Georgia Books

As everyone knows, the fundamental problem with contemporary poetry is the complete absence of any shared criterion for judgment. DARE SAY, Tod Marshall's astounding debut collection, calls glaring attention to this deficiency. Here is poetry that declares without qualification or snickering inside-information its generous humanity, its verbal dexterity, its beauty and inventiveness and wisdom and sheer overwhelming emotional force. Begin with Whitman, run through Stevens, Williams, and Pound, and detour through Revell and Levine, and you begin to locate where Marshall resides: namely, in the absolute center of the primary tradition of American poetry in this century. From the daring updating of modernism that is "After Kandinsky," to the heartbreaking urban-sprawl confessional "Metaphyisc, with Applebys," and all the way to the unapologetic hymn to our divine carnality, "Choir," a poem that I have permanently hanging on my wall in my office to remind me of the core of my existence, this is a collection that makes mincemeat of most of the competition.

These On My Own books are great! This book is another fantastic installment. I've read other accounts of this story but this one is the most accessible and interesting. Try it!

The subject of this watershed book, Dave, the famous Edgefield, South Carolina, poet-potter, was born near Edgefield about the year 1800. He died after 1870, having enjoyed only a few years of freedom. These few stark facts could easily have been all that one could say of this man. Dave's is a wonderful story of survival, especially the survival of the creative, human spirit while laboring under the worst form of tyranny. The author has documented the facts of Dave's life clearly and concisely; however, this book is much more than a list of mere facts. Somehow Dave learned to read and to write a beautiful script. At an early age he was sent to the pottery works near Edgefield, where he became a master potter. One of this splendid poem-jars recently sold at auction for over $80,000. One might well think that surely Dave's story must end here. Fortunately, it does not. Dave, the enslaved African-American potter, was also a "publishing" poet! He "published" his first known poem in 1834 by inscribing the work in the yet soft clay of one of his superb storage jars. He continued to "publish" his poems in this unusual manner for a period of twenty-eight years. His last known poem is dated 3 May 1862. Dave's poems are short, cryptic works. And, until the present work, no one has attempted the delicate task of unraveling their mysterious content. The author has done so with masterly delicacy and skill; moreover, the author's interpretations are presented in a manner which encourage his readers to form their own opinions of what the poet is saying. The author's text and original color illustrations for many of the poems are in perfect harmony with his subject. The portrait of the poet-potter which emerges from the pages of this book is absolutely riveting. Dave is witty and wise. He is the young David who killed the lion. And readers will find, when this book is read through, that Dave could be sexy, too. This book is very far from a commercial production. The author, Samuel J. Hardman, is a publishing poet and a well-known outsider-folk artist. He is also an authority on the 17th century English poet "Ephelia." His important work on the poet has been published in literary journals here and in England and has received notice in the 2nd edition of "An Encyclopedia of British Women Writers." His "Dave's Poems" is undoubtedly an important publication; moreover, it is an immensely artistic and enjoyable work.

I have read all of the Mossy Creek books and hands down... A Day in Mossy Creek is the ABSOLUTE best so far!!! I have laughed out loud (snorted even!) in some chapters... Chap 8 was the funniest... YOU GO BOB!!! and I hate for it to end... This is a wonderful warm hearted hometown series. Wish I lived there!!!

Out of print but well worth finding used. A great look at the history of Rich's department store chain of Atlanta (and other southern cities). If you've ever ridden the Pink Pig, eaten at the Magnolia Room, or seen the lighting of the Great Tree, you will love this book. Folksy writing style with nostalgic black and white photos.

When I wanted to learn how to woodcarve, I checked this book out from the library and found it so helpful that I bought it. It guides the beginner through all of the necessary skills, like picking out tools and wood, sharpening tools, the basic cuts, etc., then it goes on to show how to do a woodcarving, using detailed instructions and very helpful diagrams and pictures. Other books that I looked at recommended buying large expensive materials (such as an electric grindstone and a full workbench) but this book starts you off with just the bare essentials and allows you to work up at your own pace.

