Tennessee Books

Grantham traces the history of the progressive movement in the South. He contends that the southern movement exhibited characteristics similar to national progressivism. He believes that progressivism evidenced a nationalizing influence which reduced the distinctiveness of Southern thought. Progressivism arose as a response to the rapid urbanization, professionalization, bureaucratization, and industrialization of the country. The South also experienced these changes during this period. Because these trends evolved more slowly in the South, the northern variety overshadowed southern progressivism.

The amorphous coalition of interests that became progressivism possessed common goals and values. Progressives sought an orderly and cohesive community, which would encourage economic prosperity. They attempted to establish this community through social, business, and government regulations. They expanded state regulatory power and implemented social controls to preserve morals, purify institutions, and protect the public. Progressives displayed self-righteousness in their efforts at reform. These characteristics transcended the South and described northern progressivism as well.

Southern progressivism operated in three distinct campaigns. Progressives imposed social controls and state regulations on persistent problems such as race and alcohol. They worked toward social justice regarding issues including child labor and charity work. They sought social efficiency in agriculture, labor relations, and penal reform. Grantham argues that these trends parallel the larger progressive movement. The importance of each of these individual trends varied throughout the South according to the racial and economic conditions of the state.

A well researched and thought out history of these mysterious people. Scholars have speculated for decades about the origins of the Melungeons and the author makes a compelling arguement.

SPENCER ROAD IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS. THE PROOF OF A TRULY FINE BOOK IS IN THE RE-READING--DOES IT HOLD UP? SPENCER ROAD DOES. THE LANGUAGE IS SHARP AND THE DICTION IS WORD-PERFECT. WITH EACH READING THE IMAGES GROW CLEARER. MORRIS SMITH HAS A DISTINCT VOICE WITHOUT AIMING FOR DISTINCTION. NONE OF THAT TRYING TO WRITE "SOUTHERN." JANICE DAUGHARTY, AUTHOR OF LIKE A SISTER

The Spiritual Churches of New Orleans: Origins, Beliefs, and Rituals of an African-American Religion. By Claude F. Jacobs and Andrew J. Kaslow. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1991 [paperback edition 2001])

Anthropologists Claude Jacobs and Andrew Kaslow undertook their study of the black Spiritual churches of New Orleans between 1980 and 1983. Since the initial publication of Spiritual Churches of New Orleans in 1991, I have turned to it frequently in the pursuit of my own work. The book has now been re-issued in a more affordable paperback edition. Even though the research is twenty years old, it remains the authoritative work on a subject that is of great fascination to those interested in African American religious practice. Jacobs and Kaslow's highly readable text is augmented by the outstanding photographs of Michael P. Smith.
New Orleans' Spiritual churches are a unique combination of Roman Catholicism, Spiritualism, Pentecostalism, and Voodoo. The Spiritual churches honor God the Father, Jesus, and an array of saints, ancestors, and spirit guides--particularly the Native American chief Black Hawk--by whom worshipers become possessed and through whose power they heal and prophesy. The interior of a Spiritual church is dominated by elaborate altars dedicated to the saints and the spirits. Services are characterized by ecstatic music and dancing, and spiritual "work" may include the use of candles, incense, oils, baths, and herbs. Many Spiritual congregations are led by female ministers and bishops, positions denied to women in some mainstream Christian denominations.
While the Spiritual churches were ostensibly founded in 1920 by Mother Leafy Anderson, a black minister from Chicago, the components of the belief system had long existed in New Orleans. Most of the city's downtown Creoles of color were Catholic; some members of this group were also attracted to Spiritualism. Pentecostalism was popular among uptown working -class "American Negroes." While virtually all New Orleanians of African descent were Christian, many were also devotees of Voodoo, an African-based religion heavily influenced by Catholicism; others dabbled in hoodoo, a system of magic by which individual "workers" serve their clients.
Jacobs and Kaslow provide valuable historical background on the formative years of the Spiritual churches, using newspaper articles from the African-American Louisiana Weekly, as well as interviews with early church leaders conducted by fieldworkers from the Louisiana Writers' Project under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration. The authors also report on the many church events they attended as participant-observers. In addition to regular worship services, they describe baptisms, Holy communion, ordination of ministers and consecration of bishops, and feasts in honor of various saints, the Old Testament Queen Esther, and Black Hawk. There is a detailed examination of spirit possession, prophecy, and healing as it occurs in church services. Also included is a discussion of the practices of ministers known as "workers" who address clients' difficulties with rituals and charms that resemble hoodoo. The final chapters provide a statistical analysis of the clergy and membership of the Spiritual churches by birthplace, religion of origin, gender, age, and occupation.
The Spiritual churches are other worldly in their outlook; they do not attack the social and economic problems that plague a congregation that is black, predominantly poor or working class, and overwhelmingly female. Jacobs and Kaslow conclude that the Spiritual churches, like other African-based New World religions, allow ordinary people such as these to transcend these difficulties by experiencing direct communication with the Divine, achieving the ideal balance of the body, mind, and spirit, and harmony with the human community and the dead.

Carolyn Morrow Long
Research Associate, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Author of Spiritual Merchants: Religion, Magic, and Commerce, University of Tennessee Press, 2001.

Tom T. Hall is not only a great song writer, but a great novel writer also! This book tells the story of the SATURN car plant moving into the little town of Spring Hill, Tennessee, and the effects on the people who live there. It's so good, somebody should really consider making this book into a film.

I had the chance to see the first Theatrical Production of this play, done at a local theater here in Northern California. It was wonderful, and the book is the same. I especially liked the aunt!

Mary Starr's Homemaker's Show began on WATE-TV in Knoxville, TN in 1955. I used to watch her show during my growing up years. I have learned many things over the years from this great lady. Now 15 years of her recipes and tips are published in this book. I have truly ejoyed many, many of the recipes offered in the book. She doesn't use strange items that you have never heard of or are hard to find. Most things are found right in your kitchen. Would certainly recommend this book to anyone who wants to cook great tasting simple meals.

If you are a Tennessee Williams' fan (and who dares not be?) then you need to add this collection to your library. "The Loss of the Teardrop Diamond" is Williams' at his most controlled and poignant. It is almost neo-classic in its approach. His beautiful directions create the world of Fisher Willow who is one of his complex heroines.

Buy this book and mourn with me the wasted talent of one of America's greatest artists.

If you have any interest at all in the office of the president, then this book is a must read for you. Dr. Abbott provides a concise and intriguing look at America's most visible political office. highly recommended!!

This is one of those books to treasure in one's most prominent, permanent collection. Moving, thoughtful, exquisitely written, this title that will stand time's tests. Evelyn Jaffe Schreiber gives us a work of impressive depth and perception -- without any pendantry. The book, quite stunning in its originality, is anchored in fine academic research, both fulfills and transcends traditional "scholarly" categories. As a writer and reader, I heartily recommend this as a book-for-all-seasons.

Marcy Heidish