Deep South Magazine’s Book Giveaway

I recently entered a giveaway through Deep South Magazine to win a book.  All you had to do was post a comment on their blog post and if you wanted, tweet about the contest or post a link on facebook to increase your chance of winning.  Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy.

After posting on their blog, and tweeting about it, I forgot about the book giveaway.  That was until I got a direct message from Deep South Magazine informing me I had won! There were several books to choose from and after ruling out the girly romance novels (not that’s there anything wrong with that) I requested Look Away Dixieland by James A. Twitchell.

Here is the synopsis of the book from Amazon.com:

As a boy, James Twitchell heard stories about his ancestors in Louisiana and even played with his great-grandfather’s Civil War sword, but he never appreciated the state and the events that influenced a pivotal chapter in his family history. His great-grandfather, Marshall Harvey Twitchell, a carpetbagger from Vermont, had settled in upstate Louisiana during Reconstruction, married a local girl, and encountered much success until a fateful day in August 1874. The dramatic story of the elder Twitchell’s life and near assassination fuels the author s pursuit of his family s history and a true understanding of the South.

In Look Away, Dixieland, Vermont-native Twitchell sets out from his current home in Florida on the inauguration day of America s first black president to find the real South and to try to understand the truth about his illustrious ancestor. He travels in an RV from Georgia s Okefenokee Swamp across Alabama and Mississippi to Coushatta, Louisiana. As he drives through the heart of Dixie, Twitchell sorts through the prejudices he learned from his northern rearing. In searching for the culture he had held at arm’s length for so long, he tours small-town southern life in campgrounds, cotton gins, churches, country fairs, and squirrel dog kennels and uncovers some fundamental truths along the way. Notably, he discovers that prejudices of race, class, and ideology are not limited by geography. As one man from Georgia mockingly summed up North versus South stereotypes, ”Y’all are rude and we re stupid.”

Unexpectedly, Twitchell also uncovers facts about his great-grandfather and sheds new light on his family’s past. An enlightening, humorous, and refreshingly honest search, Look Away, Dixieland reveals some of the differences and similarities that ultimately define us as a nation.”

Needless to say, I think it sounds great and cannot wait until I receive my copy in the mail. Thank you Deep South Magazine!