Southern Bookman

Eudora Welty would weep at Jackson's water apocalypse

Eudora Welty understood the tangled paths of Southern history.

The 180,000 residents of Jackson, Welty's home, lack water to carry out life's basic functions.

Mississippi can never escape its tortured past. White flight in the 1950s and 1960s in opposition to public school integration decimated the tax base of the state's capital city, where Willie Morris lay in state after his death. The state's majority white government, now ruled by the GOP, refused to invest in the city's infrastructure.

The bill came due this week when the city's water system failed, leaving the predominantly black city without water for bathing, drinking, cooking, flushing the toilet. Many of the residents live below the poverty line.

GOP Gov. Tate Reeves said "ain't it a shame?" and promised to take action. But the people of Jackson live without water.

Eudora Welty wrote a short story based on the murder of Medgar Evers in Jackson.

Birthplace of writers and city of music, education, government and commerce, Jackson has been killed by neglect.

 

 

Farewell, Chattahoochee Review

The Chattahoochee Review began the careers of many acclaimed authors.

Founded by Lamar York in 1989 at what was then Chattahoochee Community College, now Georgia Perimeter College, the small but vital journal published early work by an impressive list of writers. The journal's short stories, poems, author interviews, book reviews and art set a high standard.

AJC book columnist Suzanne Van Atten reported Tuesday that the review has stopped publication, a victim of the covid pandemic and financial setbacks.

Countering that sad news, Van Atten announced that the Townsend Prize for the best fiction book published in Georgia will again be awarded after a two-year hiatus. The Atlanta Writers Club, which took over the prize from the Chattahoochee Review, will announce the winner in April.

On a personal note, I published two pieces in the Chattahoochee Review a number of years ago, a book review and a critical essay on the work of the late Atlanta poet Turner Cassity, who served for many years as Emory University's chief librarian.

The Chattahoochee Review was a literary beacon. Its demise is a loss for Atlanta as a literary center.

Washington Post, New York Times rivalry heats up in books coverage

The Washington Post and New York Times are engaged in a book culture war.

In welcome news for readers, the Post recently announced the revival of its Sunday book review section, which returns Sept. 25. The Post in 2009 quit publishing its Sunday Book World, dismaying book lovers. The newspaper's book reviews were spread across different sections.

Along with competing with The New York Times' Sunday Book Review, the Post hired longtime Times critic John Williams to edit its new section, which will feature essays and reviews by Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Dirda and standout critic Ron Charles along with author interviews and publishing news.

Similar to a blockbuster sports trade, Williams' arrival at the Post followed Pulitzer Prize-winning literary critic Carlos Lozada moving from the Post to the Times, where he will write a literary-focused op-ed column.

Before the Post's announcement of its revived Book World section, the Times appointed Gilbert Cruz as its new book editor, replacing Pamela Paul, who now writes an op-ed column, disappointing so far. Cruz's mission is to revitalize the Sunday book review for the digital age, broaden publishing industry coverage and improve readers' service features.

The Times-Post literary skirmishes come after the Atlantic disclosed its increased coverage of books. The venerable magazine dealt a serious blow to literary culture years ago when it stopped running short stories and moved from Boston to Washington to give more attention to politics. Founded in the 19th century in Boston, then the center of the nation's literary life, the Atlantic was known for publishing many of the country's leading writers. Broadening book coverage represents a return to its literary heritage.

Along with a precipitous decline in circulation, major newspapers drastically cut back or eliminated book reviews in recent years. The Post's shuttering of its Book World under former publisher Lally Weymouth was a devastating loss to the nation's literary culture.

Announcing the Washington Post's new book section, Charles in his newsletter heralded the return of cover illustrations and other print publication attractions. My first thought was to see if I could subscribe to the new section for mail delivery. If not, I'll look forward to enjoying it digitally.

The renewed commitment to book coverage by the Post, Times and Atlantic might bring at least a small revival in book readership, which has declined in recent years, and boost the renewed popularity of traditional print books.

While local newspapers have alarmingly disappeared, the Times and Post have increased revenues through a boom in online subscriptions as print circulation and traditional advertising declined.

A few ironies arise in the book coverage revival. The Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, whose Amazon disrupted the publishing industry. Atlantic owner Laurene Powell Jobs is the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs. Apple, along with Microsoft and Google, fueled the Internet age, revolutionizing reading and the gathering of information.

With all of the disruptions, book culture hangs on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pop superstar Carole King calls for Biden to ban logging in national forests

Superstar singer and songwriter Carole King has used her rock and roll fame to fight for environmental action.

