Book Description
A young man's journey into the heart of the American myth. The soul of the book is in the richness of the telling. With lively and insightful writing, Clay Evans makes this memoir sparkle, blending in an appealing coming-of-age story, in which he begins to come to terms with life, love and himself. "I See By Your Outfit" does not aim to puncture the cowboy myth, but rather to penetrate its romantic veneer to find the flesh-and-blood, sweat and leather reality of cowboy work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

It was well written but....
Clay Evans has a very well written tale here. Tale being the key word here. Although I can not account for all of his stories I can account for the ones that took place in my hometown. Some of the portrayals of people I know and have known my entire life are innacurate and down right offensive in many respects. His opinion of a lifestyle I was raised in and continue to be a part of is one of someone who totally missed the mark in his short lived experience with "The Life." It's not only offensive to the people it's writtewn about but to anyone who has chosen the lifestyle he so wrongly describes. But if you are looking for a well written book of tales, then read it, but if you are looking for an accurate representaion of a true way of life, pass this one by.

Cowboy life as it really is
This book begins slowly. As a matter of fact, my husbaand who knows how to rope and has been in a rodeo was so bored as he read the first 40 or so pages that he quit reading it. I kept on, and after Clay got on his first horse, everything (including him!) took off! By the time I finished the book, I was impressed with the depth of his feelings about himself, his cowboy experiences, and his future. I feel like a better person for having read Clay's story and am looking forward to more things by him. I was impressed that he learned to write quite by accident when he took a writing class in college to complete units for graduation. His teacher was one of those rare ones who encouraged him! We all need that kind of encouragement.

Growing Up With Dreams & Reality
I related very much with this book as I had very similar dreams as Clay.I also followed my dreamsthrough college and finally faced with the real world let them go.But I have never regretted taking that path as did Clay.I found the book to be very honest in its approach to the subject. Mr. Evans writes clearly and to the point.I felt that most men couldidentify with him even if they had no cowboy background.

I See By Your Outfit
Although I don't entirely agree with Clay Bonnyman Evans, I admire his honesty with which he has written this book.His tenacity for following the life that he wanted to lead is so rare and he expresses it so well in his writing.After reading this book, I am surprised at how long it hasstayed with me, and how often I think of Mr Evans.If your looking for aglorified tale of ranching, don't look here, but if you are looking for ahonest tale, read this book!

from Boulder, CO
I loved the book.It made me understand the struggles within a grown up boy who had everything and just wanted to experience life at its fullest and chose being a cowboy.Clay's talent is how he sees things a littledifferent and is able to describe them on paper and make you say oh yeah! ... Read more

Book Description

"A stunning sequel to the James AgeeWalker Evans' classic, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. It is at times astonishing, at all times deeply moving."-Studs Terkel

"A book that reaches into this country's heart of darkness. . . . A tragically human story more telling than a thousand polls. The photographs by Mr. Williamson are eloquent."-Herbert Mitgang, New York Times

"Mr. Williamson's photos are spellbinding and should become instant classics."-John Elvin, Washington Times

In this paperback reissue, an author/photographer team returns to the land and families captured in James Agee and Walker Evans's inimitable masterwork Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, extending the project of conscience and chronicling the traumatic decline of King Cotton. In 1936, during a brief window of national attention to the topic, Fortune magazine commissioned from Agee and Evans a story on poverty among tenant farmers in Alabama. Agee was famously ambivalent in his role, calling himself a spy and ultimately delivering a book-length manuscript unpublishable in magazine form. With this continuation of Agee and Evans's work, Maharidge and Williamson not only uncover some surprising historical secrets relating to the families and to Agee himself, but also effectively lay to rest Agee's fear that his work, from lack of reverence or resilience, would be but another offense to the humanity of its subjects.

Williamson's 90-part photo essay includes updates alongside Evans' classic originals.

Dale Maharidge (Homeland, Journey to Nowhere) has been a visiting professor of journalism at Columbia University and Stanford, and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 1998.

Michael Williamson is a photographer for the Washington Post who won a second Pulitzer for his coverage of the war in Kosovo.

Customer Reviews (5)

Honors the legacy
For readers of the original Agee/Evans collaboration, "And Their Children" is well worth the time. The reporter and photographer tracked down the 116 living offspring of the pseudonymous Gudger, Ricketts, and Woods families, as well as those who were part of the original book (12 of 22 who appeared in "Let Us Now" were still alive when they began their research in 1986). Not all were willing to be interviewed or photographed, but many were.

As with the first book, the tale here is not a particularly happy one. The author begins by recounting the suicide of Maggie Louise Gudger, age 10 in 1936, a particular favorite of Agee's, and dead at age 45--the same age at which Agee himself died from drink. And yet there are varying degrees of hope in many of the stories, such as that of Maggie Louise's daughter Debbie and her children.

The structure of the book follows each family through different periods: 1936-1940; 1940-1960; and 1960-1986. The author also includes sections on one of the local landowning families (which was far from rich!) and an African-American sharecropping family. Along the way, we learn surprising things about the evil (and Faulknerian) Fred Ricketts, the fate of Clair Bell (she did not die at age 4, as Agee had feared she would), the struggles of George Gudger, and the families' views on Agee, Evans, and the original book. About the children and grandchildren, we find out about those who ran away (and usually came back) and those who stayed; marriages; children; the end of farming; attempts at succeeding at school and at work; closeness and bitterness. It's all grippingly told. And the photographs that allow one to compare the state of things in 1936 and 1986 are excellent. Several photos exactly re-capture the originals.

Quibbles: Naturally, I think, the sections on the two families who did not appear in the first book are less interesting. They could have been abbreviated. Also, the author's (negative) take on the state of America in 1986 is garden-variety journalism for that time. These sections are easily avoided, however, and do not detract from the writing about the original families.

