Dispatches from the Drownings

Dispatches from the Drownings
Author :
Publisher : UNM Press
Total Pages : 218
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780826355041
ISBN-13 : 0826355048
Rating : 4/5 (41 Downloads)

Synopsis Dispatches from the Drownings by : B. J. Hollars

Disturbed by stories of drownings in the river behind his home in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, writer B. J. Hollars combed the archives of local newspapers only to discover vast discrepancies in articles about the deaths. In homage to Michael Lesy’s cult classic, Wisconsin Death Trip, Hollars pairs reports from late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century journalists with fictional versions, creating a hybrid text complete with facts, lies, and a wide range of blurring in between. Charles Van Schaick’s macabre, staged photographs from the era appear alongside the dispatches, further complicating the messiness of history and the limits of truth.

Blurring the Boundaries

Blurring the Boundaries
Author :
Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages : 284
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781496210128
ISBN-13 : 1496210123
Rating : 4/5 (28 Downloads)

Synopsis Blurring the Boundaries by : B. J. Hollars

Contemporary discussions on nonfiction are often riddled with questions about the boundaries between truth and memory, honesty and artifice, facts and lies. Just how much truth is in nonfiction? How much is a lie? Blurring the Boundaries sets out to answer such questions while simultaneously exploring the limits of the form. This collection features twenty genre-bending essays from today's most renowned teachers and writers--including original work from Michael Martone, Marcia Aldrich, Dinty W. Moore, Lia Purpura, and Robin Hemley, among others. These essays experiment with structure, style, and subject matter, and each is accompanied by the writer's personal reflection on the work itself, illuminating his or her struggles along the way. As these innovative writers stretch the limits of genre, they take us with them, offering readers a front-row seat to an ever-evolving form. Readers also receive a practical approach to craft thanks to the unique writing exercises provided by the writers themselves. Part groundbreaking nonfiction collection, part writing reference, Blurring the Boundaries serves as the ideal book for literary lovers and practitioners of the craft.

Opening the Doors

Opening the Doors
Author :
Publisher : University of Alabama Press
Total Pages : 301
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780817317928
ISBN-13 : 0817317929
Rating : 4/5 (28 Downloads)

Synopsis Opening the Doors by : B. J. Hollars

Opening the Doors is a wide-ranging account of the University of Alabama’s 1956 and 1963 desegregation attempts, as well as the little-known story of Tuscaloosa, Alabama’s, own civil rights movement. Whereas E. Culpepper Clark’s The Schoolhouse Door remains the standard history of the University of Alabama’s desegregation, in Opening the Doors B. J. Hollars focuses on Tuscaloosa’s purposeful divide between “town” and “gown,” providing a new contextual framework for this landmark period in civil rights history. The image of George Wallace’s stand in the schoolhouse door has long burned in American consciousness; however, just as interesting are the circumstances that led him there in the first place, a process that proved successful due to the concerted efforts of dedicated student leaders, a progressive university president, a steadfast administration, and secret negotiations between the U.S. Justice Department, the White House, and Alabama’s stubborn governor. In the months directly following Governor Wallace’s infamous stand, Tuscaloosa became home to a leader of a very different kind: twenty-eight-year-old African American reverend T. Y. Rogers, an up-and-comer in the civil rights movement, as well as the protégé of Martin Luther King Jr. After taking a post at Tuscaloosa’s First African Baptist Church, Rogers began laying the groundwork for the city’s own civil rights movement. In the summer of 1964, the struggle for equality in Tuscaloosa resulted in the integration of the city’s public facilities, a march on the county courthouse, a bloody battle between police and protesters, confrontations with the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, a bus boycott, and the near-accidental-lynching of movie star Jack Palance. Relying heavily on new firsthand accounts and personal interviews, newspapers, previously classified documents, and archival research, Hollars’s in-depth reporting reveals the courage and conviction of a town, its university, and the people who call it home.

Study in Perfect

Study in Perfect
Author :
Publisher : University of Georgia Press
Total Pages : 221
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780820347127
ISBN-13 : 0820347124
Rating : 4/5 (27 Downloads)

Synopsis Study in Perfect by : Sarah Gorham

Essays and musings considering the elusive and evocative idea of perfection that traverse topics that are at once ordinary and elemental: the house she and her husband once thought was "perfect," being a mother and being a daughter, alcoholism, middle age.

You Must Be This Tall to Ride

You Must Be This Tall to Ride
Author :
Publisher : Penguin
Total Pages : 249
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781599633633
ISBN-13 : 1599633639
Rating : 4/5 (33 Downloads)

Synopsis You Must Be This Tall to Ride by : B.J. Hollars

Compelling stories have the power to generate infinite wonder: It's nearly impossible to imagine how the author began, and yet we sense there's much more beyond the final word. It's this mystery–a combination of inspiration and craft, smoke and mirrors–that makes writing feel momentous. But it can also feel overwhelming, causing us to become small, scared, not quite ready for the "big" rides, such as finishing that story, that novel, and finding the courage to share it with the world. In You Must Be This Tall to Ride, you'll find 20 works of fiction and nonfiction by acclaimed contemporary authors, each offering fresh perspective on ''coming of age'' (a story to which we can all relate), as well as exclusive personal essays and practical exercises.In their own words, these writers grant you a guided tour of craft with unparalleled access to the process behind their creation, including how to: • grow a story from the seed of an image or sentence • allow experiments with language to lead you to plot • turn even the most unlikely characters into heroes • transform raw anecdotes from your own life into compelling fiction and essay Join 20 writers as we grow up and down, taking a rollercoaster ride in stories. You'll not only begin to understand what makes the wheels of a story turn, you'll also gain the tools and strategies to transform lost characters and runaway plots into the greatest show on earth. So go ahead, step right up. Listen for the calliope music, and take your place in line. Your ride has just begun.CONTRIBUTORS: • Steve Almond • Aimee Bender • Kate Bernheimer • Ryan Boudinot • Judy Budnitz • Dan Chaon • Brock Clarke • Michael Czyzniejewski • Stuart Dybek • Michael Martone • Antonya Nelson • Peter Orner • Jack Pendarvis • Benjamin Percy • Andrew Porter • Chad Simpson • George Singleton • Brady Udall • Laura van den Berg • Ryan Van Meter