In a passionate op-ed article in The New York Times Friday, King called for President Biden to stop logging in the nation's national forests. Dispelling the myth of rock-star self-indulgence, King wrote with the emotive power of her long string of hits.

The Inflation Reduction Act's programs to promote the growth of trees and protect private and public forests include a survey of the country's old-growth forests, to be completed by next April.

King argued that the country can't wait that long, calling for Biden to immediately ban logging on national forests. Decrying the  loss of trees and the environmental damage from logging operations, she pointed out that forests in storing carbon are a natural defense against climate change.

Such an exective order would undoubtedly bring Biden condemnation from the GOP.  But King makes a convincing case that preservation of the national forests is urgent.

King in the article recalls how she fled the hedonistic Los Angeles lifestyle to live in rural Idaho. At age 80, with a deep reverence for the environment, she's fighting to preserve the national forests for future generations. 

 

 

 

 

Tour Championship to again highlight revival of Bobby Jones' East Lake course

The PGA's season-ending Tour Championship returns this weekend to the East Lake Club, one of Atlanta's success stories.

Bobby Jones' home course, originally called the Atlanta Athletic Club, barely survived the surrounding neighborhood's urban deterioration during the 1950s and 1960s. The club's members voted to move to a new course in suburban Duluth, taking Jones' trophies with them.

One of famed course architect Donald Ross' masterpieces, the old course remained open, held on life support by a dedicated core of Jones admirers. The adjacent East Lake public housing project and surrounding neighborhoods were ravaged by drugs and crime.

Atlanta businessman Tom Cousins stepped in to revive the course, and the desolate streets nearby. The East Lake Foundation led the urban revitalization.

The refurbished course, once surrounded by barbed wire, is now the home of the Tour Championship. Like the Masters, the championship pays homage to Bobby Jones, who grew up playing East Lake. The world-renowned amateur in 1930 won what was then considered golf's "grand slam," the U.S. and British opens and the U.S. and British amateurs. After retiring from tournament golf,  Jones founded the Masters and co-founded Augusta National, some of its holes inspired by East Lake.

Jones' boyhood course again will be packed with golf fans this weekend. East Lake's sweeping fairways, lakeside vistas and elegant clubhouse are again at the center of the golf world.

Midtown slayings carried out near Atlanta cultural jewels

The slayings of two people in Midtown Monday struck at Atlanta's heart.

Once again, gun violence erupted on the city's streets, this time near the city's arts center.

A disgruntled condo resident reportedly expressed her frustration by killing an employee of the building and wounding another. She then killed a person in an adjacent building, according to the AJC, and was later apprehended at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport.

The gunfire rang out near the Woodruff Arts Center, home to the High Museum, Alliance Theater and Symphony Hall, Atlanta's top artistic institutions. They play a major role in defining us as a major city.

Midtown, with its striking office and condo buildings, historic sites like the Margaret Mitchell House, fine restaurants and vibrant street life, is one of the places where Atlanta feels like a real city.

Thousands of people, from schoolchildren to senior citizens, attend concerts, the theater and art exhibits at the Woodruff Arts Center. Office workers flock to lunch at restaurants, and gather in the bars after hours. The high number of condos bring a vibrant street life, even at night. The Fox Theater is a few blocks south.

Gun violence is tragic where ever it occurs. But the Midtown slayings were an attack on Atlanta's soul.

David Maraniss' "Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe" gives full portrait of Indian sports legend

Jim Thorpe's life brings together a twisted strand of American myths. 

Still acclaimed as the country's greatest athlete, the Native American Thorpe's greatest triumph, winning the pentathlon and decathlon in the 1912 Olympics, was unjustly stolen from him. Applauded for his sports prowess,Thorpe suffered from exploitation and the racism of pernicious Indian stereotypes.

For years, he was one of those essential famous Americans whose story was taught to schoolchildren, along with Ben Franklin, George Washington, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and a few others. Thorpe's fame has faded in recent years, but his name remains legendary.

Noted biographer and journalist David Maraniss's "Path Lit by Lightning, a Life of Jim Thorpe" will generate renewed attention to Thorpe's life. With deep research and engrossing writing, Maraniss examines Thorpe's legacy in the broader context of American society. From Thorpe's experiences, he looks at American injustice against Indians, early 20th century sports and journalism, Hollywood and the costs of fame.

Along with college football and Olympics mastery, Thorpe was also a National Football League pioneer, and had a brief career in the Major Leagues. Maraniss entertainingly recounts Thorpe's days with the Canton Bulldogs, one of the first NFL teams. Named the first president of the fledgling league, Thorpe give the NFL and its predecessor initial credibility.

