Search results for ""Mercer University Press""

Allman Joy: Keeping the Beat with Duane and Gregg is Bill Connell's insightful account of the mid-1960s musical journey he went on as the drummer for The Allman Joys, a group that was a precursor to The Allman Brothers Band. A native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Connell began drumming as a teenager, and worked his way through the burgeoning Tuscaloosa music scene. A passing encounter with the brothers Allman in 1966 led to Connell being offered the drummer's chair in The Allman Joys. The day after high school graduation at age seventeen, he found himself headed to New York City's Greenwich Village to join the band. His experiences touring with the group over the next several years make for captivating stories and offer tremendous insight into a little-known chapter in the development of The Allman Brothers Band. Connell's time in the band was cut short by the draft, but he remained in contact with both Allmans, and he resumed his musical career after his service in the U.S. Navy was completed. Bill Connell's love for Duane and Gregg shines brightly throughout the book. This memoir is loaded with touching personal thoughts and hilarious tales from the road, making it a must-read for music fans of all ages.

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The dominant public philosophy of the United States of America has long been some version of liberalism--dedicated to individual liberty, equal rights, religious freedom, government by consent, and established limits on political power. Today, however, we today find ourselves in unusual times, when the major political parties have powerful and growing wings that embrace decidedly illiberal public philosophies. On the Left, critical theory eschews Enlightenment rationalism and liberal ideas of toleration and individual liberty as structures that serve to support inequality and oppression. On the Right, conservative scholars excoriate liberalism for privileging an ideal of individual autonomy that eats away at the civilizing bonds of family, tradition, religion, and country. What seems new here is not the critiques themselves, but the power and popularity of political movements that openly and proudly reject the first principles of America's long-dominant public philosophy. Can the center hold? Can the principles of 1776 survive? Or has liberalism run its course? With these questions in the air, this book proposes to return with fresh eyes to the beginning of liberalism and the political philosophy of John Locke. Instead of looking at Lockean liberalism as a simple and timeworn ideological program, the essays reexamine Locke's project by remaining alive to the complexity and nuance with which he addressed his subject. The Locke that emerges is indeed an ambitious and radical thinker, but one not as imprudent or unmindful of custom as his conservative critics would have it, nor as tolerant of oppression as his progressive critics aver.Contributors include Nasser Behnegar, Steven Forde, Peter Josephson, Rita Koganzon, J. Judd Owen, Gabrielle Stanton Ray, and Scott Yenor.

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Frank Lambert tackles the central claims of the Religious Right “historians” who insist that America was conceived as a “Christian State,” that modern-day “liberals” and “secularists” have distorted and/or ignored the place of religion in American history, and that the phrase “the separation of church and state” does not appear in any of the founding documents and is, therefore, a myth created by the Left. He discusses what separates “bad” history from “good” history, and concludes that the self-styled “historians” of the Religious Right create a “useful past” that enlists the nation’s founders on behalf of present-day conservative religious and political causes. Lambert believes that the most effective means of critiquing such misuse of history is sound historical investigation that considers all the evidence, not just that which support’s an author’s biases, and draws reasonable conclusions grounded in historical context.

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No sport rivals football for building character. In the scorching heat of two-a-days and the fierce combat of the gridiron, true leaders are born. Just ask Bill Curry, whose credentials for exploring the relationship between football and leadership include two Super Bowl rings and the distinction of having snapped footballs to Bart Starr and Johnny Unitas. In Ten Men You Meet in the Huddle, Curry shares the wit, wisdom, and tough love of teammates and coaches who turned him from a next-to-last NFL draft pick into a two-time Pro Bowler. Learning from such giants as Vince Lombardi and Don Shula, Ray Nitschke and Bubba Smith, Bobby Dodd and even the indomitable George Plimpton, Curry led a football life of nonstop exploration packed with adventure and surprise. As our country has grown more and more divided in the last decade, the sport of football has taken on added significance as a builder of constructive relationships between people from varied environments. From the locker rooms to the stands, communities bond in a unique and powerful way in and around our sport. The fact remains that football is America's game. Blessed with irresistible characters, rich personal history, and a strong, simple, down-to-earth voice, Ten Men You Meet in the Huddle proves that football is much more than a game. It is indeed a metaphor for life. This enhanced and updated version examines and amplifies the pressing issues facing football today.

