From the Catbird Seat

9780963272706

0963272705

Here's a big easy-flowing, personal narrative of a typical American who is never typical. It speaks, in perceptive anecdotal fashion, of life in the Mid-Atlantic South during the Great Depression, of racism & race relations, big bands, World War II New Guinea, newspapering, Madison Avenue, of the development of Hilton Head Island--one of the first planned retirement communities, & of the quandary of raising kids during the Age of Aquarius. It's an autobiography, if only to give it a label, but really far more than that. It's a family album that never gets sentimental or cutesy, a documentary of America in decades of dizzying changes & never loses sight of the essential "line." Since the 1920s until now the United States has gone through more basic changes than any time in its history, & Charles Doughtie has ticked it all off with a clear eye & subtle mind for social history. The book has a leisurely pace (after all, he's Southern) & a big spacious development. He keeps a clear-headed distance of both likeable & unlikeable human beings & animals. Doughtie is a rare combination of American controlled exuberance & an almost British kind of don't-choose-sides analytical perception. It's a good read. "The book leaves you with a glow."-Eugene Walter. To order contact: High Cotton, Inc., P.O. Drawer 7463, Hilton Head Island, SC 29938-7463. Toll Free 1-800-762-7172, 803-681-9692, FAX 803-689-2291.