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Statesmen,
Scoundrels, and Eccentrics
A Gallery of Amazing Arkansans
Tom Dillard
Foreword by Roy Reed
Seventy-three sketches from
a popular Arkansas Democrat-Gazette column
“History is more than trends and statistics; it’s
people. Tom Dillard understands that history is narrative,
and he’s got stories to tell and a cast of characters
to present that are more incredible than anybody could make
up about the Wonder State. We Arkansans may not always notice
our remarkable heritage, but this collection of biographies
lets the light shine on our past in a whole new way.”
—Paul Greenberg, Pulitzer Prize winning
editorial page editor, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
“Tom Dillard has a keen eye for interesting Arkansans,
those on the scene recently and those of times gone by. His
felicity of expression makes this collection a great one.”
—Judge William R. Wilson Jr., U.S.
District Court, Eastern District of Arkansas
From Native Americans, explorers, and early settlers to entertainers,
business people, politicians, lawyers, artists, and many others,
the well-known and not-so-well-known Arkansans featured in
Statesmen, Scoundrels, and Eccentrics have fascinating
stories. To name a few, there’s the “Hanging Judge,”
Isaac C. Parker of Fort Smith, and Hattie Caraway, the first
elected female U.S. senator. Isaac T. Gillam, a slave who
became a prominent politician in post–Civil War Little
Rock, is included, as is Norman McLeod, an eccentric Hot Springs
photographer and owner of the city’s first large tourist
trap.
These entertaining short biographies from Dillard’s
Remembering Arkansas column will be enjoyed by all kinds of
readers, young and old alike. All the original columns reprinted
here have also been enhanced with Dillard’s own recommended
reading lists. Statesmen will serve as an introduction
or reintroduction to the state’s wonderfully complex
heritage, full of rhythm and discord, peopled by generations
of hardworking men and women who have contributed much to
the region and nation.
Tom Dillard
is head of Special Collections at the University of Arkansas
Libraries and founding editor-in-chief of the Encylopedia
of Arkansas. He has been writing the Remembering Arkansas
column for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette since 2002.
Roy
Reed is the author of Looking
Back at the Arkansas Gazette, Faubus,
and Looking
for Hogeye, all from the University of Arkansas Press.
April
6 x 9, 282 pages, 17 photographs
$22.95 paper
ISBN 978-1-55728-927-8
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