Best Book in Georgia History

Ben Marsh has won the Georgia Historical Society's 2008 Malcolm Bell, Jr. and Muriel Barrow Bell Award for his book GEORGIA'S FRONTIER WOMEN: FEMALE FORTUNES IN A SOUTHERN COLONY. The Bell Award, which is given annually to the best book in Georgia history published in the previous year, is named in honor of Malcolm Bell, Jr. and Muriel Barrow Bell in recognition of their contribution to the recording of Georgia's history. The award will be presented at the Society's 275th Birthday Bash and Awards Gala on Saturday, February 16, 2008, in Savannah.

"Ben Marsh has given us a fresh and important look not only at women's changing economic and cultural worlds in colonial Georgia, but at the dynamic and complex nature of colonial Georgia as a whole," Michele Gillespie, Professor of History at Wake Forest University said of the book. "Given its scope and its ambitiousness, GEORGIA'S FRONTIER WOMEN is certain to become one of the most authoritative books on colonial Georgia for some time."

Book of the Year

World View, the international program for educators at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, has named GROUNDED GLOBALISM by James L. Peacock as its Book of the Year. World View's mission is to "help schools and colleges prepare students to succeed in an interconnected world in which the rules have changed for everyone."

In its citation World Views notes that, "if there were a dictionary entry for 'global Southerner,' Peacock’s photo would certainly appear right beside it." As the citation goes on to say, Peacock "asks the right questions and proposes a method for thinking about possible answers. Read it and open a discussion in your own community about our global/local lives together, and what the future holds."

A Trail That Never Grows Cold

USA Today has a story about recent archaeological discoveries in Georgia and what they may tell us about the much-debated route Hernando De Soto took across the Southeast more than 460 years ago. The work of UGA professor emeritus Charles Hudson is discussed at length.

Hudson is the author of KNIGHTS OF SPAIN, WARRIORS OF THE SUN: HERNANDO DE SOTO AND THE SOUTH’S ANCIENT CHIEFDOMS. As he maps out de Soto's route in the book, Hudson blends archaeology, history, and geography with a writing style that the Times Literary Supplement said "brought alive the world changed by Hernando de Soto and the consequences for those whose home it was."

The foremost authority on the Indians of the Southeast, Charles Hudson is the author or editor of numerous books, including BLACK DRINK: A NATIVE AMERICAN TEA and THE FORGOTTEN CENTURIES: INDIANS AND EUROPEANS IN THE AMERICAN SOUTH, 1521-1704. UGA Press has also just reissued two more works by Hudson that have been out of print: FOUR CENTURIES OF SOUTHERN INDIANS and THE CATAWBA NATION.

For a fascinating look at the nitty-gritty details of anthropological fieldwork, pick up a copy of LOOKING FOR DE SOTO: A SEARCH THROUGH THE SOUTH FOR THE SPANIARD'S TRAIL. Author Joyce Rockwood Hudson is a highly regarded layperson among professional anthropologists in the Southeast. She is also Charles Hudson's spouse and his longtime travelling companion.

Short Takes

Recent interviews:
Dave Kaufman, author of PEACHTREE CREEK, on Good Day Atlanta (Fox News).

C. M. Mayo, author of SKY OVER EL NIDO (and a tireless proponent of writing from Mexico) in the blog Women of the Web Wide Poetry World.

Recent reviews:
THE PALE OF SETTLEMENT on NPR's All Things Considered.

SUPER AMERICA in the New York Times Book Review.

PROPHET FROM PLAINS in the Christian Science Monitor, Atlanta Style and Design, and the Charlotte Observer.

TELL BORGES IF YOU SEE HIM in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

In the news:
The New Orleans Times-Picayune posted a recipe from CRAIG CLAIBORNE'S SOUTHERN COOKING, which we recently reissued.

We get blogged:
Ha Jin, whose Flannery O'Connor Award-winning short story collection, UNDER THE RED FLAG, was published in 1997, was recently the featured author on the blog of the Inkwell Bookstore (Falmouth, MA).