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The Road Goes on Forever utilizes history, personal interviews, and many collected documents to aid in the telling of the story of the humble beginnings and career of the original Southern rock band on this, the 50th anniversary of their formation. Author Michael Buffalo Smith personally spoke with former Allman Brothers members including Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Butch Trucks, Warren Haynes, and Allen Woody, as well as producers, engineers, roadies, and fans to create a tribute to Macon, Georgia's greatest rock and roll export. Smith takes us inside the Big House on Vineville Avenue in Macon where the band lived during their peak years and into Capricorn Studios where they recorded all of their original albums. The albums are each given the spotlight as well, including Gregg and Dickey's solo projects, and the book explores the exhaustive list of recording credits accumulated by Duane Allman during his far too short career. There is a complete review of the unprecedented 40th anniversary Beacon Theatre residency in 2009 that found the band joined onstage by a veritable Who's Who of contemporary music greats. More than just a history of the greatest Southern band of all time, The Road Goes on Forever is a reference manual for fans of the band--a book filled with ramblin' men, blue skies, Georgia peaches, and great music. Chuck Leavell, former band member and current Rolling Stones band leader, provides the foreword.

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An innovative book, When Fiction and Philosophy Meet explores the intersection between the philosophy of Simone Weil from Paris, France, and the fiction of Flannery O’Connor from the Southern state of Georgia, USA. In an era of war, of unprecedented human displacements, and of ethnic, racial, and religious fears the ideas of these two intellectuals bear on our present condition. Both women keenly desired to perceive the realities of good and evil inherent in human existence and to bring this truth to the consciousness of their contemporaries. Embracing their belief that truth is eternal but must be transposed and translated, generation after generation, in language appropriate to each age, the authors acquaint O’Connor readers with concepts in Weil’s religious philosophy as seen in O’Connor’s stories. Doering and Johansen simultaneously illustrate how Weil’s philosophy, when embodied in fiction, reveals the lived realities of the human condition across time and space. Simone Weil and Flannery O’Connor were audacious thinkers with inquiring minds who held clear and firm religious convictions. Each applied her understandings of enduring spiritual truths to the challenges of nihilism and social oppression as seen in the spreading totalitarianism and the distressing legacy of slavery throughout human history. Both Weil and O’Connor crossed disciplinary boundaries and influenced their respective fields with innovative ideas and artistic expressions. Taking their cues from these writers, Doering and Johansen bring these two remarkable women into a four-voiced dialogue-Simone Weil and Flannery O’Connor with Doering and Johansen-by engaging each writer in the forms of her own genre and inviting readers to enter a dialogue of courage with Weil and O’Connor in the postmodern and post-Christian world.

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The Atlanta Woman’s Club has steered the development and identity of Atlanta since 1895. Headquartered in the elegant and historic Wimbish House on Peachtree Street, the club symbolises both a vibrant past and continuing hope for this unique Southern city. Through their affiliation with the Georgia and General Federation of Women’s Clubs, members have helped improve the quality of life in Atlanta, the South, and the world in the fields of politics, human rights, poverty, the arts, education, health, conservation and the understanding of international affairs. As educational advocates, they worked to set the foundation of the Atlanta Public Kindergarten system and Georgia’s public library system. Along with other Georgia Federation of Women’s Club members, the Atlanta Woman’s Club is a vested owner of Tallulah Falls School, one of the most esteemed college preparatory private schools in the country. They helped establish the first farmers’ market in metro Atlanta and were instrumental in promoting the acquisition of a landing field and the building of what is now Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Few are aware of the club’s enormous effect on its community and state, or its ties to the Georgia Federation of Women’s Clubs (GaFWC) and the General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC), both of which have been a major force in the history of Georgia and the nation. A Light on Peachtree: A History of the Atlanta Woman’s Club is the story of the remarkable efforts and accomplishments of the Atlanta Woman’s Club from 1895 to present time.

