Art and Craft: Thirty Years on the Literary Beat

by Bill Thompson, Josephine Humphreys (Foreword by)

Overview

A compendium of profiles, interviews, and reviews published by the South Carolina book review editor

Art and Craft presents the hand-picked fruit of Bill Thompson's three decades covering writers and writing as book review editor of Charleston, South Carolina's Post and Courier. Beginning with a foreword by Charleston novelist Josephine Humphreys, this collection is a compendium of interviews featuring some of the most distinguished novelists and nonfiction writers in America and abroad, including Tom Wolfe, Pat Conroy, Joyce Carol Oates, Rick Bragg, and Anthony Bourdain, as well as many South Carolinians. With ten thematic chapters ranging from the Southern Renaissance, literature, biography, and travel writing to crime fiction and Civil War history, Art and Craft also includes a sampling of Thompson's reviews.

A foreword is written by South Carolina novelist Josephine Humphreys, who is author of Dreams of Sleep (winner of the 1985 Ernest Hemingway Award for First Fiction), Rich in Love (made into a major motion picture), The Fireman's Fair, and Nowhere Else on Earth.

Featuring: Jack Bass, Rick Bragg, Roy Blount, Jr., Robin Cook, Pat Conroy, Patricia Cornwell, Dorothea Benton Frank, Herb Frazier, Sue Grafton, Carl Hiaasen, Sue Monk Kidd, Brian Lamb, Bret Lott, Jill McCorkle, James McPherson, Mary Alice Monroe, Joyce Carol Oates, Carl Reiner, Dori Sanders, Charles Seabrook, Anne Rivers Siddons, Lee Smith, Mickey Spillane, Paul Theroux, Tom Wolfe

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611174410
Publisher:	University of South Carolina Press
Publication date:	02/27/2015
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	8.90(w) x 6.30(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Bill Thompson was a book review editor, film critic and columnist, arts writer, and travel writer for the Post and Courier of Charleston, South Carolina, from 1980 to 2012. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a former sportswriter in Virginia and Florida, he has won numerous awards for his writing. In his retirement Thompson frequently reviews and writes for Kirkus Reviews, the Post and Courier, and Charleston Style and Design. He lives in Charleston.

Table of Contents

Foreword Josephine Humphreys xiii

Prologue 1

Leading Lights, or the Test of Renown 5

A Man in Full Tom Wolfe's 6

Oswald's Tale Norman Mailer's 8

An Alchemy of Mind Diane Ackerman's 12

The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? Edward Albee's 16

The Hours Michael Cunningham's 19

Beach Music Pat Conroy's 22

Shadow Play Charles Baxter's 25

We Are the Mulvaneys Joyce Carol Oates's 28

Schlindler's List Thomas Keneally's 30

Beyond the Game Gary Smith's 31

Final Vinyl Days Jill McCorkle's 38

Tomcat in Love Tim O'Brien's 41

Biography, Real and Imagined 45

The Reluctant Mr. Darwin David Quammen's 46

Ol' Strom Jack Bass's 48

Potter: A Life in Nature Linda Lear's Beatrix 53

The Prince of Frogtown Rick Bragg's 56

Stonewall Jackson James I. Robertson's 58

Haunted Heart Lisa Rogak's 60

High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly Donald Spoto's 63

Strength and Honor: The Life of Dolley Madison Dick Côté's 67

The Traveler's Muse 73

The Tao of Travel Paul Theroux's 74

Come Hell on High Water Gregory Jaynes's 76

Apple's America R. W. Apple's 79

Traveling with Pomegranates Sue Monk Kidd's 82

Had a Good Time Robert Olen Butler's 85

Off the Road Jack Hitt's 88

Not Exactly What I Had in Mind Roy Blount's 91

The Late Unpleasantness, in Fact and Fiction 97

Cold Mountain Charles Frazier's 98

Slaves in the Family Edward Ball's 101

Confederates in the Attic Tony Horwitz's 106

Shrouds of Glory: From Atlanta to Nashville Winston Groom's 109

The Civil War: A Narrative Shelby Foote's 112

The Year of Fubilo Howard Bahr's 115

Writing the Civil War James McPherson's 117

Look Away! A History of the Confederate States of America William C. Davis's 119

On Agate Hill Lee Smith's 122

Jewish Confederates Robert Rosen's 124

Charleston Under Siege Doug Bostick's 128

The Southern Renaissance 131

DuBose Heyward: A Charleston Gentleman and the World of Porgy and Bess James M. Hutchisson's 122

