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T H E A L A B A M A R E V I E W 140 Bindas includes an interesting chapter on the culture of consumption, seen by the government as a vital element in the economic recovery. Consumption became a manifestation of patriotism, of good citizenship. The inability to consume, however, created a sense of guilt among those who lived in the Depression South. At the same time, the situation created a sense of community, reminding people that what was really important was their ability to accommodate the exigencies of the situation. As a result, Bindas tells us, pride and optimism prevailed. These narratives, replete with the details of everyday life, create a rich tapestry that give the reader, scholar, and layman alike insight into the nature of the Great Depression in the rural South. If the purpose of the book is to demonstrate complex connections between history and memory, then the voices create a unified discourse to illustrate the connections . For instance, the chapter on foodways provides us with a larger understanding of the social and political issues of the era by revealing the imbedded values prevalent in this area: “Food can reflect values, habits, and attitudes, particularly of a regional population” (p. 93). The interviewees tell us that they did not have to relearn old techniques to accommodate to the Depression, as so many others did. They never stopped using them; they had always had to make do. Unlike Terkel’s Hard Times, the subjects in Bindas’s book do not speak for themselves and allow the reader to draw conclusions. Rather, Bindas uses the voices to support his contention that the core ideals of the nation remained intact despite the economic crisis that disrupted normal life. If there is any failing in this book, it is that we do not get to know these people as intimately as we get to know the era. Still, it is their voices in combination that make the book unique. By delineating the collective consciousness—the shared values of the interviewees—Bindas’s work gives form to the memories that have created and re-created the idea of the Depression in the rural South. The people who lived through this crisis were shaped by the experience but also shaped the historical meaning of the Great Depression. JUNE HOPKINS Armstrong Atlantic State University A Centennial Celebration of the Bright Star Restaurant. By the Bright Star Family with Niki Sepsas. With tributes by Richard Shelby and Gene Stallings. xviii, 170 pp. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-8173-1598-6. A P R I L 2 0 0 8 141 In my antique store, I always keep hundreds of old, abandoned letters , diaries, postcards, scrapbooks, personal notes—all of them one of a kind, all of them personal and private, each of them a testimonial from a person’s life and times. I cherish these shards, these tiny evidences of lives lived long ago, and I’m thrilled when others come to the store to purchase and cherish them, ready to pass them on to the next generation . It’s even more thrilling to see a scrapbook diary personal narrative put together and duplicated hundredsfold in book form, so that people everywhere can have a taste of history, firsthand, right now, while the history is still alive and well. A Centennial Celebration of the Bright Star Restaurant is such a newly minted relic. It’s a merry jumble of anecdotes and biographies , photographs and reminiscences designed to give the reader a glimpse at how one entrepreneurial business wound up lasting an entire century and seems prepared to go for a second one. If you’ve never dined at the Bright Star Restaurant in Bessemer, poring through this book may inspire you—inspire you to look around and begin appreciating all the other family businesses you encounter each week (the shoe repair shop, the florist, the grocer, the newsstand) and begin to ask questions about how they managed to stay in business against all odds, against all retail-chain competition. They are all multi-storied. The stubborn shall inherit the earth, and most small businesses cling to...

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