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The Small Town in the Machine Age: Sherwood Anderson’s “Poor White”
For those generally familiar with American literature, particularly that of the early twentieth century, the name Sherwood Anderson likely brings to mind his famous collection of interconnected short stories called Winesburg, Ohio (1919). This book is one of a number appearing around the time that helped, as is often said in some literary histories, to…
Read MoreAmerica’s Teacher: William Holmes McGuffey
American educator William Holmes McGuffey, famous for creating his McGuffey Readers, an influential series of school texts in 19th century America, was born on September 23, 1800 in western Pennsylvania. He received a sparse education in his childhood and youth, but learned enough to eventually teach in the one-room country schools of rural Ohio after…
Read MoreDer Dunbar: Paul Dunbar’s German-American Dialect Poem “Lager Beer”
It’s Oktoberfest season around the world, so I’ve decided to highlight an interesting poem of Paul Dunbar’s in honor of the occasion. Oktoberfest is a sixteen-day long beer and folk festival held in Munich each year in September that has inspired other similar celebrations around the world. The poem is “Lager Beer,” an early dialect…
Read MoreOur “Greatest Civil War Novel?”: MacKinlay Kantor’s “Andersonville”
Deep in the quiet Georgia countryside lies twenty-six and a half acres of land that once were home to 45,000 men. The very silence of the spot stands in sobering contrast to the constant din that resounded here one hundred and fifty years ago. What was once a landscape of squalor, disease, and suffering is…
Read MoreRay Bradbury: Born August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois
Today would have been Ray Bradbury’s ninety-fifth birthday. He was born on August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. Except for a couple of brief moves to California and Arizona in his childhood, Bradbury spent most of the years from birth to age fourteen in Waukegan before the family permanently relocated to Los Angeles, California. Although…
Read MoreJesse Stuart’s “Hie to the Hunters”
Recently on this blog I profiled the noted Appalachian author Jesse Stuart. Stuart, born in Greenup County, Kentucky in 1906, was a prolific writer who published novels, short stories, essays, books for children and youth, and autobiography. His memoir of teaching in rural Kentucky, The Thread That Runs So True, published in 1949, has long…
Read MoreA Force of Nature: The Life and Work of Jesse Stuart
He was born in Greenup County, Kentucky, the son of poor parents who moved from one Kentucky hill farm to another, working hard to make the land pay. His father was illiterate. But he would grow up to become a prestigious and highly paid writer who traveled the world and eventually owned all the land…
Read MoreMacKinlay Kantor’s alternate history classic “If The South Had Won The Civil War.”
The variety of fiction often called “alternate history” has a long tradition, and there are dozens of titles that fit the category. Alternate history fiction is fiction that explores the question “What if?” What if the Nazis had won World War II? What if the Confederacy had won the Civil War? What if Napoleon conquered…
Read MorePaul Dunbar’s “Majors and Minors:” Published 120 Years Ago.
One hundred and twenty years ago the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar published the volume that propelled him into wider prominence: Majors and Minors. This was Dunbar’s second volume of poetry. His first, Oak and Ivy, appeared in 1892. Both books were the products of a 19th century self-publishing deal. Dunbar contracted on credit with the…
Read MoreBuckeyemuse Road Trip: The Paul Laurence Dunbar House in Dayton, Ohio
To visit the Paul Laurence Dunbar House in Dayton, Ohio is to step back into the world of late Victorian America. You can almost hear the clop of horse hooves on cobblestones, smell the heavy tobacco of cigars and taste the earthy bite of old fashioned root beer as you walk through these rooms and…
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