Another book...

Why is it that all my friends seem to be cranking out the books, while I sit here watching Auburn trying to ascend to mediocrity? This time it's brother Brooks Blevins with his latest, Arkansas/Arkansaw How Bear Hunters, Hillbillies, and Good Ol’ Boys Defined a State. It's the study of the image of a state as perceived by its people and outsiders, and if it runs true to the ole Blevins form, it will be a great book and a fun read. His article on selling fireworks in the South, which ran in Southern Cultures a few years back, is one of my favorite essays about the modern South...and a real knee-slapper, something we academics rarely pull off. Now off to write something myself. I've been suitably shamed.

"Serves Me Right to Suffer"

I'm in marathon advising sessions this week, and John Lee Hooker sings for me...

Fly Fishing and Vets

A great story about a group helping veterans injured in Iraq and Afghanistan find healing through what Izaac Walton called the "contemplative man's recreation." Pretty cool.

Best Southern Nonfiction...

I have an affection for rankings and polls. Maybe it's my love of college football, although Auburn's recent drop from the polls might change my feelings. There's just something about a list of "bests," be they restaurants, pick-up trucks, football teams, all-time NFL strong safeties, or whatever that I find fascinating and down-right fun. The beauty of these kinds of lists is you don't have to agree. In fact, it's better if you don't. A list that clearly got it wrong gives you ample reason to turn to the person next to you in the dentist's waiting room and exclaim, "Can you believe they picked that?!" The Oxford American, a magazine I've always enjoyed despite its frequent financial travails, offered this list of the best in southern non-fiction in their August issue and I just noticed it. The top four are top-notch: James Agee, Richard Wright, W.J. Cash, and Eudora Welty. I would have placed Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl a bit higher on the list, and my affection for Willie Morris would lead me to do the same with North Toward Home. If nothing else, this list -- including those receiving just a few votes -- provides a heck of a reading list for anyone interested in the South and its people.

Marching in Step

One of my good friends has just published a book those of you who study, read, and ruminate about the South and American culture should find rewarding. It's Alexander Macaulay's Marching in Step: Masculinity, Citizenship, and The Citadel in Post-World War II America (University of Georgia Press, 2009). It's about the South, but it's also about much more. Macaulay examines the concept of American masculinity during the Cold War as seen through the prism of an institution whose self-described mission was to build "whole men." Read it. Buy it. They make excellent gifts. The holidays are almost upon us.

Dexter Filkins on the "Long War" in Afghanistan

A great piece by Dexter Filkins in the New York Times Magazine. Definitely worth a read.

Odetta - The Midnight Special

The late, great Odetta.

Steep Canyon Rangers

They've got roots in western North Carolina and are currently touring with Steve Martin. Good stuff.

A New History for Iraq

History is always political, and nowhere is that fact more apparent than in school textbooks. Our own school systems and the textbook advisory boards that select the books our children use(called different things in different states) have experienced this reality over interpretations of the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Civil Rights movement, and even the religious leanings of the founding fathers. After the Civil War, groups such as the United Daughters of the Confederacy monitored textbooks for their coverage of "the late unpleasantness" and would even dispatch members to monitor teachers when they taught the history of the war. Iraq has a new history for secondary school students, a clear break from the curriculum used by Saddam Hussein to keep himself in power. The Washington Post report indicates some interesting inclusions and exclusions. NPR provides some interviews with students on how they view this new history of Iraq. Things left out: The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and the US invasion and occupation. Things included: Sh'ia religious history.

Shine on, Rev. Gary...

I have to get this album...

Something for Braves Fans to Celebrate

Today is the 52nd anniversary of the Braves' (Milwaukee, that is) victory over the Yankees in Game Seven of the 1957 World Series. Lew Burdette notched the victory over Don Larsen, as the Brave won 9-7 after quelling a late Yankee rally. Hank Aaron had an RBI single and Del Crandall homered. Alas, I'm not watching the Braves this October, but it's something to celebrate.

Doc Watson, "What Friend We Have In Jesus"

The great Doc Watson. I still like the acapella version from Doc and Merle's "Down South" album.

"Ain't Nobody Here Can Walk It For You..."

Mississippi John Hurt, "You Got to Walk That Lonesome Valley." For some reason I've been on a John Hurt kick this week.

Afghanistan and the Theories of Counterinsurgency

For various reasons (and many of you know the specifics), I have been interested in the application of what can only be termed the scholarship of counterinsurgency in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The classic works like T.E. Lawrence's The Arab Revolt and more modern books like John Nagl's Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife get close attention from those charged with turning the military tide in tough circumstances. These applications of history and theory to actual combat are sometimes successful and sometimes not, but I find the process very interesting. This week I read about how scholarship is being used to train leaders in counterinsurgency in Afghanistan. This article by Ganesh Sitaraman in the New York Times profiles the Counterinsurgency Training Center - Afghanistan. Take a read.

Happy 300th, John Lawson

Starting today, the North Carolina Museum of History is hosting a two-day symposium celebrating the 300th anniversary of the publication of John Lawson's A New Voyage to Carolina. They are unveiling an exhibit as well, in case you can't make the talks today or tomorrow. It will run through February. They also have a podcast on Lawson and his book by Jeanne Marie Warzeski, the curator of colonial and antebellum history. Lawson was a English naturalist and his book offers one of the best early descriptions of North Carolina's native peoples and landscape. Pretty cool. You can check out the narrative at the "Documenting the American South" site, hosted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Puttin' the Hog on the Log

I have just re-read Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue by John Shelton Reed and Dale Volberg Reed (UNC Press, 2008), and I have to say it is better than I remembered. It might be that I'm craving a big plate from Lexington Barbecue or Stamey's, but this is a book that is entertaining, educational, and fun. If you are looking for a barbecue fix, or for something to read while you eat a big tray of chopped pork and red slaw (why you would be reading, I have no idea), this one's worth your time. Mama Dip's banana pudding recipe is worth the price of admission all by itself.

Everybody makes mistakes...

Somali pirates attacked a warship by mistake near the Gulf of Aden. But it was a French ship...