Seems Like Murder Here: Southern Violence and the Blues Tradition

Rating:
Summary: Ambitious thesis, disappointing results
Review: Adam starts out with a very difficult to support thesis, that bogs down in incredable academic leaps of faith. Not only does he not provide adequately provide support for the theme of his book; he almost abandons trying to half way through. The chapter focusing on Mamie Smith's "Crazy Blues" was refreshing and eye opening, but the rest of the book does not sway one to ackowledge the validity of his point. The constant use of "Blues Literature" to support his theory of real worl dblue falls short by nature, being that the blues authors quoted wrote fiction where is by its essence prone to exagerationa nd romanticism and can not convincingly back up his point about white oppression and violence being the backbone of almost all blues music and acting as a coded message universally gotten by the black blues audience. The academic nature of this book loses touch with the reality of things.

Rating:
Summary: Author's note
Review: This isn't a review, just an author's note for potentially interested readers: SEEMS LIKE MURDER HERE was recently given the C. Hugh Holman Award as "the best book of literary scholarship or criticism in southern literature published in the calendar year," awarded by the Society for the Study of Southern Literature. It also received Honorable mention for the John G. Cawelti Book award, given by the American Culture Association "for outstanding scholarly inquiry into American culture."

(Please note: I've given this book--my own--four stars solely because I'm required to give it a rating (a "required field") in order to have this author's note displayed.)