The Earl of Louisiana (Southern Biography Series)
by A. J. Liebling
List Price:
Our Price: $12.38
You Save: $6.57 (35%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.65 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: A. J. LieblingIntroduction: Jonathan Yardley
Foreword: T. Harry Williams
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-02
ISBN: 0807133434
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Louisiana State University Press
Book Reviews of The Earl of Louisiana (Southern Biography Series)
Book Review: Oil's Well...
Summary: 5 Stars
A.J. Liebling is a National Treasure. In reading his musings on boxing, he turns phrases and employs language that makes perusing the fight game fascinating even though the principals have not laced up gloves in over sixty years, and many of the fighters have been banished to anonymity.
In this book, Liebling turns his considerable talent to Earl Long, the brother of Huey "Kingfish" Long, and the long-ago Governor of Louisina. The author makes the contention that Long was even more fearless than his assassinated brother, and blazed a trail to liberalism in a Southern State using his brilliant street smarts, and eccentric personality.
Liebling illustrates one such story of Long's compassion brilliantly, in sifting through 1960's politics to bring it. The story involves a group of "negro" leaders visiting him to complain that the local hospital had not hired enough "colored" nurses. Long, who was not a segregationist (they abounded in the late 1950's in the south) told the leaders that he would get more nurses hired, but they would not like how he did it.
Long went to the hospital and visited a room with two "colored" patients. When a white nurse walked in to check their vitals, Long began screaming that it was an abomination to have white people drawing blood from "niggers", and this would surely lead to miscegenation, and was an effrontery to God's plan. Within months, there was a nursing corps that was almost half black. Long cared about all his constituents, and was cagey enough to know how to play the politics of the era.
Liebling makes Long a larger than life figure, and in his prose, also delivers a look at the South in a time capsule.
Reading Liebling is best done in a reclining chair under a hot sun at an empty pool. If one can simply concentrate on the images and phrases Liebling offers, with little else to contemplate, reading about whatever subject this gifted writer chronicles can be a transforming experience.
Summary of The Earl of Louisiana (Southern Biography Series)
In the summer of 1959, A. J. Liebling, veteran writer for the New Yorker, came to Louisiana to cover a series of bizarre events that began with Governor Earl K. Long's commitment to a mental institution. Captivated by his subject, Liebling remained to write the fascinating yet tragic story of Uncle Earl's final year in politics. First published in 1961, The Earl of Louisiana recreates a stormy era in Louisiana politics and captures the style and personality of one of the most colorful and paradoxical figures in the state's history. This updated edition of the book includes a foreword by T. Harry Williams, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Huey Long: A Biography, and a new introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Jonathan Yardley that discusses Liebling's career and his most famous book from a twenty-first-century perspective.Political Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Political Books
Peter the Greatby Robert K. Massie
Ballantine Books; Published: 1986-01-12; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $45.26
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritanceby Barack Obama
Crown; Published: 2007-01-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.98
Price in other shops:
Mussolini's Shadow: The Double Life of Count Galeazzo Cianoby Mr. Ray Moseley
Yale University Press; Published: 2000-02-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $30.00
Price in other shops:
Theodore Roosevelt: A Biographyby Henry F. Pringle
Mariner Books; Published: 1956-02-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.20
Price in other shops:
Godfather of the Kremlin: The Decline of Russia in the Age of Gangster Capitalismby Paul Klebnikov
Mariner Books; Published: 2001-09-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.77
Price in other shops:
Chasing the Flame: One Man's Fight to Save the Worldby Samantha Power
Penguin Books; Published: 2008-12-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.44
Price in other shops:
Autobiography (Penguin Classics)by John Stuart Mill
Penguin Classics; Published: 1990-04-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.84
Price in other shops:
Going Rogueby Sarah Palin
HarperAudio; Published: 2009-11-24; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $3.83
Price in other shops:
First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers (P.S.)by Loung Ung
Harper Perennial; Published: 2006-04-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops:
Trusted Moleby Milos Stankovic
Harpercollins Pub Ltd; Published: 2001-03; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72by Hunter S. Thompson
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 2006-10-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.86
Price in other shops:
Liberty and the Newsby Walter Lippmann
Dover Publications; Published: 2010-12-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.17
Price in other shops:
Shaking the Foundations: 200 Years of Investigative Journalism in America (Nation Books)Nation Books; Published: 2003-07-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Squareby Ned Sublette
Lawrence Hill Books; Published: 2009-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.79
Price in other shops:
Louisiana: A Historyby et al, Bennett R Wall
Harlan Davidson; Published: 2008-01-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $28.65
Price in other shops:
The Last Hayrideby John Maginnis
Darkhorse Pr; Published: 1984-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $46.94
Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American Cityby Jed Horne
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2008-07-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.72
Price in other shops:
In Cold Bloodby Truman Capote
Vintage; Published: 1994-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.07
Price in other shops:
Huey Longby T. Harry Williams
Vintage; Published: 1981-08-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.83
Price in other shops:
Inside the Carnival: Unmasking Louisiana Politicsby Wayne Parent
Louisiana State Univ Pr; Published: 2006-08-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.70
Price in other shops: