More 2016 Summer Books: Courts, Art And Good Reads

UPDATED HISTORY ON THE LIVES OF POWERFUL WOMEN IN THE STATE OF ARKANSAS

As promised last week, there is indeed two weeks’ worth of columns regarding the summer of 2016’s reading list.

Politics, I promise, return next week.

From Butler Books in Little Rock is an updated and newer look at powerful women in Arkansas.

Some ruled from politics, others from wealth, but all are powerful.

In “Notable Women of Arkansas: From Hattie to Hillary, 100 Names to Know,” Dr. Nancy Hendricks outlines the lives of them all. Authors, aviators, athletes – they are all Arkansans.

The 100 Arkansas women profiled in “Notable Women of Arkansas” have glittered in the national spotlight. They have blazed trails in athletics, civil rights, literature, politics, science, show business, and the arts.

They are all Arkansas women, each with their own family, childhood, loves, losses, dreams, fears, hopes for the future, and ghosts from the past. These notable women — profiled together in one volume — have left an impressive legacy.

From the UA Press in Fayetteville comes ”Brother Bill: President Clinton and the Politics of Race and Class,” an insightful look at Bill Clinton’s political relationship with African-Americans.

President William Jefferson Clinton had enjoyed the support of African-Americans during his political career, but the man from Hope also had a complex and tenuous relationship with this faction of his political base. Clinton stood at the nexus of intense political battles between conservatives’ demands for a return to the past and African-Americans’ demands for change and equality.

Another UA Press Book about the Little Rock Newspaper War is truly a great summer read.

Veteran newsman Jerry McConnell is the author of “The Improbable Life of the Arkansas Democrat: An Oral History.” Arkansans should remember the number two paper that became number one.

This work covers the improbable life of the Arkansas Democrat in a collection of more than 100 interviews with employees of the Democrat, including editors, reporters, feature writers, cartoonists, circulation managers, business managers, salespeople, pressroom managers, typesetters, and others, from the 1930s through the early 1990s, when the Democrat took over the Arkansas Gazette after an aggressive newspaper war.

An intriguing look at the federal courts in Arkansas also comes from the UA Press.

“United States District Courts and Judges of Arkansas, 1836– 1960,” edited by Frances Mitchell Ross, is a great look at how the district court system evolved in Arkansas.

These essays — one each for a judge and his decisions — come together to form a chronological history of the Arkansas judicial system as it grew from its beginnings in a frontier state to a modern institution. It is a must read for those who love the law.

Perhaps the best reissue of an out-of-date Ozarks tale is “Back Yonder: An Ozark Chronicle,” by Wayman Houge, updated and edited by Brooks Blevins.

This is to be the first in a series of classic books about the people and places of the Ozarks to come from the UA Press.

Originally released in 1932, Wayman Hogue’s “Back Yonder” is a rare and entertaining memoir of life in rural Arkansas during the decades following the Civil War.

Just want to look at some lovely photographs? Well, the UA Press with its partnership with the Arkansas Wildlife Society offers “A Rare Quality of Light, 40 Years Of Wilderness Photography,” by Tim Ernst. The name says it all. This book contains 182 incredible photographs taken during the past 40 years of Tim Ernst’s professional photography career.

That’s just a smattering of good books to read this summer.

Back to politics next week.

“The 100 Arkansas women profiled in “Notable Women of Arkansas” have glittered in the national spotlight. They have blazed trails in athletics, civil rights, literature, politics, science, show business, and the arts.”