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Weaving together input from six experts in the fields of Bible, Church History, and Theology, Christianity introduces learners to the practices, traditions, beliefs, and scriptures of the Christian faith. This expanded and updated edition tells Christianity's growth from humble origins to becoming the world's largest religion. New material appears on a variety of topics, such as church architecture, vestments, church offices, apocalyptic literature, the Gospels, Roman citizenship, and the life of Paul. This edition distills the most current research in an accessible style and user-friendly format, and improves on the previous edition by highlighting and defining key terms, adding breakout boxes, and rewriting all major sections with a focus on clarity and up-to-date information. Complete with a new introduction and conclusion, Christianity offers a fresh, crisp, and concise survey of a faith held dear by more than two billion people across the globe.

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Late in life, writing his memoirs, John Bell Hood wrote, ""no man is justly entitled to be considered a great General, unless he has won his spurs."" Hood did not explain how an officer earned his spurs, but he didn't need to. One may assume that such an accomplishment came about when a soldier conscientiously performed his duty, and gave his all in attempting to meet his country's expectations of him. In this work, the first of two volumes, Hood's rise in rank is chronicled. In three years, 1861-1864, Hood rose from lieutenant to full general in the Confederate army. Davis emphasizes Hood's fatal flaw: ambition. Hood constantly sought promotion, even after he had found his highest level of competence as division commander in Robert E. Lee's army. As corps commander in the Army of Tennessee, his performance was good, but no better. Promoted to succeed Johnston, Hood did his utmost to defend Atlanta against Sherman. In this latter effort he failed. But he had won his spurs, even if he had been denied greatness as a general.

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A career-spanning volume drawn from forty years of work and a selection of new poems.Stephen Corey’s work is intelligent, moving and engaging. Poem after poem is beautiful, effortless, and thought-provoking. The range of style and subject matter, the depth of thought and emotion, the elegance and resonance and simplicity of language, the affectionate voice and tone—all work to make this a truly important and memorable book.“Here is a life, and a life, and / a life,” Stephen Corey writes in the opening poem’s instructions to on how find the faded leaf—also a metaphor for the end of life—that one must imagine still colored after he is “gone.” The poem is echoed near the end of this stunningly rich and encompassing book in a poem addressed to his four daughters about what he has missed during his life. In between we encounter a world we thought we knew but have not seen in this way before: things as varied as Monarch butterflies, telephones, calligraphy, and bread, as well as other writers and texts that become lenses to show us “How we are growing undoes what we are” and see.Like the glassblower’s art in one of these major poems, “Breath makes another world.” And like his Michelangelo in a sequence that masterfully covers centuries, we see “the way a life we love can be steered, / beyond our control, beyond us.” And so, thanks to this important and needed book we too can live beyond ourselves; that, indeed, is the highest praise for any art.”—Richard Jackson, author of Broken Horizons and Where the Wind Comes From“Stephen Corey’s, As My Age Then Was, So I Understood Them, is sometimes bookish, in the best ways, and in addition to welcoming many of the stars in our pantheon (Shakespeare, O’Keeffe, Keats, Ginsberg, Woolf, and Whitman for example) there’s also the dual elegy for the poet’s father and Dickinson (the latter also has her own baseball poem), Emerson ‘at the moment of his first masturbation,” and a sequence in which Li Po and Tu Fu hop on a jet and tour America. What this means is that when Corey forays into “the real world” —keeping a hospital death watch, exploring and exalting carnal love, or delighting in his young daughter “playing Beethoven on my chest” — the poems are informed by both of his masters… by the “shelves of books” that are “the bones of my brain.””—Albert GoldbarthStephen Corey worked at the Georgia Review for thirty-six years in various positions including thirteen year as Editor before retiring in 2019. His first two poetry collections, The Last Magician (Water Mark Press, 1981) and Synchronized Swimming (Swallow’s Tale Press, 1984), were winners of national competitions. All These Lands You Call One Country (University of Missouri Press, 1992) and There Is No Finished World (White Pine Press, 2003) followed, and a half-dozen poetry chapbooks were interspersed along the way. His first prose collection was Startled at the Big Sound: Essays Personal, Literary, and Cultural (Mercer University Press, 2017), and a second is in process.

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