Tennessee Books

This aproximately 90 minute play for 1 actor portaying Tennesee Williams is based on the interviews with this famous writer that appeared in the book The Ultimate Seduction. In this play Mr. Willians, responding to questions from offstage, recounts his career, his successes and his failures.

Looking at the CIA, FBI, and the NSA, Smist examines how the relationship between these agencies and the Congress has evolved in the 1947-94 time period. A former CIA officer, Smist has insights into intelligence that only an A-list insider could hope to possess.

I loved this book, it had opened me up to a whole new genre of books that i just can't seem to get enough of. This book had a good mixture of love and excitment this is a really good books for ages 12-17.

This is a great book and a great study of a pacific island culture. Great book!

Great catalog of old fashioned goods. 256 pages. Still in business but moved to Georgia.

The vendor took great care to protect the book. I was very impressed not only with the care but the shape of the book. Very happy with the transaction....

Davy Crockett isn't as famous as he was in his day. This book provides a good overview of his life and why he was so famous. I was especially touched that he lost his house seat in Congress due to a vote against Jackson't Indian Removal Act. Way to go Crockett! He should be a hero doing just that but he wrote about life in the American Frontier and died at the Alamo too.

The big budget movie of "The Alamo" that is opening next month was supposed to open last December. Supposedly the reason for the delay was that the director needed to work on the film some more but the big rumor was that he had to change part of the ending which depicted Davy Crockett (Billy Bob Thornton) surviving the final battle and then being executed by General Santa Anna along with a few other prisoners. The story was that Texans were outraged by this distortion of history and insisting that the film show Crockett going down fighting, as was seen in John Wayne's version of "The Alamo" (and even going back to Fess Parker in the stories of Davy Crockett aired on "The Wonderful World of Disney").

In this volume of Scholastic's In Their Own World series, George Sullivan explains the conflicting stories about Crockett's death at the Alamo, explaining to young readers the origins of the two conflicting stories. More importantly, this juvenile biography of Davy Crockett is based on his own personal recollections, letters, and newspaper articles. Crockett's declaration from his own 1834 biography, published two years before the siege of the Alamo, "I stood no chance to become great in any other way than by accident," becomes a guiding idea in Sullivan's biography. The goal is to help separate the legends from the reality, but Sullivan does provide insights into both.

I certainly learned a lot of new information about Crockett's life. Crockett's autobiography was basically written for his last campaign for Congress. I always knew he had lost his last election and headed off for Texas, but I did not know that this was the second time he had been defeated for reelection: he won in 1827 and 1829, was defeated in 1831, reelected in 1833, and then defeated the final time in 1835. Nor did I know that the remains of the Alamo defenders are in a sealed marble casket in a San Antonio church. I especially like the contemporary art work , which includes several illustrations from the books and almanacs the helped created the Crockett legend.

Interest in Crockett will certainly be renewed by the new movie and Sullivan's biography will impress all the young readers who come across it. Sullivan covers Crockett's extraordinary life from growing up in the backwoods of Tennessee to how he made it to the U.S. Congress. His sense of humor and dedication to helping others were constant elements and young students will be surprised to learn Crockett ran away from home when he was only thirteen and even though he was a poor speller ended up being a frontier judge. Additionally, Sullivan takes pains to not only separate fact from fiction but explain where some of the Crockett legends sprang from in this solid juvenile biography.

Davy Crockett is the best of the ready to read biographies that I've read. It truly is good and very interesting. If only more of the books were written as good as this one is!

So far the volumes in The Library of American Lives and Times are very nice looking. The covers always feature a portrait of the biographical subject in front of a key scene from their life; in this case, "Davy Crockett: The Legend of the Wild Frontier" is shown over a painting of the Battle of the Alamo. Author Richard Bruce Winders introduces the book by letting Crocket tell about himself, providing a choice excerpt from the 1835 edition of the "Davy Crockett Almanack" where he promises to convince everyone "that I can run faster, jump higher, squat lower, dive deeper, stay under longer, and come up drier, than any man in the whole country."

Obviously Winder's title is a play on the idea of Crockett as the King of the Wild Frontier, which was immortalized in the Fess Parker Disney films. Winders makes it clear from the start that he is trying to separate the truth from the legends, while continuing to enjoy the tall tales. This juvenile biography tells of how Crockett grew up on the frontier, married his first wife Polly, and served as a militia scout in the war against the Red Sticks. After that, Crockett began building the reputation that would make him an American legend as he went from a famous hunter of bears to the U.S. House of Representatives. One of the interesting aspects of this book is that we actually learn some details about Crockett in Congress; for example, he opposed the U.S. Military Academy as West Point since the poor were paying taxes that allowed the sons of the rich and powerful to go to school. Crockett also spoke out against the unfair treatment of Native Americans by President Andrew Jackson's administration.

While Crockett was in Congress he became famous for representing the true American. He served as the model for a frontier politician Colonel Nimrod Wildfire in the popular play, "The Lion of the West." When others made money off of his name writing biographies about him, Crockett authored his own autobiography. Winders also talks about the political friction between Crockett and Jackson. Along with charges that he was too busy being famous to represent his district, Crockett was defeated for re-election. Crockett then left Tennessee to go to Texas for hunt, where, of course, he became involved in the War for Texas and met his death at the Alamo.

"Davy Crockett: The Legend of the Wild Frontier" does deal much more with the real story and is illustrated with historic paintings, etching, and documents. In telling the story of the Alamo, for example, Winders focuses what little is actually known about Crockett's final days. It is only at the end of the book that Winders returns to the legend as part of Crockett's legacy. Young readers, however, should have a much better understanding of the historical Crockett after reading Winders' informative book.