Frye Gaillard

"In 1974 John Egerton published his seminal work, The Americanization of Dixie. Pulitzer Prize-winner Cynthia Tucker and award-winning author Frye Gaillard carry Egerton's thesis forward in The Southernization of America, a compelling series of linked essays considering the role of the South in shaping America's current political and cultural landscape. They dive deeper, examining the morphing of the Southern strategy of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan...

Originally published 25 years ago, Watermelon Wine was praised for its honest, unsentimental examination of the compassion as well as the passion behind authentic country music. Author Frye Gaillard looked at the commercialization of the Grand Ole Opry; the tradition-minded rebels such as Hank Williams, Waylon Jennings, and Tompall Glaser; the growing divide between country and folk music; how Johnny Cash inspired new songwriters and new ideas; how...

More than twenty years ago, Robert Croshon, an elderly friend of Frye Gaillard's, told him the story of Croshon's ancestor, Gilbert Fields, an African-born slave in Georgia who led his family on a daring flight to freedom. Fields and his family ran away intending to travel north, but clouds obscured the stars and when morning came Fields discovered they had been running south instead. They had no choice but to seek sanctuary with the Seminole Indians...

In the most deeply personal writing of his long career, award-winning author Frye Gaillard reflects on the life and work of his wife Nancy, who died of leukemia in 2018. Partly the memoir of a vibrant marriage, Live As If...tells the story of Nancy's work as a public school teacher, principal, and professor during a time of education under siege. "It's a story of what can go right," Gaillard says.

"In 1870 Benjamin Turner, who spent the first 40 years of his life as a slave, was elected to the U.S. Congress. He was the first African American from Alabama to earn that distinction. In a recreation of Turner's own words, based on speeches and other writings that Turner left behind, co-authors Marti S. Rosner and Frye Gaillard have crafted the story of a remarkable man who taught himself to read when he was young and began a lifetime quest for...