Widow of the South is a great book by Robert Hicks http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/au-hicks-robert.asp
Robert was the speaker at the Altrusa International and Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club's Literacy Luncheon of 400 plus held on March 19, 2009, at the Oak Ridge High School cafeteria lobby. I was honored to introduce him at the luncheon.
He also was the feature at the One City One Book event on March 18, 2009, at the Oak Ridge Public Library, also a huge hit.
Robert held the audiences in both events spellbound for the entire length of his talks. His story of how his family ate his uncle for dinner serves to capture the audience as they don't really know what to make of the frank and open way Robert tells how this story has affected others who have been told it before the audience he is currently addressing. He then goes into the passionate story of his love for the life of Carrie McGavock, the real widow of the South who dug up and reburied nearly 1,500 Confederate soldiers killed on or near her homeplace of Carnton Plantation in Franklin, TN, creating one of the largest private military cemeteries in existence.
The story of Robert's visit to Oak Ridge is covered in my Historically Speaking article of Tuesday, March 31, 2009.
Ray
