There's No Basement in the Alamo

Tomorrow is the 225th Birth Anniversary of one David (Davy) Crockett (born August 17, 1786). Crockett was a congressman as well as a frontiersman, hunter, and soldier. He moved to the colony of Texas after losing a Congressional reelection bid in Tennessee. In Texas, he helped the settlers with their bid for independence from Mexico. He died at the Alamo in 1836.

There's a new biography of the man that has been getting good reviews. The new book, David Crockett: Lion of the West by Michael Wallis unearths the fascinating story of the man behind his folk hero persona. A conflicted figure who stood up against President Jackson for his treatment of the American Indians after the Trail of Tears but was a slaveholder in Tennessee and fought to preserve slavery in Texas.

In his life, Crockett was famous for being famous—something that is commonplace with celebrities of today but his celebrity has stood the test of time, as Mr. Henry Allen says in his WSJ review:

He invented a kind of American manhood, too, one that depends on believing it can always survive walking alone down whatever mean streets—can pack up and head West as a last resort, like Huck Finn lighting out "for the Territory" or Jack Kerouac fleeing nothing and everything by heading west in "On the Road."

New US Poet Laureate to be named today

Tip o' the cap to Paul Marion, who posted that the NYTimes has reported that Philip Levine is going to be named the next US Poet Laureate later today. Levine, 83, is a native of Detroit Michigan and a celebrated poet of the working class experience. A telling fact about his creative aesthetic is that he worked for in several local factories including Chevrolet Gear and Axle and Detroit Transmission while in graduate school earning a masters with a thesis on Keats's 'Indolence Ode.' He studied at Iowa alongside the likes of Robert Lowell and under the likes of John Berryman. I really enjoy his reaction to being named us poet laureate: "

"How can I put it? It’s like winning the Pulitzer,” he explained. “If you take it too seriously, you’re an idiot. But if you look at the names of the other poets who have won it, most of them are damn good. Not all of them — I’m not going to name names — but most. My editor was thrilled, and my wife jumped for joy. She hasn’t done that in a while.”

Here's a sample of one of his earlier poems:

On the Edge
My name is Edgar Poe and I was born
in 1928 in Michigan.
Nobody gave a damn. The gruel I ate
Kept me alive, nothing kept me warm,
But I grew up, almost to five foot ten,
And nothing in the world can change my weight.

I have been watching you these many years,
There in the office, pencil poised and ready,
Or on the highway when you went ahead.
I did not write; I watched you watch the stars
Believing that the wheel of fate was steady;
I was you rise from love and go to bed;

I heard you lie, even to you daughter.
I did not write, for I am Edgar Poe,
Edgar the mad one, silly, drunk, unwise,
But Edgar waiting on the edge of laughter,
And there is nothing that he does not know
Whose page is blanker than the raining skies.
--1964

More samples of Levine's work are available at the NYTimes online. The Pollard also has a few of his books available to checkout.

New Book on Benson's

The Nashua Telegraph reported yesterday that Arcadia Publishing has released a new photo book on Benson's Wild Animal Farm. This will be the second book about Bensons by Nashua Author Bob Goldsack who was quoted in the article as saying:

“I’ve interviewed so many people for both books, and not one person ever had a bad thing to say about Benson’s...And that’s unusual. I always thought that was an amazing thing.”

Unfamiliar Fishes

Sarah Vowell's latest greatest most snarkiest historical adventure is now available for check out.

From Publisher Weekly's Review: Recounting the brief, remarkable history of a unified and independent Hawaii, Vowell, a public radio star and bestselling author (The Wordy Shipmates), retraces the impact of New England missionaries who began arriving in the early 1800s to remake the island paradise into a version of New England....Outrageous and wise-cracking, educational but never dry, this book is a thought-provoking and entertaining glimpse into the U.S.'s most unusual state and its unanticipated twists on the familiar story of Americanization.

The Chicagoist has also just published an interesting conversation with Ms. Vowell.

The Pale King approaches

Exciting and, of course, somewhat sad news that David Foster Wallace's highly anticipated, aptly titled, unfinished manuscript The Pale King: An Unfinished Novel is soon to be published by Little, Brown and Company (it's request-able from the library now). The print version is going to be available on Tax Day but you ebook enthusiasts can purchase a digital version now from your preferred e-bookstore. The New York Times published a review of the book today.

Man Booker International Prize announces finalists for 2011

Three Americans are in the mix for the U.K. based Man Booker International Prize this year: Anne Tyler, Philip Roth and Marilynne Robinson. Like the Nobel Prize in Literature, this Booker International Prize is given out for an author's body of work not for any one novel. A complete list of finalists is available on the official website.