Thorpe's baseball career is also examined, including a fascinating worldwide tour he made with John McGraw's New York Giants. His major league career unfairly thwarted, Thorpe played for a number of years for minor league teams.

Maraniss' biographies of Barack Obama, Vince Lombardi and Roberto Clemente presented careers of continued triumph. In contrast, Thorpe suffered years of downfalls after his early successes. The author mostly succeeds in upholding the interest in Thorpe's last 30 years of disappointment.

Battling chronic alcoholism, Thorpe drifted from job to job, and unsuccessful sports promotion schemes. He was cheated by promoters, and often gave away money he couldn't afford. Married three times, Thorpe also was a neglectful husband and father, often traveling with sports teams or other promotional ventures.

Thorpe also attempted a career in Hollywood, but was reduced to bit roles, including an appearance in James Cagney's "White Heat." With his enduring fame, he spoke out for Indian rights in the film industry.

Maraniss gives a full account of the production of "Jim Thorpe: All-American," an inaccurate and melodramatic film starring Burt Lancaster as Thorpe. Thorpe's paltry payment for the film is one of the many injustices Thorpe suffered through the years.

Born in Oklahoma to the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was one of the Native Americans sent to the Carlisle Industrial Indian School in Carlisle, Pa., whose goal was to "kill the Indian and save the man," or eliminate all vestiges of Indian culture and replace them with white civilization. Under the guidance of famed coach Pop Warner, Thorpe gained fame as a football dynamo for the Carlisle Indians, who played against Harvard, Yale, Penn and other leading college football powers of the day.

Starring as a defensive and offensive halfback, Thorpe also punted and drop-kicked field goals and extra points. Also a prolific passer, he could boot the ball 80 yards and score field goals from long distances.  He was named a first team All-American by Walter Camp in 1911 and 1912. Famous sportswriter Grantland Rice in the 1950s called Thorpe the all-time greatest football player.

Under Warner, he also excelled in track and field at Carlisle. Thorpe qualified for the 1912 U.S. Olympics team in the pentathlon and decathlon. Warner was the coach of the team that traveled to Stockholm, Sweden for the Games. In a stunning dominant performance, Thorpe won both multi-event competitions, receiving special trophies from the king of Sweden and the emperor of Russia along with the two gold medals.

After the Olympic performance, Thorpe returned home to great acclaim, including a ticker tape parade in New York City. Heading back to the gridiron that fall, he led Carlisle to victory over Army at West Point in one of the greatest all-time college games. Maraniss makes a point of mentioning that the West Point stadium lies in the shadow of Custer's tomb. Dwight Eisenhower played for the Army squad, and remembered Thrope's prowess throughout his life. Thorpe and his Carlisle teammates celebrated the win as revenge for the U.S. Army's destruction of Indian tribes.

In 1913, newspaper reports disclosed that Thorpe had received payment for playing semipro baseball in 1910 and 1911 in North Carolina. Declared a professional in violation of the Olympics' then strict amateurism rules, Thorpe was stripped of his medals and trophies, beginning a controversy that generated heated debate for years.

Maraniss presents convincing evidence that Warner and Carlisle President Moses Friedman knew about Thorpe playing for Rocky Mount and Wilmington in the league, which went defunct after several years. College athletes playing minor league baseball was an accepted practice. But Thorpe unlike the others didn't use an assumed name.

Warner denied knowing about Thorpe playing in the minor league, and condescendingly blamed Thorpe for the transgression. James Sullivan, the head of the American Amateur Union, also refused to defend him.

Thorpe lost his medals and trophies although the rules for the Stockholm Olympics stipulated that any charges of professionalism had to be made within 60 days. The newspaper reports about Thorpe's minor league play arose 180 days after the Olympics ended.

But the International Olympics Committee decided to strip Thorpe of his medals and trophies, a decision that Sullivan refused to challenge. Sullivan ordered that the medals and trophies be quickly sent to the IOC, which also removed Thorpe from the record book. Maraniss gives an inadequate explanation of why Sullivan took such hasty action, and how the AAU could take ownership of what might be considered Thorpe's personal property.

Longtime American Olympics Committee and International Olympics Committee head Avery Brundage for years refused to restore Thorpe's victories. Castigated by Maraniss as a Nazi sympathizer who supported the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Brundage competed in the 1912 decathlon, withdrawing after a few events. The book indicates that Brundage might have been moved by resentment over Thorpe's success.

After years of protest by Thorpe's family, and Rice and other sportswriters, the IOC in 1982 partially restored Thorpe's triumphs, declaring him a co-champion with the runners-up. His family received replicas of his medals, which were somehow lost over the years. Maraniss doesn't say, but the trophies, a sculpture and a sterling silver Viking ship, presumably remain at the Olympics headquarters in Switzerland.

