Writings
Ohio and Ohio Valley writers and writing, literary and cultural history with occasional ventures into the greater Midwest and Upper South.
Our “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…
Ray 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…
Jesse 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…
A 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…
MacKinlay 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…
Paul 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…
Buckeyemuse 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…
May 22, 1868: The Reno Gang Makes Outlaw History
May 22, 1868. The darkness of the backcountry night has settled around a train stop where the Jefferson, Madison & Indianapolis train takes on wood and water. In this outpost near Marshfield, Indiana, seven men wait for the train. They lurk beneath trees or behind bushes. Frank Reno, the leader of the men, kneels down…
James Wright’s “In Ohio”
James Wright is one of the most distinguished twentieth century American poets. Born in Martins Ferry, Ohio in 1927, he attended local schools and served in the U.S. Army on Occupation duty in Japan, then returned to study at Kenyon College near Gambier, Ohio where he earned his bachelor’s degree. He studied overseas at the…