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Title details for Spying on the South by Tony Horwitz - Available

Spying on the South

An Odyssey Across the American Divide

by Tony Horwitz
Mark Deakins
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
The New York Times-bestselling final book by the beloved, Pulitzer-Prize winning historian Tony Horwitz.
 
With Spying on the South, the best-selling author of Confederates in the Attic returns to the South and the Civil War era for an epic adventure on the trail of America's greatest landscape architect. In the 1850s, the young Frederick Law Olmsted was adrift, a restless farmer and dreamer in search of a mission. He found it during an extraordinary journey, as an undercover correspondent in the South for the up-and-coming New York Times.
For the Connecticut Yankee, pen name "Yeoman," the South was alien, often hostile territory. Yet Olmsted traveled for 14 months, by horseback, steamboat, and stagecoach, seeking dialogue and common ground. His vivid dispatches about the lives and beliefs of Southerners were revelatory for readers of his day, and Yeoman's remarkable trek also reshaped the American landscape, as Olmsted sought to reform his own society by creating democratic spaces for the uplift of all. The result: Central Park and Olmsted's career as America's first and foremost landscape architect.
Tony Horwitz rediscovers Yeoman Olmsted amidst the discord and polarization of our own time. Is America still one country? In search of answers, and his own adventures, Horwitz follows Olmsted's tracks and often his mode of transport (including muleback): through Appalachia, down the Mississippi River, into bayou Louisiana, and across Texas to the contested Mexican borderland. Venturing far off beaten paths, Horwitz uncovers bracing vestiges and strange new mutations of the Cotton Kingdom. Horwitz's intrepid and often hilarious journey through an outsized American landscape is a masterpiece in the tradition of Great Plains, Bad Land, and the author's own classic, Confederates in the Attic.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 14, 2019

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781984888662
      • File size: 495096 KB
      • Duration: 17:11:26

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This literary road trip translates well to audio, as it relies heavily on description and anecdote. The twin travelogue recounts Frederick Law Olmsted's journey through the pre-Civil War South and writer Tony Horwitz's 21st-century attempt to re-create that journey. At the time, Olmstead was working as a journalist for the NEW YORK TIMES. Mark Deakins offers an engaging narration. His conversational tone and pacing suit the material well, and he hints at regional dialects just enough to set those speakers apart. He captures Olmsted's and Horwitz's wonder at America's natural beauty. He also renders Horwitz's sense of humor as he describes some of the oddities he encounters and voices his disappointment at finding vestiges of the prewar South in the current day. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from March 25, 2019
      Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Horwitz (Confederates in the Attic) follows the trail of Frederick Law Olmsted, 19th-century reporter and legendary landscape architect, across the American South in this expansive and generously conceived travelogue
      . His pursuit of Olmsted, “a Connecticut Yankee exploring the Cotton Kingdom on the eve of secession and civil war” for the New York Daily Times, takes Horwitz by train, boat, car, and mule through West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, as he documents the “diversity and capaciousness of America.” Horwitz observes general challenges throughout the region—a “heartland hollowed out by economic and social decay,” disappearing rural towns, toxic industries, jobs moving from manufacture to tourism, obesity, and drugs—and allegiances, especially to evangelical Christianity and guns, but also discerns a unique character in each region, among them the Cajun identity of south Louisiana and the history of German radicals in Texas. Horwitz delights in the absurd and easily interlaces history with his many adventures—among them cruises on a coal tow and a steamboat, mudding in Louisiana, a re-enactment at the Alamo—where he encounters generous hospitality, warm intelligence, and, occasionally, bald bigotry. Throughout, Horwitz brings humor, curiosity, and care to capturing the voices of the larger-than-life characters he encounters. A huge canvas of intricate details, this thoughtful and observant work delicately navigates the long shadow of America’s history. Photos. Agent: Kris Dahl, ICM.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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