executive who realized the fine line between reality and fiction, advertising / entertainment and real life, and saw how it became uncoscionably blurred in post-Industrial America. I recommend Miller's inter-disciplinary (everything from economic sociology to art theory) book to anyone seeking an irreverent perspective on what at first glance seems to be a wornout subject. Prepare to be shocked!

I'm just about a third of the way though the book. It is very informative, but also enjoyable and accessible to one not very knowledgeable about the topic. Browsing though Amazon and the local bookstore a few times in years past, I have looked for broad-based books such as this to help me understand the area I live in. This book does that better than any I've come across.

Field Guide to the Piedmont is a magnificent, vividly described journey through the Piedmont, a unique ecosystem which stretches from the Hudson River Palisades to the Georgia plateau. The theme of succession dominates and illuminates the book, while Godfrey's literary descriptions of the landscapes reads like a Southern, landlocked Melville. I have used this book as my guide to understanding the ecology of where I live - a fundmental gift, and thank you, Michael Godfrey. I write about this at RaleighNaturalist.com. I highly recommend this book.

I searched for this book to no avail; but finally, I was able to purchase it. It was well worth the wait. I found two different sets of great great grandparents and a great great granduncle. If you have relatives from Sumter County, Alabama....this book is an excellent source of information.

I had already spent several years trying to get this entry to no avail. I purchased this book and there it was. The marriage took place in 1886 in Sumter County Ala.

In addition I found listings of marriages of the siblings of my great grandmother.

Wonderful work.

Parents and children alike will be entranced by this treasure of University of Alabama memorabilia and traditions. Scenes of Denney Chimes, Big Al and the "Roll Tide" fans will always put you in remembrance of your special "Gameday".

The Auburn Gameday book is an excellent way for the young fan to gain a knowledge of his or her favorite team and the grand campus traditions surrounding it. Children will be able to recognize the school monuments, to collect autographs and other memorabilia and get caught up in the excitement that is "Gameday".This will make their experience last a lifetime.

Steve Thompson clearly shares an emotional bond with the athletes and students that he gives his life to. He once said, "Life is not only about the 4.0, you need to stop and invest in relationships." Thank you, Steve.

This book is very similar in style and purpose to John Feinstein's "Season On The Brink". The author's main focus in planning this book was to present a day to day behind the scenes look at the 1999-2000 Alabama basketball team. And for the most part that is what Stephen Thompson writes about. What he didn't plan for was the team's loving and caring relationship with Robert Scott, one of the assistant coaches who is suffering from terminal stomach cancer. Despite horrible pain Scott is always there at practices and games and always there to provide emotional support for his young team doomed themselves to a season that would gradually come apart as player after player is lost due to injury. At one time, there were not enough players to even practice. Walk on players were used in games. Yet the team is able to pull off upset wins over ranked teams, Vanderbilt, Tennessee and hated rival Auburn and came close to beating another ranked team...Florida. As a basketball fan I love this book. Thompson takes you inside the locker room, insde the coaches meeting and planning sessions. This book is never mundane. The ending is poignant yet hopeful. This is not just a great baskeball book; it's a great book.

It has been said that sometimes you don't find a book, it finds you. "A Gift Before Dying" is a book that found me. If you're a basketball fan, I hope it finds you.

The authors Stephen Hartnett and Laura Stengrim both work at Eastern Illinois University. Chapter 1 examines the arguments used for attacking Iraq, mainly the mythical Weapons of Mass Destruction. Chapter 2 peruses the arguments used in support of wider US foreign policy, centrally the myth of the benevolent empire. Chapter 3 looks at the economic agendas of the key drivers of empire and Chapter 4 studies the colonisation of postwar Iraq under the pretence of reconstruction and democracy-building.

They show how the US empire has produced contexts ripe for violence. Globalising capitalists and empire-builders inevitably create economic resentment, political rage and terrorist violence. They bring consumer choice and political freedoms to the few, economic, but political and military violence to the many. The authors show how Bush tries to disguise this by explaining events in moralistic, medical, psychological or theological terms.

The `war on terror' is lawless: Bush's memo of 7 February 2002 stated, "none of the provisions of Geneva apply to our conflict with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan or elsewhere in the world." It is also intolerant: Attorney General John Ashcroft said critics of the government `only aid terrorists'. The US state promises us an endless crusade to `rid the world of evil'. As the National Security Strategy of the United States 2002 said, "the war against terrorists of global reach is a global enterprise of uncertain duration."

The IMF's Brady Plan repackaged developing countries' debts as collateralised tradable bonds, privatising debt ownership, so vulture capitalists could buy debts and then sue for full, immediate repayment. For example, Elliott Associates in 1996 bought from the IMF $20 million of Peru's debt for $11 million; it then sued Peru's government and won $58 million, a $47 million profit. They have done the same in Panama, Poland, Turkmenistan, Ecuador, Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank benefit the capitalist class and harm the working class. For every dollar that the US taxpayer gives to the Fund and the Bank, US companies get two dollars in bank-financed procurement contracts. For every dollar going into developing countries (investment, aid, grants), two dollars leave to service debts. So since the mid-1960s, $22 billion a year has gone from the developing countries to capitalists in the USA and the EU. As the authors write, "the combination of this institutional architecture of globalization and regional Free Trade Agreements [like the EU's] poses serious threats to state sovereignty, worker rights, local cultures, and any sense of representative government."

