Politics are stagnant; fall books filling shelves for holidays
As the onslaught of state and national politics heats up in the days ahead, I suspected it was time to trot out the best books for fall and winter 2018.
There is, of course, a sack full of local books on the state ready and waiting at local independent bookstores and the usual bigger chain bookstores.
A Butler Center Book out of Little Rock worth reading is: “A Rough Introduction to This Sunny Land: The Civil War Diary of Private Henry A. Strong, Co. K, Twelfth Kansas Infantry,” edited by Tom Wing.
Strong’s diary provides a rare record of the experiences and observations of a western federal infantryman. It covers his enlistment in Kansas in 1862, duty in southwest Missouri, march across Indian Territory to Arkansas, camp life in Fort Smith, and the Camden Expedition. He describes Confederate guerrilla operations, the execution of bushwhackers, and aspects of civilian life in Arkansas during the war.
The University of Arkansas Press on the Fayetteville campus has two very sharp poetry offerings: “Teeth Never Sleep,” by Angel Garcia, and “Our Earliest Tattoos,” by Peter Twal.
Both of these thin volumes are prize winners. Twal’s book, was the winner of the 2018 Etel Adnan Poetry Prize and is written in the style of the late e.e. cummings for all you poetry lovers. Garcia’s book was the winner of the 2018 Cantomumdo Poetry Prize, which is a big deal.
Locally, Denele Campbell, has a new book out, “The Violent End of the Gilliland Boys: A True Story of the Old West,” which is just great for the lovers of the Zane Grey type stories and set in the icy winter of the Ozarks and the dusty plains of Oklahoma’s Indian Territory.
If it is a tale of deep human emotion to escape a life amid turmoil you are looking for, former Northwest Arkansas Times
Sports Editor Kyle Mooty has a refreshing tale of sports and life itself. “New Set of Downs: How Johnny Dyess Fought Off His Greatest Would-Be Tackler And Returned to Winning Ways.”
Be forewarned as those who know Mooty, this is a tale of a former great Alabama prep player who also played for the Crimson Tide but still is a great motivational read.
Another Butler Book to consider with the Centennial of World War I being observed is: “To Can the Kaiser: Arkansas and the Great War,” edited by Michael D. Polston and Guy Lancaster.
The essay in “To Can the Kaiser” details the ways in which World War I connected Arkansas to the world and changed the state and its people. More than 70 thousand Arkansans served as soldiers during the war, and many Arkansas families lost loved ones. Wartime propaganda led to suspicions directed against some Arkansas residents, such as German immigrants, Jehovah’s Witnesses and others.
As always, I’ll recommend a membership with four-quarterly issues of the FLASHBACK from the Washington County Historical Society, with memberships starting at $15 a year for seniors and $25 for general membership. Contact the WCHS at www.washingtoncountyhistoricalsociety.org.
The Arkansas Historical Association offers a four-issue Arkansas Historical Quarterly for $20 a year. The AHA can be contacted at www.arkansashistoricalassociation.org
Books mentioned here can be found at local independent book dealers all over the state.
Political intrigue returns next week.
Maylon Rice is a former journalist who worked for several northwest Arkansas publications. He can be reached via email at maylontrice@yahoo.com. Opinions expressed are those of the author.