Counter to the author's gloomy opinions, his stories indicate that many of these descendents of share-croppers emerged from the Depression to enjoy a slow but steady material progress. Maggie Louise's grandchildren, now in their thirties, should do even better over the course of their lives. One hopes that another writer-photographer team will venture to Hobe's Hill in 2036 to test that proposition.

Quite interesting.
While I have Let Us Now Praise Famous Men on deck to read as well, the friend who loaned me the books explained she found And Their Children After Them first, and actually liked reading them in reverse order. So, I chose to follow her lead.

The book, even standing alone, is an intensely personal and touching look into the lives of people who many of us who enjoy the luxury of writing reviews on the Internet can never really understand. The backgrounds, upbringings and challenges were so vastly different, and the book does a good job of showing us something different, something very real.

I can understand the retiscence of some to participate in the book -- while reading passages in this book I often thought to myself what it would feel like to be the person being written about and to see the things about them in print. Like our society, there is a great deal of judgement in the book -- while they try to avoid it, it is there, and it's painful at times.

But it's all worth it, in my opinion, to uncover the many thought provoking things that relate to our world today, and that give me a better understanding of history and people's place within it.

Poignant and thought-provoking
This book should be read right after reading James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Mem.Unfortuantely I read it over four years before I read Agee's work.When I read this book--in Feb 1996--I wrote to myself:This is a book Newt Gingrich and the crazy House freshmen should read--people who are so intent that those who cannot make it on their own should not make it.

A "Must Have" for Anyone who liked "Let Us Now Praise...."
First introduced to "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" by James Agee and Walker Evans through a PBS Documentary, which inspired a dash to the library to read the book iteself, it wasn't until years later I went backto the library to see if anyone had ever followed up on the story. Confronted with the then new computerized "card catalog" system,I wondered how I might search for any related writings when it dawned on mewhat a perfect title would naturally evolve from the verse the first booktitle was taken: ..And Their Children After Them.Imagine my amazementwhen I tried that title, and there it was!Maharidge and Williamson havefollowed in Agee and Evans footsteps to give readers "the rest of thestory" of the tenant farmers' families and grandchildren, as well asthe stories of Agee and Evans themselves.I congratulation them on anexcellent book, and offer thanks to the families and their descendants forsharing their lifestories.Their lives did not take the path predicted forthem by Agee: life refuses to be harnessed by prediction.Some wentfarther than anyone could have anticipated, while others came to a place,if possible, even worse than expected. As a second generation American,descended from Polish and Prussian immigrants who lived comparable lives,but who were blessed to own their own land, I identified closely with thesestories, from the first page of "Let Us Praise" to the last pageof "And Their Children".

Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction 1991
Unfortunately, the synopsis left out that this book won the Pulitzer for Non-fiction in 1991. Maharidge and Williamson followed the footsteps of James Agee who had profiled sharecroppers during the Depression. They found their decendants, and showed that while cotton and sharecropping had died, rural poverty for these families had been passed down to new generations. The front section of the book is a series of photographs by Williamson, and they are tremendous. Moreover, in their reporting, they filled a gap left by Agee by finding a black family of sharecroppers to add to the others profiled. This is a tremendous book. It works on multiple levels, giving both the sweep of Southern social and economic history and bringing it down to individuals. Beyond that, the book is a metaphor for our own time. "If we understand the death of cotton," Maharidge writes in this book, "we understand many things about modern America." This is a tremendous work, highly readable and moving. The recognition these two craftsmen received for it is well-deserved ... Read more

Book Description
A delightfully original package, this book gives advice on growing your favorite vegetables, and then provides ample instructions on how to prepare or preserve the results. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The best gardening book!
I loved this book and refer to it over and over. I'm fairly new at gardening and this book has very easy to understand instructions and suggestions that are priceless. Everything she says in this book has come true and has helped me to not only love gardening but enjoy the satisfaction of growing my own food and eating it too! Some of her recipes are traditional and some are unique. My husband who is a farmer and knows all about raising crops, freezing, canning, etc loves the book as well! He's not a reader and he recommends the book to anyone. I, on the other hand am a city girl and knew nothing until I met my husband. Both ends of the spectrum and this book gets a 2 thumbs up! I can't wait to purchase her guide book for fruits and start planting fruits next year!

excellent investment for the home gardener
Finally--a gardening book aranged the way home gardeners think! Includes every step from soil to sprouting to tending and harevsting (and recipe ideas too!) for various types of veggies. All the author needs to do is add a chapter on saving harvested seeds, and it'll become the absolute home gardener's "Bible."

Excellent Book for All Gardeners!! Makes it fun and easy!
I am a 25 yr. old gardener.This is my 2nd year in a community garden and
I love it.This book is absolutely perfect!!! I wish I would have had it
last year.My garden is 10 times more productive and fun!The book gives clear descriptions of how to plant, harvest, store and enjoy a large variety of vegetables.The recipe ideas are great too!It makes gardening fun and easy!

This book is such a great gift to society.I recommend it to all of my friends! ... Read more

Book Description
A delightfully original package, this book gives advice on growing your favorite fruits and berries, and then provides ample instruction on how to prepare or preserve the results. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

awesome!
This book has an answer to every question! Please be aware that even though tomatoes are fruits, they are not covered in this book but she does cover them in her veggie book. I have both and would highly recommend them to any gardener of all levels. I am probably somewhere in the middle and I love her writing style...so easy to understand and doesn't make you feel stupid. Easy categories and clear index make it easy to refer back and forth. ... Read more

Book Description
A delightfully original package this book gives advice on growing your favorite vegetables, and then provides ample instruction on how to prepare or preserve the results. ... Read more