It is hard not to think of Nebraska without thinking of its greatest writer. Here is a marvelous piece by Capote, Remembering Willa Cather . I remember seeing a stage production of O Pioneers! and being deeply moved by its raw emotions. I had read My Antonia before, and soon found myself hooked, like Capote was by the simple elegance of her prose and the way she was able to evoke so many feelings through her characters. Much of it came from the fact that she had lived those experiences herself. Her father dragged the family from Virginia to Nebraska in 1883, when it was still a young state, settling in the town of Red Cloud. named after one of the great Oglala chiefs. Red Cloud was still alive at the time, living on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, in the aftermath of the "Great Sioux Wars" of 1876-77. I don't know whether Cather took any interest in the famous chief, although it is hard to imagine not. Upon his death in 1909, he was eulogi
Nice, thanks. This seems like a good series to read regardless of other bios I might pick up.
ReplyDeleteJust looked at the "eminent lives" series, but it appears to only cover a handful of presidents. Beethoven and de Tocqueville and others are also in there.
Don't know where to post this but it is an eminent life.American Masters on PBS tonight opens season 23 with Sam Cooke.
ReplyDeleteYou can always make a post of your own, bo.
ReplyDeleteYes I could and as a bonus they went right into an hour on Marvin Gaye but I have the feeling these have been on before.
ReplyDeleteOkay last post on this but the Sam Cooke was new even though I've heard most of it before.The Marvin Gaye is from 2008 and to tie it in to the thread one of the persons interviewed on the Sam Cooke show was Jimmy Carter of the Blind Boys of Alabama.
ReplyDeleteI was looking at some of the other titles in the series, and it was interesting to see that Douglas Brinkley chose to write on Ford and not Carter, who he devoted quite a bit of energy to in Unfinished Presidency. Not to mention, Carter's presidency was much interesting than Ford's.
ReplyDeleteDoctorow on Lincoln should be interesting.
Seems like McGovern got Lincoln in the end,
ReplyDeletehttp://www.americanpresidentsseries.com/bookpage.asp?NUM=16
I love the choices of some of the authors. I think that's what makes the series unique. I almost picked up the McGovern one when I was on the Lincoln reading binge, but for some reason changed my mind. Probably because I read the McPherson mini-bio instead (which wasn't very good).
ReplyDeleteI would be up to reading as many in the series as others are interested in. And if Robert can check in from time to time all the better. My guess is he's read all of them up to six or nine months ago.
I'm already finding in reading Madison that there is more I want to read on Madison. These books are fine introductions to a president, but as their brevity suggests, only scratch the surface.
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