Holiday Books On Arkansas Topics Are Great Yule Gifts

I’ll make no bones about it. It is almost Christmas and time for a list of the best Arkansas books for gifts and memberships in area and state groups that will keep readers informed all year long.

So here goes.

One of the most popular books in 2019 has been Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 of Joe David Rice’s, Arkansas Backstories: Quirks, Characters and Curiosities of the Natural State.

These are great, easy to read, Arkansas books published by the Butler

Center Books in Little Rock.

These books are all about the people, places and some weird things to be found in the Great State of Arkansas. Rice, a former fishing guide and longtime travel expert for the state (and no relation to this columnist) can tell the tales like few have written about in the past years.

Another beautiful book, this one by the University of Arkansas Press, is Crystals In Art, by Lauren Haynes and Joachim Pissarro. It is a big, breathtaking and informative exploration into many of the works of art and crystals.

Most of the usages of crystals in art can be found, well, where else but Crystal Bridges Museum of America Art, just up the road in Benton County.

Need a big coffee table type book for a special person? Then grab up the last of the UA Press’ collection of the watercolor works of George Dombrek.

Simply titled: Barns and Portrait Paintings. This book will decorate your living area and also be a great book for a gift.

You want to read something local?

Well, grab off the shelves Cane Hill, a locally produced photo book from Bobby Braly of Cane Hill (he is the head of Historic Cane Hill Inc.) and the folks at Arcadia Press.

The photographs in the book, many unseen before, are wonderful old scenes of early Cane Hill, and Braly, a trained archaeologist and historian, fills in all the gaps in this wonderful story of one of the oldest settlements in Arkansas.

Just out by the UA Press is Fugitivism: Escaping Slavery In the Lower Mississippi Valley, 1820-1860, by Charles Bolton. It is indeed a great read and an eye-opener on slavery.

For the outdoorsman the UA Press has second edition of the famous Fishes of Arkansas, co-edited by Henry Robinson and Theodore Buchanan. This comprehensive guide to the state’s fish population enables both the professional and non-professional to identify the various species in Arkansas.

Wanting something for a retired teacher?

How about A Man of Vision, about the life of Arch Ford, long-time commissioner of the Arkansas Department of Education, is a great read. This book is from the Butler Center Books.

Most all these books can be found at your local independent bookstores in the area.

Still needing better hints, here are two suggestions remaining.

History lovers, especially those in Northwest Arkansas, must have a membership to the Washington County Historical Society for a basic membership of $30 per year ($20 for students and senior citizens). The basic membership level includes all four issues of the Flashback, the historical quarterly. Check it out at info@washcohistoricalsociety.org And a site on the website allows you to join and pay on line – a simple procedure.

For lovers of the state’s history, no better organization to join would be the Arkansas Historical Association, which publishes the Arkansas Historical Quarterly and has other programs.

The basic membership is $20 per year. Information can be found at www.arkansashistoricalassociation.org

And next week, if I can put these must-read books down, I’ll be back to politics.