My South: A People, A Place, A World of Its Own [Hardcover]

Robert St. John (Author), Bryan Curtis (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 25, 2005

What started as a simple advertising campaign for the Turner South network has expanded into a phenomenon. The beautiful language brings the South to life in the experiences, memories and emotions of her people.

My south is home

It's the tall pines under which I played in my youth

It's the soft red clay that was a key ingredient in my mud pies

It was those hot summers

When my cousins and I would gather in the shade sucking on icees we had made with red cherry Kool-Aid and a Styrofoam cup

My South has big families where everyone remembers everyone else's birthday. In my South, we put peanuts in bottles of cola and hot sauce on almost everything. My South was cane-pole fishing and creek swimming. In my South, grandmothers pass around pictures of grandbabies and argue about the best azalea fertilizer. In my South, people still say "please" and "thank you," "yes, ma'am" and "no, sir." My South is the best kept secret in the country.

Includes DVD.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Rutledge Hill Press; Har/DVD edition (July 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401602177
• ISBN-13: 978-1401602178
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 7.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #766,769 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bryan Curtis is an author and the president of Dance Floor Books. He is the author/coauthor and editor of more than 15 books, including the popular GentleManners series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Passion for My South!, August 28, 2005

By 

Southern girl (Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My South: A People, A Place, A World of Its Own (Hardcover)

What a wonderful experience! The written and the spoken word presented here is very powerful. As a Southerner I identify with the feelings expressed, but even those of you who are not born southern can find sentiments that you can relate to about family and freedom. And you can learn about the REAL South!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My South: A People, a Place, a World All Its Own A Review, September 30, 2007

By 

D. Jones "Georgia Confederate" (Claxton, Georgia United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My South: A People, A Place, A World of Its Own (Hardcover)

My South: A People, a Place, a World All Its Own, edited by Bryan Curtis, is a 128 page book of poetry and photographs describing the love and sense of home that the various poets within the book have for their Southland. It is a wonderfully written and edited book which gets to the heart of what it means to be a Southerner: a person who understands that God, family and home are truly important and that ancestors are more than just names on headstones or in old genealogy books. This book is a must read for every Southern born and Southern bred individual. More than that it's a must read for those who aren't from the South and just don't get it. In conclusion, a poem found on page 44 of the book sums it up nicely:

In my South, we know the difference between
surviving and truly living.
Around here to be rich means to never go hungry,
so you'll find food, and love, and opportunity a'plenty,
and there'll be people telling you to pull up
that extra chair that always seems to be handy
and to make yourself at home at the table that
overflows with wisdom and corn bread.
And we'll quench your thirst with sun tea--
made sweet and made cold and served best in
jelly glasses and Mason jars, if you please.
--Tressy McMillian

Pick this book up y'all. Read it yourself and get copies for your friends and families. They'll thank you for it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Experience, October 31, 2005

By 

John G. Hartness "Buy my books!" (Charlotte, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: My South: A People, A Place, A World of Its Own (Hardcover)

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of participating in Turner South's My South Spoken Word events, and was greatly surprised and honored to be selected for inclusion in the book and DVD. The photos and words are a wonderful broad canvas of what the South really is, which bears very little resemblance to some cute British Chick talking about turnips in a bad accent. This book covers all aspects of Southern life, and the performances on the DVD are wonderfully honest and heartwarming. 3 guesses what my family is getting for Christmas presents!