Eliza Calvert Hall: Kentucky Author and Suffragist by Lynn E. Niedermeier (review)

HOOK REVIEWS onli· a cemetery for the Confedcrates who had died while impriicined at Camp Chase. Camp Chilse jintl t/ c K·:· 0/ ution qjUnion Prison Policy is refreshi,igly free from polemical accusations mid defendveness. The redder is ii· the women of her con, gregatic,n to fund a visit t<) her dying daughter. A tearful confession splits the congregation along a gendered fault line, and Sally Anti defends her, blaming instead her miserlv husband who tightly controlled the 111011Cy his wife h,id brc, ught 311tx)the marridge. Atint Jane observes th: it whenever a wom·NA.willin' to bc imposed upon, there's always k m·an standin' round ready to do the iinl,osin- ( 98). At tlie height of t\ unt Jane's popularity, 1 Ienry Blackwell of' the Woman' s Journal noted that every suffragist should buy the book and loan it to their antisuffrage friends. Iliey will becoine fullfledged suffragists before they know that they have been subjects of conversion" ( 124).Regardless of her intent, Aunt Jane dispensed great advice. Ill one story, slie likens life ti) 2 calikerguilt . While you're livin' your life, it looks pretty much like n jumble o' guilt pieces befi, re they're put together; but when you git through with it... you'll see the use and the purpose of everything in it" ( 113).Ihese insights and peace of mind ultimately cluded her creator,who grew bitter and contrary as age and illness diminished her independence and energy. Carefully researched and insightfully arranged, this book reveals striking common.lities 111 the lived experience of women across generations. Women's OIIIO VALLEY HISTORY 88 BOOK RI.\' IEWS Strltggle to " make a difference"or " have it all" : it the turn if the twentieth century appears remarkably similar to the same efforts a hundred years 1, iter. Yvonne Baldwin A Ic, rehead State Craig I Invighurst. Air Castle 0, / j' ible South: JVS,\ 1 ami tbe Making of, Mitsic City. Urbana: 1 Inizzrsin· of Illinois Press, 2007. 272 pp ISBN: 9780252032578 cloth), 529.95. In Air ( Nistle *' tb,· South,Craig [lavighurst traces tlic soci,11 historv of Nashville radio static„, WS11, which he calls " the most inflitential ; ind exceptional radk,station in AllICASTLE iNIA : OUTEJ i./11. Imillil..' I..I''lil twentieth ectitur the history of coIntry music" ( xiii), an argument that he establishcs c<) nvincingly in two hundred and fifty piges of engaging text. WSAI's story, in Havighurst's capable hands, is emblematic of commercial radio's influence and developme ,it over the middle v. 11<, st particularlv,hc sees \ VS11 . 1 responsible ti)r the coalescing of new musical form: from disparate sources Jnd as . 1 chief' econoinic engine that formed d neiv musical ( and tourist) mecia in Nashville. 7hc author traces the earlv technologic ,11 devel<, 1, ments · And ke,· pers<, nalities who helped cre·ate the profitable synergy benvecn WSII and National I. ite and Accident Insurance Ci) mpany, the station : s <, 1vncr, in 1925. In the 19305, new crossmarketing schemes and new forms of programming kept the station vital and prospering. '[ lic influence of radio was particularlv seen in 1937 during tlie catastrophic Ohio River flocxl, when WSM helped coordinate relief efforts iii the absence of other options. Havighurst documelits the continued innovations in marketing and promotional endeavors in tlie 1940s and the later struggles to diversiti , the WSM media empire, even with the successful laillich of television' s Ale Nashville Netwc, rk ( TNN).1 { c okes the story to the presentday ,including the successful but shortlived Opryland USA thorne park. Thrc,ughout the book, Havighurst shifts smoothly betweeii the diversity of Nashville' s music scene and the various Lomponents of WSM's influence, lovingly describing the personalities . ind techriology ot a largely bygone era. Although limitcd by his sources,Havighurst is attentive tc, racial, class, aild gender dynamics when they factor into WSM's story. He sensitively documents WSM' s relationship with 14sk University's Jill, ilce Singers,for exaniplc , while noting th;it riv, 11 station \' VI,AC had a much better track record with R& 13 Inusic, and that Grand 01£ C) firy musicikins I) eForci 13ailey and lce Wee Marquette had tense relationships with 91 stridii, that never freed itself from white Nashville' s paternalistic indinations. Purists may be put off by Havighurst's use of scholarly citation, c,r lack thereof; lie eschews direct endni,ting in favor of descriptive n,irrative paragraphs for each chapter describing how he used his research materials.Yet his work is built on a solid foundation of archiv., 1 materials, WSM and trade publications , : ind newspaper and scconilary sources. He also combines existing oral histories with his own interviews. This book is not, strictly spc,i king, an account of country music, although some impc, rtant and familiar figures ( Roy Acuff,Owen Bradley,Minnie Pearl, I 1;ink Williams jr.) are highlighted here : ind the SPRING 2008 89 ...