A Devil and a Good Woman, Too Susan Millar Williams's 135

The Charleston Renaissance Martha Severens's 138

A Talent for Living Barbara Bellow's 141

A Bluestocking in Charleston Louise Allen's 142

Crime and Punishment 147

Stormy Weather Carl Hiaasen's 148

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil John Berendt's 151

Unnatural Exposure Patricia Cornwell's 153

P Is for Peril Sue Grafton's 156

The Ship That Never Was Mickey Spillane's 158

Destination: Morgue! LA. Tales James Ellroy's 163

Queenan Country Joe Queenan's 166

Pressing Issues 171

The Conquest of Paradise Kirkpatrick Sale's 172

Critical Robin Cook's 174

Sweetgrass Mary Alice Monroe's 176

Memory Wall Anthony Doerr's 179

Signs and Wonders Roger Pinckney's 181

Dirty Secrets, Dirty War David Cox's 186

Making Government Work Fritz Hollings's 189

Too Late to Die Young Harriett McBryde Johnson's 192

Banana-Republic: A Year in the Heart of Myrtle Beach Will Moredock's 196

Behind God's Back Herb Frazier's 200

Watering the Wasteland 205

Talk Show Dick Cavett's 206

The Book of David David Steinberg's 209

Just Deserts Carl Reiner's 211

I Love You Beth Cooper Larry Doyle's 214

Way Off the Road Bill Geist's 215

"Booknotes" Brian Lamb's 217

Palmetto's Progress (The Locals) 211

How to Get Home Bret Lott's 211

A Gentleman of Charleston and the Manner of His Death William Baldwin's 224

Nowhere Else on Earth Josephine Humphreys's 227

Crossroads of Twilight Robert Jordan's 230

Cumberland Island: Strong Women, Wild Horses Charles Seabrook's 224

The Man Who Stayed Behind Sidney Rittenberg's 236

Between North and South: The Letters of Emily Wharton Sinkler Anne LeClercq's 240

Her Own Place Dori Sanders's 243

Sweetwater Creek Anne Rivers Siddons's 245

Edisto Revisited Padget Powell's 248

Grub Elise Blackwell's 250

The German Officers Bay Harlan Greene's 252

Rumblings of a Lowcountry Game Warden Ben Moïse's 254

Frank's Porch Lights Dorothea Benton 256

The Reviews 259

The Cult of the Amateur by Andrew Keen 260

Sex and Destiny by Germaine Gree 263

A Biography by Barbara Learning Orson Welles 265

Medium Raw Anthony Bourdain 268

Douglas Fairbanks Jeffrey Vance 270

Author of the Century by Tom Shippey J. R. R. Tolkien 272

Less Than Glory Norman Gelb 274

American Beat Bob Greene 277

Sean Connery Andrew Yule 278

An Urchin in the Storm Stephen Jay Gould 280

The New Biographical Dictionary of Film David Thomson 282

Adventures in Porkland Brian Kelly 283

Fishing in the Tiber Lance Morrow 285

A Literary Feast edited Lilly Golden 286

What People are Saying About This

Josephine Humphreys

From fiction and biography to books about travel, history, crime, television, the Charleston Renaissance, the environment—his range is wide. What's more, the essays are just plain fun to read. Bookstores may have come and gone, and the publishing industry is in a state of panic. But we are a strong writing community today, thanks in no small measure to the Thompson era.

Bret Lott

Bill Thompson has for what seems forever been the Lowcountry's chronicler of books, good and bad, big and small, and this book bears testament to the great good work on behalf of the word he's been doing all these decades. This is a terrific compendium of publishing history and criticism, not to mention a joy to read!

Catherine Holmes

Taken one by one, the pieces in Bill Thompson's first collection spotlight his matchless gifts: an active, fluent intelligence; a talent for listening and taking artists on their own terms; and a scope that honors both the local and far-flung. Together, they conjure up the Thompson era, a golden thirty-year span when each week brought a fresh bulletin from the cultural front.

Editorial Reviews

Thompson's own literary style is as smooth and inviting as that of many of the authors he has written about.

Charlie Nutt (Free Times)

These hand-picked essays... are literary gems in their own right.

Charleston Style & Design Magazine

I would like to think that a book such as this truly came deep from his heart and pride and that it means much to him. I would take it as a huge accomplishment.

Dew on the Kudzu (Idgie)

I would like to think that a book such as this truly came deep from his heart and pride and that it means much to him. I would take it as a huge accomplishment. Dew on the Kudzu (Idgie)


Thompson s own literary style is as smooth and inviting as that of many of the authors he has written about. Charlie Nutt (Free Times)


Taken one by one, the pieces in Bill Thompson s first collection spotlight his matchless gifts: an active, fluent intelligence; a talent for listening and taking artists on their own terms; and a scope that honors both the local and far-flung. Together, they conjure up the Thompson era, a golden thirty-year span when each week brought a fresh bulletin from the cultural front. Catherine Holmes, College of Charleston


Bill Thompson has for what seems forever been the Lowcountry's chronicler of books, good and bad, big and small, and this book bears testament to the great good work on behalf of the word he's been doing all these decades. This is a terrific compendium of publishing history and criticism, not to mention a joy to read! Bret Lott, College of Charleston


From fiction and biography to books about travel, history, crime, television, the Charleston Renaissance, the environment his range is wide. What s more, the essays are just plain fun to read. Bookstores may have come and gone, and the publishing industry is in a state of panic. But we are a strong writing community today, thanks in no small measure to the Thompson era. Josephine Humphreys, from the foreword

From the Publisher