Well, I haven't looked at any outright horrible books in a bit so let's try one on.
Hmmm...oh, no, there's probably nothing going to be wrong about a book entitled "Klansman" and showing a white man in a power pose before a disheveled black woman on her knees before him. Also, I love the signal of a woman meekly attempting to pull one sleeve that had fallen back over her shoulder. Before books started reflecting reality (in oh, let's say 1991) that sort of subtle gesture or image was code. The meaning of the code changed over the years but in this case it definitely means rape. Sure, I don't want it to be rape...but it is what sells. Or something sordid--Mackenzie Phillips says what?
The author, William Huie (which I have to guess is pronounced something like hoo-ee cause of the Southern birth of the man), was pure Alabama--born there, graduated from an Alabama school, wrote about Bama football, and lived through and journalistically covered some of the high/low-lights (which is best?) of the Civil Rights Movement. Then he right promptly used some of that material to write what I guess I could call in my best PR impersonation "racially charged."
Just looking at the man's history brings back all sort of twisted thoughts on Southern heritage. I was born in Alabama and still find myself rooting for Auburn...but, damn there is a lot to be ashamed of culturally. So this cover, and I don't care enough to review the interior, just reminds me of all that. Like most of the ephemera I've collected in the past years, I keep this bit cause it reminds me of a different past. Not just some scrubbed rendition of "before and after" or "this=good and this=bad," but a real world of shadings...a world where books with covers like this were bestsellers should be remembered if not fondly then just coldly.
No comments:
Post a Comment