Fairhope


Book Description




Coming of Age in Utopia


Book Description

In this exquisitely wrought memoir of a committed life, historian, and civil rights activist, Paul Gaston reveals his deep roots in Fairhope---the unique Utopian community founded in 1894 by his grandfather on the shores of Mobile Bay, Alabama. Fairhope grew into a unique political, economic, and educational experiment and a center of radical economic and educational ideals. As time passed, however, Fairhope's radical nature went into decline. By the early 1950s, the author began to look outward for ways to take part in the coming struggle---the civil rights movement. Gaston's career at the University of Virginia, where he taught from 1957-97, forms the core of Coming of Age in Utopia.




Point Clear


Book Description

Caroline Berry is lost at twenty-seven, living in New York -- not as the writer she once hoped to be but as an assistant at two part-time jobs. In an attempt to figure out a next step, she heads for Point Clear, Alabama, to spend several weeks relaxing at an old southern hotel on Mobile Bay -- unaware that it will soon lie in the direct path of Hurricane Ivan. Ignoring evacuation orders, Caroline hides out in the hotel and braves the storm alone. The next morning, she meets a mysterious man on the beach as he enters the churning water for a swim. He is Walker Galloway, a champion swimmer, which she discovers after learning of his disappearance in the newspaper. Realizing she is the last to have seen him, Caroline becomes entangled with his family and friends, and as she is gradually drawn in to Walker's world, she finds, at last, the story she was meant to tell. Point Clear is a compelling tale of one woman's quest for self -- who finds it only when searching for another.







Stump the Librarian


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Biography




Women of Fair Hope


Book Description

During the depression of the 1890s, a young Iowa newspaperman, indignant over the excesses of the Gilded Age, led a group of midwesterners to the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, where they established a model community based on the utopian ideals of Henry George. In Women of Fair Hope, Paul M. Gaston follows the dreams and achievements of three extraordinary women—an early feminist reformer, an educator, and a freed slave—whose individual desires to create a fairer, more equitable society led them to play important roles in the life of that community.







Whispers In The Dark


Book Description

In 71 Hyacinth Drive, Matt Burke—a writer living alone in his remote house deep in the Maine woods—is driving home one day when he accidentally hits a homeless man on the side of the road. To cover up what happened, he takes his body and brings it back to his house. One night, when he goes to move it, the body's gone. Just as he realizes, footsteps come from upstairs. He's not alone. In The Missing, something strange has been happening inside Haven, Maine—the small, rural, sleepy town known for the “best apple pie” in the state. Slowly, since February, missing posters have popped up in the town: on telephone posts, the town bulletin board, and the front window of Al’s Diner. One of the many people concerned is Violet, someone who has lived in the town ever since she was a little girl. She’s determined to get to the bottom of what’s happening, no matter what happens to her. In 217, hack horror writer, Stephen Greene—the author of books like scariest ghosts spotted in haunted hotels and ten most haunted graveyards—goes to the Fairhope Hotel, intrigued by the hidden history of the 100-year-old hotel. As the almost empty hotel greets him, two days from closing down for the winter, Stephen—soon after settling in—is going to experience what true terror is. Find these and ten more stories inside that are sure to make your skin crawl.




Our Southern Souls


Book Description

Our Southern Souls is a collection of 177 interviews of strangers that I approached on streets all across the southern United States. Each story feels like an honest conversation. Readers of Our Southern Souls have told me they've discovered a part of themselves in a story or found comfort and encouragement in reading about shared experiences or emotions. In the six years since starting this project, I have learned that the faces and places might change, but two things remain constant: everyone has a story to tell, and all of us need to know our life matters.