A Jesse Stuart Reader

New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1963. H3 - A later printing hardcover book SIGNED by Jesse Stuart with "with greetings and all best wishes" written on the front free endpaper in very good condition in poor dust jacket that is mylar protected. Dust jacket has wrinkling, chipping, crease, and some tears on the edges and corners, 2" open tear on the bottom spine, long horizontal tear on the lower front, a couple of open tears on the back left side, some scattered stains, rubbing and scuffing, tanning and light shelf wear. Book has some bumped corners, wrinkling on the spine edges, a few light stains on the cover and page edges, light tanning and shelf wear. Stories and poems selected and introduced by JESSE STUART, Foreword by MAX BOGART, Commentary and questions by ELLA DeMERS. 8.25"x5.5", 342 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. This glowing collection of stories, memoirs, and poems by one of America's most beloved storytellers has as its background the hills of Kentucky. The land and its people are Jesse Stuart's raw material, and through his sure art, the world he evokes here so beautifully and lovingly escapes any regional confines, to become literature with a universal appeal - stories telling of the conflicts, compassions, hardships, cruelty, birth, and death of men who live close to the land. Beginning with a theme he wrote as a high-school student - a theme which ultimately appeared in the Atlantic Monthly - Mr. Stuart has gathered together all of the stories and poems that have been most meaningful to him in his long career as a major American author. For each he has written an introduction, commenting on his reasons for the choice and offering such recollections as concern the story and its particular place in his life. The result is a book that sparkles with humor, that captures the sights, sounds, and smells, the valleys and woodlands of a country that has been particularly Jesse Stuart's own, the Kentucky where he was born and spent most of his life. It is a book in which the storyteller is retelling his favorite tales once more, and describing how and why he wrote them, or where they belonged, both in his personal life and in the world he created. Some of the stories are taken from his famous novels, other material comes directly from his unique and colorful life. Included too is the moving speech made when the Governor of Kentucky proclaimed Jesse Stuart Day. There are also memorable passages from his works of nonfiction - recollections of his father as he was described in God's Oddling, and the beginnings of a journey back from death that was to become The Year of My Rebirth, which dealt with his recovery from a heart attack. In 1961 the Academy of American Poets awarded him a prize for his poetry, which Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Hillyer called beautiful and rare with its own "golden place in our too-often shadowy literature." Twenty-six of his poems are reprinted here. A Jesse Stuart Reader is a volume that will be welcomed by a devoted public that has grown longer with each passing year, and this fine selection made from all his work will introduce still more delighted readers to that radiant world and unforgettable way of life that has been capture here, even as it has begun to vanish from the America scene.. Signed by Author. Hardcover. Very Good/Poor. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.