In the book, Carmer recounted the time he spent traveling throughout the state. He wrote about the people, places, and events he witnessed, such as a Ku Klux Klan rally and interactions with ordinary Alabama men and women.
One example of the book's prose was this description of a Sacred Harp singing:
The church was full now. People stood along the walls and the doorway was packed. Crowds were huddled outside each window singing lustily...there were surely more than two thousand people...Hard blows of sound beat upon the walls and rafters with inexorable regularity. All in a moment the constant beat took hold. There was a swift crescendo. Muscles were tensing, eyes brightening.[3]
Carmer also wrote about the myths, legends, and local superstitions of what he called "Conjure Country" (which was his nickname for southeast Alabama).
First published in 1934, Stars Fell on Alabama hit the bestseller lists and established Carmer's reputation. Literary critic R. L. Duffus of The New York Times praised the book and said Carmer had a gift for "extracting from what he sees, hears and feels an essence which is fundamentally poetic."[1] The book has been subsequently republished a number of times, most recently in 2000 with a new introduction by Howell Raines.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
The problems we had in Engelhard could have stemmed from this book and our connections to the North during the Civil War…