This was required reading for a graduate course in American history.
Brooks book highlights another example of how Americans, demobilizing from a foreign war against racism and tyranny, became acutely aware of their own country's inconsistencies and hypocrisies about race and democracy. This article shows how returning veterans - both black and white - organized protests against the undemocratic machine in their home state of Georgia, but struggled with the degree to which they embraced racial change. Brooks argues that it is difficult to ascertain whether World War II helped inspire change, or just reinforced the status quo in Georgia and the South.

Using both primary sources, such as interviews and newspaper articles, and secondary sources, Brooks recounts the efforts of returning veterans. She regards veteran activism as a "barometer by which to measure the war's political impact" (564) and supports her argument by detailing the opinions of veterans and describing efforts of black and white veterans groups to jointly support political campaigns. Brooks suggests that the contradictions about race, economics and social progress the veterans experienced help define the postwar period as disruptive and destabilizing.

One example of black and white Georgian veterans groups working together was when the black World War II-Veterans Association mobilized so many black voters that they ultimately gave the win to the white Citizens
Progressive League, thereby ousting a less progressive incumbent political machine. Another more direct example is the interracial American Veterans Committee, in which black and white veterans worked to obtain full GI benefits and better housing and to stop police brutality against blacks. They also worked side by side toward change by jointly supporting moderate or liberal candidates. against white supremacist candidates like Eugene Talmadge. Finally, black and white veterans jointly launched an attack on the county-unit system, which apportioned electoral votes so that it discriminated against urbanites, blacks and the working class. A joint coalition, called the Georgia Veterans for Majority Rule, challenged this practice through lawsuits and letter campaigns.

Brooks reinforces the argument of the ambiguity of World War II as catalyst or as a constrictor of racial change by examining the other side of the argument the times when progressive racial reform agendas failed. For example, she details reactionary efforts of veterans who aligned themselves with the Ku Klux Klan or the Columbians, Inc. and how their tactics prevented efforts of moderate politics. She found that the economic situation was an important element in the Ku Klux Klan's and Columbians' ability to successfully recruit white veterans. Many veterans felt entitled to some of the spoils of the reconversion efforts and became disillusioned by the realities of overcrowding and the slow economic situation of post-war Georgia. As we saw in McEnaney's article2 some white veterans fought to claim their position on the top of the economic hierarchy and became afraid of competition from blacks.

Alternatively, these economic concerns inspired other white veterans to overturn the corruption and inefficiency of incumbent regimes. They were also embarrassed by the wartime remarks of fellow servicemen from other states deriding their home state's economic depravity and corrupt politics. Therefore, they fought to change the status quo and successfully ousted the incumbent political machines. However, these white veterans were most convinced by arguments that the corruption infringed upon their economic rights, not necessarily acknowledging the infringement upon the civil rights of their fellow black veterans. These often separate, even opposing, positions of race and economics reflect the ambiguity that is inherent in the definition of progress.
Brooks further reflects this ambiguity about race in her description of James Carmichael's campaign, in which he both attacked the racial extremism of the Ku Klux Klan and advocated the county-unit system. She declares that most white veteran campaigners were forced to adopt a two-faced outlook about progress, in which they advocated for economic growth and modernization while enforcing racial status quo. She asserts that the legacy of this period is one in which racial reform and economic reform walked side by side, but that growth politics
ultimately prevailed over progressive racial politics. While Brooks paints a complex picture of post-war Georgia politics and society, her arguments were incoherent at times. Instead of arguments postulated and defended with concrete examples, she presents incidences of where policies failed and where they succeeded. For example, she discusses how the CPL's campaign for economic modernization of society defeated the
status quo, often racist, Savannah incumbent party then, in the next sentence, discusses how the status quo county:-system defeated a more progressive campaigner, Carmichael. Perhaps, however, Brook's employs these juxtaposed arguments as a scholarly technique to parallel the ambiguity about race and economics and whether World War II helped inspire change, or reinforced the status quo in Georgia.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in American history, civil rights history.

This award-winning book is one of the best books I've seen for children, about Civil Rights. I recommend it. Wonderful!

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.