Just before the publication of Maraniss' book, the IOC announced the full restoration of Thorpe's victories.

Thorpe's greatness transcended a few medals, even in his most desperate days. Maraniss portrays a resilient man who never lost his champion's heart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guns the primary cause of Atlanta's high murder rate

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution roused itself Friday with an editorial demanding that Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens take action to halt the city's burgeoning murder rate.

Calling for beefing up the city's police force, locking up violent criminals and improving youth programs, the editorial ignored the primary cause of the carnage: guns.

Thanks to Gov. Brian Kemp and the GOP-controlled legislature, Atlanta is flooded with guns. A recent Supreme Court ruling will allow people to carry guns with impunity.

Guns are more prevalent today than they ever were in the Wild West. Males, who commit the overwhelming majority of murders, need guns to prove their manhood. They use gunfire to settle minor aggravations like receiving cold french fries.

Frequent mass shootings bring cries to restrict high-powered assault weapons, but handguns slaughter hundreds each day. Without strong gun laws, the the handgun numbers soar.

Removing guns from the city's neighborhoods will be difficult. Macho Billy the Kids are unwilling to surrender their weapons. Gun buyback programs have not worked. The NRA-backed GOP refuses even mild gun restrictions.

The city's murder rate will keep rising as long as guns proliferate.

 

Big 10 to take over SEC's Saturday afternoon showcase on CBS

Southern football fans will soon say goodbye to CBS' Saturday afternoon SEC game.

For years a permanent appointment at 3:30 p.m. each Saturday in autumn, the nationally broadcast CBS game showcased the SEC as the country's dominant football power. Longtime announcer Verne Lundquist was a Southern folk hero.

The Big 10 will take over the SEC's Saturday afternoon slot on CBS beginning  in 2024. SEC announcers Brad Nessler, who replaced Lundquist, and longtime color analyst Gary Danielson will now broadcast from Big 10 campuses. Even the SEC game's thrilling theme song will head to the Big 10.

ESPN will take over SEC games in 2024, in a massive deal that CBS decided not to match. But the Big 10 this week reached a lucrative contract to broadcast its games on CBS, Fox and NBC, which will offer a prime time Big 10 game along with Notre Dame clashes.

The addition of USC and UCLA will strengthen the Big 10's national appeal beyond Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State. Michigan State and Northwestern draw some national interest, and former heavyweight Nebraska might someday return to glory. But a Rutgers-Illinois matchup won't generate the interest on CBS as say Auburn-Florida.

Shockingly, ESPN withdrew from seeking Big 10 games, casting its lot with the SEC. ESPN for years has shown prime-time SEC games following the CBS showcase. Now, Saturdays on ESPN will be an all-SEC affair. ESPN affiliate ABC will take over the SEC's premiere game at 3:30 p.m. The SEC will add Texas and Oklahoma, bringing even more heavyweight matchups.

The Big 10's mega deal, based on the NFL model, places it ahead of the SEC in TV riches. But the SEC will undoubtedly strike back in the college football arms race.

 

 

Farewell, Pete Carril, legendary Princeton basketball coach

Princeton's near upset of Georgetown in the 1989 NCAA tournament was the greatest basketball game I've ever seen.

Coach Pete Carril's 16th-seeded Tigers thwarted John Thompson's much bigger and more athletic Tigers by passing the ball repeatedly and waiting for open baskets. At the end, Georgetown star Alonzo Mourning blocked a shot to give the Hoyas a 50-49 win.

Carril, who coached 30 years at Princeton and won 13 Ivy League titles, died Monday at age 92, according to his family. He also coached Princeton to the 1975 NIT championship. After his Princeton career, he was a consultant teaching his Princeton offense to NBA teams.

The rumpled and diminutive Carril was a basketball philosopher whose players executed the game's fundamentals with near perfection.

In later years, Princeton upset UCLA in the tournament, a hallmark of the "March Madness" tradition.

College basketball's adoption of the shot clock handicapped Princeton's strategic game. But Carril set the stage for March Madness stories like St. Peter's Cinderella run in last year's tournament.

As Washington Post columnist John Feinstein pointed out, Princeton's near upset of Georgetown preserved the NCAA's practice of inviting smaller schools to the tournament. Before the Princeton-Georgetown thriller, a move was on to just invite schools from power conferences. Princeton's play persuaded the NCAA to continue inviting the champions of smaller conferences, leading to repeated "March Madness" upsets.

Carril's legacy will live on whenever a small school brings down a powerhouse, using guile and basketball fundamentals.