Research Catalog

Flyover lives : a memoir

Title
Flyover lives : a memoir / Diane Johnson.
Author
Johnson, Diane, 1934-
Publication
New York : Viking, [2014]

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TextUse in library JFD 14-1734Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description
xviii, 263 pages : illustrations; 22 cm
Summary
"From the New York Times bestselling author of Le Divorce, a dazzling meditation on the mysteries of the "wispy but material" family ghosts who shape us. Growing up in the small river town of Moline, Illinois, Diane Johnson always dreamed of floating down the Mississippi and off to see the world. Years later, at home in France, a French friend teases her: 'Indifference to history--that's why you Americans seem so naive and don't really know where you're from.' The j'accuse stayed with Johnson. Were Americans indifferent to history? Her own family seemed always to have been in the Midwest. Surely they had got there from somewhere? In digging around, she discovers letters and memoirs written by generations of stalwart pioneer ancestors that testify to more complex times than the derisive nickname 'The Flyover' gives the region credit for. With the acuity and sympathy that her novels are known for, she captures the magnetic pull of home against our lust for escape and self-invention. This spellbinding memoir will appeal to fans of Bill Bryson, Patricia Hampl, and Annie Dillard"--
Subjects
Contents
I. In France -- A Weekend with the General -- II. Flyover Country -- Moline, pop. 34,000 -- My Moline -- Myopia -- Pastimes -- Economies -- Books -- III. Eighteenth-Century Beginnings -- How We All Descend from Greatness -- Ranna -- Anne and God -- Huts -- 1800 -- John Perkins Too Sees God -- Some Stories from the Life of Catharine Perkins -- The Story of Catharine Continued -- The Inappropriate Letter -- Catharine's Romance -- The Affair of the Locket -- Rascals -- The Elusive Eleazer -- Wedding Journey -- Bloomingburg -- Women's Work : Quilts -- Eleazer the Doctor -- Sorrow -- Depression -- Wars -- IV. Modern Days -- Watseka, Chenoa -- Rich in Uncles -- Summer -- In God We Trusted... -- The Dark Shadow -- Flyover -- Mademoiselle -- California -- Writer -- Silver Screen -- Uncle Bill -- Divorce -- London -- Emancipation Proclamation -- Defeat -- Yellow Morgan -- Chagrin -- Epilogue.
Call Number
JFD 14-1734
ISBN
  • 9780670016402
  • 0670016403
LCCN
2013036808
OCLC
2013036808
Author
Johnson, Diane, 1934-
Title
Flyover lives : a memoir / Diane Johnson.
Publisher
New York : Viking, [2014]
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
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Research Call Number
JFD 14-1734
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