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Wright Thompson’s ‘The Barn’ chronicles the fight to preserve the memory of Emmett Till

Fourteen-year-old Till was murdered in a nondescript barn in the Mississippi Delta. But few know the barn still stands today, or fully understand its history. Thompson believes we should.
Fourteen-year-old Till was murdered in a nondescript barn in the Mississippi Delta. But few know the barn still stands today, or fully understand its history. Thompson believes we should.
NonfictionMemoir

Connie

With candor and humor, Connie Chung shares the highs and lows of her trailblazing career as a journalist in her invigorating memoir, Connie.
With candor and humor, Connie Chung shares the highs and lows of her trailblazing career as a journalist in her invigorating memoir, Connie.
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NonfictionHistoryAmerican History

Father’s Day: Gifts for dear ol’ Dad

Review by bookpagedev

While it’s true that a good man is hard to find, most of us need look no further than father for a superior example of the male species. June is the time to show Pop just how much you appreciate those qualities that make him a miracle of manhood his willing ear, his words of wisdom, his bottomless bank account. So reward Dad this month with one of the following titles, all great gifts for Father’s Day.

When it comes to writing about history, it’s difficult to imagine a harder-hitting pair of reporters than Mark Bowden and Stephen Ambrose, the dynamic duo behind Our Finest Day: D-Day: June 6, 1944. Authoritative yet accessible, this dramatic, interactive account of the largest military operation ever launched contains reproductions of artifacts from the National D-Day Museum. Filled with classic quotes and photographs, the book is a great way to experience history first-hand. An official "Orders of the Day" letter issued by Ike to the Allied soldiers, a guidebook of France and a map of that country’s coastline with areas targeted for invasion are a few of the pieces readers can remove and peruse. Drawing on first-person accounts from the soldiers and officers who served at Normandy, including journalist A.J. Liebling, the text, written by Pulitzer Prize nominee Bowden, offers excerpts of authentic letters and diary entries. From preparation to actual invasion, Our Finest Day examines techniques and tactics, battle plans and strategies choices made by the superpowers that ultimately altered the course of history. Ambrose contributes a fine, if brief, introduction to this cleverly packaged war-time primer the perfect gift for a patriotic father.

The intrepid, enigmatic Charles Lindbergh would have been 100 this year. The man who gave wings literally to the anything-goes, can-do optimism that characterized America in the early 20th century made himself into a myth by completing the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Today, although astronauts outrank aviators in terms of mystique, the country’s fascination with Lindbergh continues. Dominick Pisano and F. Robert van der Linden, both curators at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum, take an in-depth look at an American legend in Charles Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis. Illustrated with hundreds of black and white pictures, as well as new color photographs of the Spirit of St. Louis itself (the object of many a souvenir scavenger), this special volume brings to life the early days of aviation, while telling the story of an ambivalent hero. Lindbergh began his flying career as a risk-it-all barnstormer and airmail pilot before setting his sights on wider horizons. Despite his history-making accomplishments, his life was rife with controversy. The kidnapping and death of his son, along with his controversial social and political views, made him a reluctant target for the media. Pisano and van der Linen thoroughly explore the conflicts that eventually drove the flyer and his family to Britain. With fascinating specifics on aviation equipment, visuals of vintage flying gear and an introduction by Lindbergh’s daughter Reeve, this volume soars.

Here’s a little something that’s sure to make Dad smile: packed with fun activities and rugged bits of wisdom, 101 Secrets a Good Dad Knows by Walter and Sue Ellin Browder is a clever little paperback that collects all the lessons fathers, by tradition, teach their kids. With instructions on everything from flying a kite to skipping a stone, 101 Secrets celebrates timeless diversions that have been passed on from generation to generation. Lessons in making a paper boat, whistling with a blade of grass and building a campfire make this a one-of-kind book. Many of the skills (carving whistles, tying flies) are illustrated, and each is prefaced by a timeless maxim, like the following: "The difference between a useless stick and a useful stick is in the person who picks it up." What could be wiser? Full of tried-and-true know-how that will never go out of style, this good-humored anthology is the perfect way to bring families together on Father’s Day.

While it’s true that a good man is hard to find, most of us need look no further than father for a superior example of the male species. June is the time to show Pop just how much you appreciate those qualities that make him a miracle of manhood his willing ear, his words of […]
Memoir

A Renaissance man remembers

Review by bookpagedev

Gordon Parks Jr.’s accomplishments as a photographer and writer are remarkable, but he has also been a composer, painter, director and producer. While he’s already penned one majestic book about his life, The Learning Tree, it was impossible to fully chronicle such a rich life in one work. A Hungry Heart puts his amazing career into perspective, with Parks recalling his personal triumphs and disasters and his encounters with such famous names as Dr. King, Stokely Carmichael, Roy Wilkins, Malcolm X and various actors and athletes. Though longtime followers of Parks’ work will probably know many of the details in these stories, this new treatment lets him look back at harsher times and evaluate past decisions and actions. Sometimes there’s a hint of regret, as when he acknowledges the devastating effects that making the film Leadbelly had on his marriage. He also recounts in graphically descriptive language the impact hunger and suffering had on him both as a youngster and later during the Depression. A Hungry Heart is living history from an icon whose existence defines and illuminates the black experience. Ron Wynn writes for the Nashville City Paper and other publications.