Altogether, this book is an exceptionally astute analysis of why workers must stop capitalism, but unfortunately, the authors only propose as a response online activism and a rejection of all ideologies. But the workers of the world do not need a `global economy of information producers and activists': we need to revive our national trade unions. We do not need virtual resistance, `a newly emerging electronic democracy', or `reinventing activism as an online endeavor'. We need real democracy in our places of work and democracy and sovereignty in our nations - which add up to Marxism.

A brilliant concrete analysis of the threat to American democracy presented by the bloated expansion of the American military and corporate presence abroad. Particularly useful is a chapter on the "privatization of empire," showing how much of what happens in areas like Iraq lies beyond the present power of Congress to regulate it. A very important book.

Hello all my wonderful fans and readers!

I hope that you enjoy reading the story of Lizzie and Payton and find it to be as much fun to read as it was for me to write. They are two of my favorite characters, and I'm really looking forward to writing more about them in future books as I bring love interests into the lives of their friends.

Below you will find an excerpt from The Heart Will Lead You Home. Enjoy, and let me know what you think! You can also visit my site (www.freewebs.com/krisleedy) for more information and to read up on all the new things happening in the world of Kristin.

Excerpt from The Heart Will Lead You Home:

"Hello, Lizzie." He spoke to her in a voice that was deeper than
she remembered and she felt her heart stop when she heard it. Even
though she commanded it not to, it came to a momentary halt before it
pounded back to life again. She told herself she didn't care or notice all
the ways he'd changed.

"Hello." She pushed the words from her dry, sandy throat and
heard it crackle out into the warm, summer air.

"Dance with me." Like an intimate but unwanted caress his words
wrapped around her and held. It was too much for her to take and she
couldn't handle standing there in the same space as him for another second
longer.

"Excuse me, boys, but I believe I have to get going." She pushed
her way out of the group and refused to look back when she heard him
calling her name. Suddenly anger a million times stronger than she had
remembered feeling in the past slammed into her, almost buckling her
knees out from under her with its force. She forced herself forward and
out into the night air.

There was a partially muffled curse that floated to her, and she
judged that she had only seconds before Payton came after her. He caught
up with her just outside of the barn and grabbed hold of her arm. "Wait!
Liz, would you just wait a damn minute."

"No!" She flung his arm away and made it a few steps farther, but
she was no match for his speed, and this time he caught her with both of
his hands and held her captive in the strength of them.

He whirled her around to face him, and she could tell by the sparks
that flew from his eyes that he meant business. "I suggest you get your
butt back in that barn and dance with me. I have some things I want to say
to you."

Her face lit with fury. "You know, this may come as some
surprise to you, Payton Cartwright, but I don't want to dance, and I sure as hell have nothing to say to you."

"Well," he said at long last, "then that just leaves one other thing
on my list that I've been thinking about doing tonight." And with that he
pulled her hard against his body, knocking her hat off in the process, and
ran his strong, sun darkened hands roughly through her hair then down to
hold her body in place. He forced his lips down onto her stubborn ones,
and kissed her with a passion that had been banked for many long years.

I finished The Heart Will Lead You Home in less than a week and found it very enjoyable. The milieu--small town Edenville, Alabama became so familiar to me that I felt as though I had visited it. I got to know Payton and Lizzie so well, I think I would recognize them in a crowded room. The Heart Will Lead You Home was endearing and touching and romantic.
Well done, Kristin Leedy!

This is a first hand account, by someone who was among the Southeastern Indians in the 18th C. It has more tidbits of information on everyday life than any other book I have seen. This should be a top priority book for anyone researching the indians of this time and place

James Adair's classic study of southeastern Native American culture of the late colonial period is one of the few primary sources from that era. The editor Kathryn E Holland Braund has written an excellent introductory essay and added extensive annotations to the text. She also tells the story of how Adair's manuscript was accepted by the leading London publishing house of Dilly and Dilly upon the recommendation of Benjamin Franklin.

This is a book written by an amateur. It is a tragic tale of primitive tribes in a state of endless warfare, always in danger from deadly diseases, a colossal homicide rate, and runaway alcoholism, and caught up in the plots of the British, French, and Spanish to control the North American continent. Nearly half the book is formal argumentation that the American Indians are descended from the lost tribes of Israel. Since Adair's arguments don't support his case, it appears that he felt that book sales required catering to the romantic notions of his pre-scientific age.

In recent years, several writers have suggested that Adair's book is one of the major sources of the Book of Mormon. In this day of sophisticated computer word print analysis, scholars may decide that the computers will have the last word on this subject. But in terms of common sense, the argument is a strong one. It would certainly be difficult to conclude that Alma chapters 48-53 in the Book of Mormon had any other source than the last chapter of Adair's book.

Readers who have a special interest in Native American history, or in American religious history, should not miss this book.