Cathedrals of Kudzu: A Personal Landscape of the South

My long-time readers are aware that I am drawn to essayists as unswervingly as I am drawn to essaying. In my online journal (The Soupletter, 1993-2003) I reviewed collections by Diane Ackerman, Annie Dillard, Stephen Jay Gould, Barbara Kingsolver, Ann Lamott, Kurt Vonnegut, E.B. White, Terry Tempest Williams and many others. Each and all are wonderful wordsmiths, and Crowther belongs right up there with the best of them. CATHEDRALS OF KUDZU is largely drawn from the author's regular contributions to The Oxford American a lofty journal, with a regretably small readership. Though Crowther's newspaper column runs regularly in the Independent of Raleigh, and irregularly elsewhere in the alernative press, he deserves a much wider audience. On the other hand, one cannot ignore the fact that writing at his level is aimed a little high for a general readership. Crowther draws on wide knowledge of literature and history, a marvelous vocabulary, a well-honed scepticism, and his enormous good nature, in delineating, skewering, praising and confessing to the sins and glories of his South. His discussion of race relations is the sanest I have seen in print, period. His consideration of the meaning of the Confederacy and its lingering traces is thought provoking and deep, as his consideration of bourbon and hurricanes, evangelists and trees. Well done, I say, well done. A book of southern grace and southern cussedness, showcasing a writer fully deserving of the H.L. Mencken Award he received in 1992, who is still at the top of his form.

A WONDERFUL read! Great for any Southern culture enthusiast! Good source for other Southern books as many references are made in the text. Excellent!!!

I was born, raised and educated through college in Alabama, and I was riveted by Hal Crowther's account of life and culture in the South. I couldn't put it down; my husband kept asking why I was laughing out loud. It covers the gamut of everything Southern--from race relations to dogs to barbeque to Elvis. Crowther is a sympathetic writer, but pulls no punches and is not (in my view) the least bit revisionist about the South's mottled history. You'll enjoy the book more if you've paid homage at the altar of Southern literature--Eudora Welty, William Faulkner, Walker Percy. I would recommend it especially to any Southern ex-pats. Fire up your grill, make some iced tea (or pour yourself a bourbon if you're so inclined), put an Elvis CD on the stereo, and kick back.

This book is really worth your time. Hal Crowther is funny and serious and highly original, even with the South's easy targets, like Elvis or the Southern Belle. Even when Hal Crowther is highly critical, he really gets at the essence of why regionalism is relevant, especially when he's writing about about literature and religion.