Southern Bound represents a running conversation on books, writers, and literary travel written for the Mobile Press-Register Books page from 1995 to 2011 by John S. Sledge. The collection includes more than one hundred of the best pieces culled from Sledge's total output of approximately seven hundred columns. Numerous classic authors are celebrated in these pages, including Homer, Plato, Gibbon, Melville, Proust, Conrad, Cather, and Steinbeck as well as modern writers such as Walter Edgar, Tom Franklin, and Eugene Walter.
While some of the essays are relatively straightforward book reviews, others present meditative and deeply personal perspectives on the author's literary experiences such as serving on the jury in the play version To Kill a Mockingbird; spending the night alone in a Jesuit college library's venerable stacks; rambling through funky New Orleans bookshops; talking to Square Books owner Richard Howorth while overlooking the Oxford, Mississippi courthouse; rereading Treasure Island on the shores of Mobile Bay; and remembering a beloved father's favorite books. Engaging and spirited, Southern Bound represents the critical art at its most accessible and will prove entertaining fare for anyone who loves the written word.
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: For the Love of Books
- The South
- Essence of the South Remains Hard to Define
- Slaves in the Family
- Ball's Book Strikes Personal Chord with Historian
- Rivers of History
- Bumper Crop of Poems Celebrates Life on the Land
- Faulkner's "Blood and Thunder" Novel Endures
- Oprah Makes Brave, Bold Choice with Faulkner
- Liuzzo Biographer Brings a Sense of Justice to Topic
- South Carolina's Charms Preserved in Encyclopedia
- Young Woman's Diaries Basis of Wonderful Book
- Painter Mary Whyte Shows Keen Eye for Laborers in Working South
- The Civil War
- Slaves' Memories Offer Harrowing Accounts of War
- LSU Press Revives Story of Army of Tennessee
- Lee's True Legacy beyond Latest Biographer
- Pelham's Valor Shines in Maxwell's Perfect Lion
- Eye of the Storm: Union Soldier's Illustrated Memoir Confirms Civil War Was Tragedy for All
- Co. Aytch a Direct Link to Army in Gray
- Chance Discovery Reveals Details of Mobile Campaign
- Chaffin Cuts Through to Clear View of Hunley
- Poetry Collection from out of the Blue and Gray
- Rosen Invigorates Civil War Setting
- The Gulf Coast Renaissance
- Year in Greece Yields Book for Native Mobilian
- Our Voice of Reason
- Author Finds Inspiration in Writer Eugene Walter
- Store Specializes in Antique Volumes
- Hollon's The God File Deserves National Attention
- Black Belt Chronicles Richly Deserve Recognition
- Mobile Native Knight a Fast-Rising Literary Star
- Breech a Violent, Dark Tale from Franklin
- Scully's In the Hope of Rising Again a Gem
- Chicken Dreaming Corn: Family Tales Spur Captivating Novel of Mobile
- Emotional Exploration of a Deplorable Event
- Groom Takes Big Step with Vicksburg
- Architecture
- How Did Our Gardens Grow? Famously, It Seems
- Mississippi's Victorian Treasures Get Their Due
- Alabama's Architecture Gets Some Overdue Respect
- William Faulkner and the Tangible Past: The Architecture of Yoknapatawpha
- Matrana Shows Pride and Ruin of Plantations
- Historian Upends Ideas on American Architecture
- Scholar—Town Houses Have Many Tales to Tell
- Legacy Presents a Detailed Look at Rayfield's Work
- Fallingwater Study Cuts Myths, Affirms Merits
- The Architect of America
- New Orleans Takes Shape in an Architect's Memoir
- Literary Pilgrimages
- Stumbling on a Fossil of a Southern Dinosaur
- McMurtry's Hometown a Paradise for Collectors
- Drama of Story Comes Alive in Monroeville
- A Night in the Library
- Finding Cahaba: New Book Rekindles Fascination with Alabama's First Capital
- Looking Past Midnight
- A Literary Ramble through Old New Orleans
- Oxford, Mississippi: A Literary Profile
- A Small City of Literary Giants: Greenville, Mississippi
- Visit to Library Is a Return to Childhood
- Images from the Literary Side of Paris, with a Personal Touch
- Walter-Inspired Dream an Affirmation of Creativity
- Classics and Old Favorites Revisited
- A Tale Worthy of the Centuries: Looking into Chapman's Iliad
- Plato's Ancient Words Inspire the Modern Mind
- Old Story, New Life: Heaney Makes Epic Worth the Wait
- Decline and Fall Stands Test of Time
- Last of the Mohicans Was First of Its Kind
- Omoo a Showcase for Melville's Lighter Side
- Slowly, Beautifully: That's How the Cookie Crumbles
- Revisiting a Classic at the Water's Edge
- Joseph Conrad's Typhoon Shows Power of Storm
- One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Pleasure
- Pride and Prejudice Run Deep in Memoir
- Old Soldier Sahib a Rare Chronicle of Bygone Empire
- Cather's Look Westward Broke New Literary Ground
- Shane Stands as Classic of Western Genre
- Book behind Classic Wayne Film Still Holds Up
- Pacific Battleground Is More Than a Memory
- The International Scene
- A Shadowed Friendship: Book Looks Back on Broken Bond between Two Powerful Writers
- Quirky Italian Novel Shines in Recent Reissue
- "Just an adventurer": An Aid Worker's Strange Path
- Cuba in Mind Brings Island Near Enough to Touch
- Events Make Brick Lane a Timely Volume
- Long Way Gone a Tribute to Human Spirit
- My Forbidden Face Drives Home Sufferings of Women under Taliban
- Márquez Classic Still Rewards Reader's Effort
- Istanbul, Not Constantinople, Gets the Works from a Nobel-Winning Native Son
- Iconic AK47 Assault Rifle Subject of Far-Ranging Biography
- Controversy and Censorship
- Plagiarism Charges Pull Prize-Winner from Shelves
- Alexandria's Library Rises from the Ashes—but Fires Still Burn
- George and Lennie Feeling the Squeeze
- Proposed Book Ban Deserves Firm Rebuttal
- America Flap Puts Mississippi in Spotlight
- Writer Takes Clear-Eyed Look at Battle Flag's Past and Present
- Without Sanctuary Confronts an Ugly Past
- Poe Folks Perturbed by Graveyard Guest
- Breach of Faith Offers Incisive Critiques
- An Open Letter to Louisiana's Governor
- School's Switch Alarms Book Lovers
- Old Writings Preserve Sense of Beaches' Beauty
- Reading and Writing Life
- My First Gun Became a Boy's Rite of Passage
- The Reader: A Quieter Side of Michael Jackson
- Politics Aside, Spanish Opens Rich Literary Terrain
- In Changing Times, It's Hard to Turn the Page
- Southern Writers Save the Style for the Page
- Oscar Wilde: One Fine Figure of a Writer
- Everybody Has a Story, but Who Wants to Read It?
- Odd Fantasy Reveals Deep-Seated Desire
- Coleridge Tome More Than Equal to Georges
- Favorite Reading Spots Make Good Books Better
- Elysium
- Mentor's Passing Time for Reflection
- Mississippian's Deep Roots Yielded a Towering Legacy
- In Memoriam: Eudora Welty
- George Plimpton's Wit, Grace Will Be Missed
- Foote Takes His Place among Heavenly Host
- Norman Mailer Leaves Larger-Than-Life Legacy
- A Chess Board Warrior's Influence Remembered
- A Father's Reading List Holds Share of Treasures
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