Harbingers

Harbingers
Author :
Publisher :
Total Pages : 0
Release :
ISBN-10 : 194934407X
ISBN-13 : 9781949344073
Rating : 4/5 (7X Downloads)

Synopsis Harbingers by : B. J. Hollars

Literary Nonfiction. We're constantly looking for clues of what comes next, in tarot cards and tea leaves, in augury and biography, too. But can we ever find our futures by such means? In three thematically linked essays, B.J. Hollars explores what harbingers might have been present in the lives of scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer before he invented the atomic bomb and civil rights activist Medgar Evers before he was murdered. He also considers his own overlooked portents in a static-filled universe. Taken together, these stories converge toward the humbling truth that life's only certainty is uncertainty, and our harbingers--no matter how strong--only offer insight in the aftermath.

This Is Only a Test

This Is Only a Test
Author :
Publisher : Indiana University Press
Total Pages : 180
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780253018212
ISBN-13 : 0253018218
Rating : 4/5 (12 Downloads)

Synopsis This Is Only a Test by : B. J. Hollars

The Truman Capote Prize-winning author “provides an offbeat look at the fragility of human life and our resilience when faced with death” (Kirkus). On April 27, 2011, just days after learning of their pregnancy, B. J. Hollars, his wife, and their future son endured the onslaught of an EF-4 tornado. There, while huddled in a bathtub in their Alabama home, mortality flashed before their eyes. With the last of his computer battery, Hollars began recounting the experience, and would continue to do so in the following years, writing his way out of one disaster only to find himself caught up in another. In this collection of personal essays, Hollars faces tornadoes, drownings, and nuclear catastrophes. These experiences force him to acknowledge the inexplicable while he attempts to overcome his greatest fear—the impossibility of protecting his newborn son from the world’s cruelties. Through his and others’ stories, Hollars creates a constellation of grief, tapping into the rarely acknowledged intersection between fatherhood and fear, sacrifice and safety, and the humbling effect of losing control of our lives.

The Road South

The Road South
Author :
Publisher : University of Alabama Press
Total Pages : 190
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780817319809
ISBN-13 : 0817319808
Rating : 4/5 (09 Downloads)

Synopsis The Road South by : B. J. Hollars

Intro -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgments -- Author's Note -- Prologue: All Aboard -- Part I. The Road Behind -- 1. James Zwerg: Appleton, Wisconsin -- 2. Susan Wilbur: Nashville, Tennessee -- 3. Miriam Feingold: Brooklyn, New York -- 4. Charles Person: Atlanta, Georgia -- Part II. The Road Ahead -- 5. Bernard LaFayette Jr.: Tampa, Florida -- 6. Bill Harbour: Piedmont, Alabama -- 7. Catherine Burks: Birmingham, Alabama -- 8. Hezekiah Watkins: Jackson, Mississippi -- 9. Arione Irby: Gee's Bend, Alabama -- Epilogue: The Last Stop -- Sources -- Bibliography -- Index

The Way We Weren't

The Way We Weren't
Author :
Publisher : Catapult
Total Pages : 142
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781619026308
ISBN-13 : 1619026309
Rating : 4/5 (08 Downloads)

Synopsis The Way We Weren't by : Jill Talbot

After years of futon passion, Hemingway discussions, and three-mile runs, Jill Talbot’s relationship with a man carved in her doubts so deep she wrote to ignore them. And even though he was as unwilling to commit to a place or a job as Talbot was to marrying him, he insisted that she keep the baby when a pregnancy surprised them during their fourth year together. As it turned out, Kenny wasn't able to commit to a child either, so when the court ordered visitation and support for their four-month-old daughter, he vanished. His disappearing act was the catalyst for Talbot’s own, as she moved her daughter through nine states in as many years—running from the memory of their failed relationship and the hope of an impossible reunion, all the while raising a daughter on her own. Then, one day while packing boxes, she found a photograph that changed everything. In this memoir-in-essays, Talbot attempts to set the record straight, even as she argues that our shared histories are merely competing stories we choose to tell ourselves. A bold look at the challenges of love and the struggles of a single mother in America today, The Way We Weren't tells a complex, unforgettable story of loss and leaving, and of how Talbot learned that writing can't bring anything back, but that because of it, nothing is ever really lost.

Wicked River

Wicked River
Author :
Publisher : Vintage
Total Pages : 314
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780307379511
ISBN-13 : 0307379515
Rating : 4/5 (11 Downloads)

Synopsis Wicked River by : Lee Sandlin

A riveting narrative look at one of the most colorful, dangerous, and peculiar places in America's historical landscape: the strange, wonderful, and mysterious Mississippi River of the 19th century. Beginning in the early 1800s and climaxing with the siege of Vicksburg in 1863, Wicked River brings to life a place where river pirates brushed elbows with future presidents and religious visionaries shared passage with thieves. Here is a minute-by-minute account of Natchez being flattened by a tornado; the St. Louis harbor being crushed by a massive ice floe; hidden, nefarious celebrations of Mardi Gras; and the sinking of the Sultana, the worst naval disaster in American history. Here, too, is the Mississippi itself: gorgeous, perilous, and unpredictable. Masterfully told, Wicked River is an exuberant work of Americana that portrays a forgotten society on the edge of revolutionary change.