{"title":"Fire Ant Books","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"the-lost-book-of-life","title":"The Lost Book of Life","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eA poetic journey through five decades of wonder, memory, and love, where the ordinary becomes sacred and every line leads home\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSpanning five decades of poetic mastery, \u003ci\u003eThe Lost Book of Life: New and Selected Poems\u003c\/i\u003e is the definitive collection from Charles Ghigna, a beloved and influential voice in contemporary Southern poetry. Drawing from fourteen previous volumes and featuring thirty-seven new poems, this landmark collection captures the full arc of Ghigna's creative evolution, from his early meditations on nature and family to his later reflections on memory, mortality, and the enduring power of love.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWith graceful shifts between free verse and traditional forms, Ghigna's voice is both intimate and expansive—clear as spring water, alive with wit, and steeped in feeling. His poems open doorways into childhood's bright dreaming, the quiet complexities of fatherhood, and the sacred hush of daily life. Ghigna invites readers to see the world anew, to find beauty in the familiar, and to embrace the sacred in the ordinary. For longtime admirers and new readers alike, \u003ci\u003eThe Lost Book of Life\u003c\/i\u003e is a luminous testament to a life devoted to poetry. It is both compass and keepsake: a celebration of poetry's enduring light, and a lasting gift to the literature of the American South.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57481631072629,"sku":"9780817362607","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780817362607.jpg?v=1786089913"},{"product_id":"count-those-buzzards-stamp-those-grey-mules","title":"Count Those Buzzards! Stamp Those Grey Mules!","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eDiscover the heart of the South through unforgettable real-life tales.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKathryn Tucker Windham's \u003ci\u003eCount Those Buzzards! Stamp Those Grey Mules!\u003c\/i\u003e is an entertaining collection of vernacular beliefs and cultural practices of rural Alabama in the early twentieth century. Written for entertainment, it nevertheless documents superstitions, rituals, and informal codes that shaped social life in the American South.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWindham's recollections illuminate oral traditions and life in the South. Presented in the Windham's beguiling voice, these stories preserve a disappearing body of folklore. Although intended for a wide audience, the book invites engagement with themes of memory, regional identity, and the transmission of belief systems across generations.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis new edition includes a short introductory note by Dilcy Windham, Kathryn Tucker Windham's daughter as well as a foreword by Emily Blejwas (MA Sociology, Auburn University), the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Story of Alabama in Fourteen Foods\u003c\/i\u003e. Blejwas's foreword contextualizes \u003ci\u003eCount Those Buzzards!\u003c\/i\u003e as a cultural document, highlighting its role in preserving Alabama folklore, evoking childhood memories, and inspiring readers to record and share their own lived traditions.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57502145282421,"sku":"9780817322809","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"pacific-airman","title":"Pacific Airman","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003ePacific Airman\u003c\/i\u003e is based on a US Army Air Forces bomber plane navigator's, Edward S. Goode, hand-written pocket journal of his time in the Pacific theater during World War II. He was a member of the 400th Bomber Squadron (\"the Black Pirates\"), part of the legendary 90th Bomb Group \"the Jolly Rogers.\" The journal, covering from 1943 to the end of the war in 1945, chronicles daily life and missions, noting difficult working conditions, air attacks, leave, and more.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57682733531509,"sku":"9780817363000","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":57502149345653,"sku":"9780817322908","price":60.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"learning-to-be-everyone-and-no-one","title":"Learning to Be Everyone and No One","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eIntimate, unfiltered conversations with major contemporary poets that reveal how craft, conscience, and lived experience shape poetry\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eLearning to Be Everyone and No One\u003c\/i\u003e is a compelling collection of intimate interviews that captures poets speaking with uncommon candor about the making of their art. Through lively, unguarded conversations, Chard deNiord draws out moments of insight, humor, struggle, and revelation, revealing how poetry grows from lived experience and sustained attention. The result is an experience that feels immediate and alive, offering readers a sense of presence inside the creative act as it unfolds in real time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGathering voices that have helped shape contemporary poetry, the book features conversations with Robert Hass, T. R. Hummer, Major Jackson, Ali Kinsella, Halyna Kruk, Li-Young Lee, Ada Limón, Dennis Nurske, Dzvinia Orlowsky, Robert Pinsky, Charles Simic, Bruce Smith, Gerald Stern, Ruth Stone, and Chase Twichell. Together, these poets reflect on identity, politics, race, gender, memory, and the natural world with wit, urgency, and precision. More than a record of distinguished careers, this volume forms a chorus of perspectives that affirms poetry's enduring power to challenge, console, and remain \"the news that stays the news.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57502157799797,"sku":"9780817362843","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780817362843.jpg?v=1786780976"},{"product_id":"the-religion-of-sec-football","title":"The Religion of SEC Football","description":"\u003cp\u003eOver the decades, SEC football has become more than a sport—it is a cultural phenomenon in the American South, bearing striking similarities to religious practice. Its rituals and iconography, its leaders and congregations, its colors and symbols, and its sacred gatherings in stadiums all echo the structure and language of faith. The authors examines how and why this devotion has taken root by combining personal narratives with archival research to explore the ways football functions as a lived religion for many Southerners. Their aim is not to provoke but to illuminate—inviting casual fans, curious observers, and devoted followers to consider the faith-like qualities of SEC football.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57502162059637,"sku":"9780817362935","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/publisher-fire-ant-books.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}