Literature

This new and definitive edition of Letters from Alabama offers a valuable window into pioneer Alabama and the landscape and life-forms encountered by early settlers of the state.Phillip Henry Gosse (1810-1888), a British nationalist, left home at age seventeen and travelled to Canada before making his way to Alabama in 1838. He was employed by Judge Reuben Saffold and other planters near Pleasant Hill in Dallas County as a teacher for about a dozen children of local landowners, but his...

Nadine J. Johnson is a longtime published author of herbal garden columns. Her stories are in the former News Herald, under the title "The Farmer's Wife," in Chickasaw, Alabama. Her later columns appear in Baldwin County newspapers: Eastern Shore Courier as well as in The Troy Progress and the Troy Messenger. She writes a column, currently, for the Alabama Farmers Coop News under the title, "The Herb Lady." Also, Nadine is a former contributor to the Montgomery Advertiser. Her herb and plant...

Alabama's capital has roots all over the state. It first emerged in St. Stephens in 1799, a small fort acquired from the Spanish atop a tall limestone bluff overlooking the Tombigbee River. Next came Huntsville in the Tennessee Valley, where the state constitution emerged. Cahawba was the capital to receive a visit from the Marquis de Lafayette, the last surviving general of the American Revolution. In 1826, Tuscaloosa took the reins for twenty years before the final move to Montgomery....

Few states have as colorful a political history as Alabama, especially in the post-World War II era. During the past six decades, the state played a central role in the civil rights movement, largely moved away from its earlier farm-based economy and culture, and transitioned from a relatively moderate-progressive Democratic Party politics to today's hard-core conservative Republican Party domination. Moving onto and off Alabama's electoral stage during all these transformations have been some...

Pasture Art, a collection of novellas, set in the Alabama Black Belt, a swath of dark soil that runs through the central part of the state, explores the history, culture, and spirit of the people who live there.  Author, Marlin Barton knows his Alabama Black Belt, as well or better than any writer could, writing stories that will haunt you after you put his book down. 

Lizzy Wallace Boudreaux cherishes her friendship with Kay, not just because she is a terrific gal, but also because she helped orchestrate the first meeting four years ago between Lizzy and the love of her life. But as much as Lizzy likes how good Kay’s husband, Marcus, is to her, she still cannot ignore the nagging feeling in the back of her mind that Marcus has a dark side. Lizzy has no idea she is about to discover that her intuition is spot-on.While running errands, Lizzy walks in the...

In his debut title, author Tony Watkins explores the deep and lasting stain left by the institution of slavery on our country by chronicling events, personal stories, and personalities from slavery to the Civil Rights Movement.Mr. Watkins started his remarkable journey after discovering a pair of slave shackles under the floor of an old cabin on his great grandmother's (Ma'dear) property. That discovery led to research, which then led to Tony's personal journey to better understand race in...

For generations, the women of Gee's Bend have made quilts to keep a family warm, as a pastime accompanied by sharing and singing, or to memorialize loved ones. Today, the same quilts hang on museum walls as modern masterpieces of color and design. Inspired by these quilts and women who made them, award-winning author Patricia C. McKissack traveled to Alabama to learn their stories and brought back this beautiful collection of lyrical, interconnected vignettes.

Set in South Alabama The Second Head of Chocalata is a series of short stories written about a man and a boy. The author wrote a few of these short stories as the boy recalled tales the man had told him about the hunting and fishing adventures of his youth around the Mobile area. Then the author tells the boy's life as he grew up hunting, fishing, water skiing, and frog gigging in and about the rivers and marshes of the Mobile River Delta and Mobile Bay. Some of the stories are serious, some...

Stacy Little gives Southerners a good name. He's the sort of native you'd like to trade stories with, over a glass of sweet tea... and a slice of coconut cake, while you're at it! This Alabama boy knows the treasured staples of the Southern kitchen, and his approach to cooking will remind you of why food and family are so central to this region's culture. As author of the popular Southern Bite blog, Little celebrates the South's cuisine one recipe at a time. A loving homage to the vibrant...

Amanda Walker is a longtime columnist with AL.com, the Wilcox Progressive Era in Camden, Alabama, several regional papers. Her writing explores the elusive ups and downs of everyday life. She weaves and dances along the heartstrings thread through us all. She can be quite opinionated and delightfully humorous.Her book "The Tears and Laughter of a Southern Voice Calling" is a collection of short stories, writing, and collumns based off of experiences from life growing up in the south. ...

The Tombigbee River flows through the history of Alabama and Mississippi, connecting the Black Prairie cotton belt of northeast Mississippi and west Alabama to Mobile and the Gulf of Mexico. In the early 1800s, it became the regional artery of commerce and trade, with steamboats carrying cotton to the port of Mobile and then returning upriver with farm supplies and consumer goods. Today, the "rollodores," who rolled cotton bales down slides to the decks of boats; the sunken logs, or "dead...