Gordon Parks Jr.’s accomplishments as a photographer and writer are remarkable, but he has also been a composer, painter, director and producer. While he’s already penned one majestic book about his life, The Learning Tree, it was impossible to fully chronicle such a rich life in one work. A Hungry Heart puts his amazing career […]
HistoryAmerican History

The career of an aviation legend

Review by bookpagedev

intrepid, enigmatic Charles Lindbergh would have been 100 this year. The man who gave wings—literally—to the anything-goes, can-do optimism that characterized America in the early 20th century made himself into a myth by completing the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Today, although astronauts outrank aviators in terms of mystique, the country’s fascination with Lindbergh continues. Dominick Pisano and F. Robert van der Linden, both curators at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum, take an in-depth look at an American legend in Charles Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis. Illustrated with hundreds of black and white pictures, as well as new color photographs of the Spirit of St. Louis itself (the object of many a souvenir scavenger), this special volume brings to life the early days of aviation, while telling the story of an ambivalent hero.

Lindbergh began his flying career as a risk-it-all barnstormer and airmail pilot before setting his sights on wider horizons. Despite his history-making accomplishments, his life was rife with controversy. The kidnapping and death of his son, along with his controversial social and political views, made him a reluctant target for the media. Pisano and van der Linen thoroughly explore the conflicts that eventually drove the flyer and his family to Britain. With fascinating specifics on aviation equipment, visuals of vintage flying gear and an introduction by Lindbergh’s daughter Reeve, this volume soars.

intrepid, enigmatic Charles Lindbergh would have been 100 this year. The man who gave wings—literally—to the anything-goes, can-do optimism that characterized America in the early 20th century made himself into a myth by completing the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Today, although astronauts outrank aviators in terms of mystique, the country’s fascination […]
HistoryBlack History

Riding for rights

Review by bookpagedev

Raymond Arsenault’s Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice covers a shorter, more specific time frame. The Freedom Riders were a courageous, racially integrated group of volunteers who traveled together on buses from Washington, D.C., to the heart of Dixie. They openly defied segregation laws and bore the brunt of vicious attacks, including firebombings and physical assaults that occurred in full view of the police. The sheer brutality that was presented on the front pages of major metropolitan newspapers shocked the Kennedy administration into finally protecting the Freedom Riders. Arsenault’s book goes into exacting detail about rides, destination points and vicious acts of retribution during the pivotal year of 1961. It outlines a story of supreme courage against unspeakable cruelty and disgusting bigotry, and presents the Freedom Riders as one group that probably hasn’t gotten the recognition it deserves for its crucial role in the civil rights movement.

Ron Wynn writes for the Nashville City Paper and other publications.

Raymond Arsenault’s Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice covers a shorter, more specific time frame. The Freedom Riders were a courageous, racially integrated group of volunteers who traveled together on buses from Washington, D.C., to the heart of Dixie. They openly defied segregation laws and bore the brunt of vicious attacks, including […]
HistoryBlack History

Defining a culture

Review by bookpagedev

Noted historian Nell Irvin Painter goes back even further than the days of the covered wagon with Creating Black Americans: African American History and Its Meanings: 1619 to the Present. Painter blends striking visual depictions with extensive analysis, covering everything from the extent of the African slave trade in North and South America to slavery in the U.S., Reconstruction, and the emergence and development of black culture, politics, economics and community life. She blends candid photos, stills and action shots of key community leaders and hard-working regular folks by artists ranging from Romare Bearden to Kara Walker, and her descriptive portraits are equally diverse, including familiar figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X and lesser-known names such as Olaudah Equiano (one of the first African slaves able to record his own account of captivity). Exhaustive yet easily understood and digested,Creating Black Americans supplies plenty of knowledge without ever becoming pedantic or dry.

Ron Wynn writes for the Nashville City Paperand other publications.

Noted historian Nell Irvin Painter goes back even further than the days of the covered wagon with Creating Black Americans: African American History and Its Meanings: 1619 to the Present. Painter blends striking visual depictions with extensive analysis, covering everything from the extent of the African slave trade in North and South America to slavery […]
Biography

Kisses and the dreams built on them

Review by bookpagedev

Michael D’Antonio’s new biography, Hershey: Milton S. Hershey’s Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire, and Utopian Dreams, is more than a rags-to-riches American success tale. D’Antonio, a Pulitzer Prize-winner for his Newsday work, does an excellent job of using the story of the 19th-century chocolate magnate’s life to illustrate how business can be combined with visionary altruism, a welcome chronicle in today’s age of corporate scandal and greed. The book goes beyond the dry facts of Hershey’s life to sketch the larger social, political and economic forces that played into his success.

Despite a great deal of luck and hard work, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Hershey. His first job at an ice-cream parlor sowed seeds for a life in sweets, but he soon endured a series of failures, including bankruptcy with two different candy companies, and a botched attempt at making cough drops, before he opened the Lancaster Caramel Company in Pennsylvania in the 1880s. Eventually, his highly successful strategy would be to offer Americans a nickel chocolate bar, a sweet alternative to the expensive European versions on the market.

What sets Hershey’s story apart from other top businessmen is what he chose to do with his wealth. With visions of a utopian community, he founded the town of Hershey in the cornfields of Pennsylvania as well as a residential school for needy children. Today, more than 13,000 residents live in this bucolic small town, where the downtown streetlights are shaped like giant Hershey’s Kisses, and golf course fairways stretch out from the lawn of the chocolate factory. The hook of Hershey is the recent battle over how to manage the town and school 60 years after Hershey’s death. A proposed sale of Hershey to gum giant Wrigley in 2002 was squashed by concerned residents, who feared what would happen to Mr. Hershey’s town if an outsider took charge. Today, questions remain about how to move Hershey company and town forward, without the vision and personal leadership of the great man himself. Lisa Waddle is a writer and pastry baker in Nashville.

 

Michael D’Antonio’s new biography, Hershey: Milton S. Hershey’s Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire, and Utopian Dreams, is more than a rags-to-riches American success tale. D’Antonio, a Pulitzer Prize-winner for his Newsday work, does an excellent job of using the story of the 19th-century chocolate magnate’s life to illustrate how business can be combined with visionary […]

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