Crossing the Color Line: New Novel is Eye-Opening Look at Life in Segregated Deep South
Hurst, TX, April 17, 2009 --(PR.com)-- In 1976, Alex Haley’s Roots completely reshaped the way the world understood the history of slavery. Now, author Martha A. Taylor is doing the same thing for America’s civil rights movement with In the Land of Cotton, the powerful new book just released by Outskirts Press.
Now available through the OP store at www.outskirtspress.com/store.php, this highly anticipated docu-drama takes readers into the Deep South of the 1950s and ’60s -- and shows what happens when whites and blacks dare to cross the color line.
Martha is an 11-year-old white girl growing up amidst the predominant racial attitudes of Memphis. Her working-class parents parrot the prevailing sentiment of the white majority: that blacks should stay within their place and never, ever look a white person in the eye. Then her family hires Lucy, a black nanny from Cypress Grove, a primitive farm located deep in isolated woods near Martha’s home. Martha becomes infatuated with Lucy’s powerful storytelling, and when a financial crisis severs Lucy’s services, Martha begins secret weekend treks into the woods to visit her new friend.
As she learns to question the accepted stereotypes of her fellow human beings, Martha becomes more and more accepted into Lucy’s extended family, even preferring it to her own. And slowly a fondness develops between Martha and Lucy’s nephew Silas -- a relationship that could threaten to tear their lives apart if it’s ever discovered by those who simply can’t understand it.
What follows is a remarkable journey of love, strength and growth spurred by intolerable injustice that will keep readers guessing right up until the shocking finale.
In the Land of Cotton intersperses Taylor’s gripping storytelling with accounts of landmark contemporary events bearing directly on the civil rights movement. The effect brilliantly captures how individuals’ lives were -- or were not -- affected by what was occurring in Washington and courthouses across the South. Taken together, In the Land of Cotton provides an outstanding snapshot of life in the South during those troubled times -- a snapshot everyone must examine, regardless of era or color.
In the Land of Cotton is now available through Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and the online bookstore of Outskirts Press, at outskirtspress.com/store.php.
Book Statistics
ISBN: 978-1-4327-3471-8
Suggested Retail Price:
US$17.95, CAN$22.95
Size and Format: 6.14 x 9.21 Paperback
Page Count: 272
Genre: Political Freedom & Security - Civil Rights
About the Author: Martha A. Taylor is the author of Outside the Lavender Closet, also through Outskirts Press. She lives in Hurst, Texas.
Author Contact: Visit her on the Web at www.outskirtspress.com/IntheLandofCotton
About Outskirts Press, Inc.: Outskirts Press, Inc. offers full-service, custom self-publishing services for authors seeking a cost-effective, fast, and flexible way to publish and distribute their books worldwide while retaining all their rights and full creative control. Available for authors globally at www.outskirtspress.com and located on the outskirts of Denver, Colorado, Outskirts Press represents the future of book publishing, today.
###
Outskirts Press, Inc., 10940 S. Parker Rd - 515, Parker, Colorado 80134
http://outskirtspress.com — 1-888-OP-BOOKS
Now available through the OP store at www.outskirtspress.com/store.php, this highly anticipated docu-drama takes readers into the Deep South of the 1950s and ’60s -- and shows what happens when whites and blacks dare to cross the color line.
Martha is an 11-year-old white girl growing up amidst the predominant racial attitudes of Memphis. Her working-class parents parrot the prevailing sentiment of the white majority: that blacks should stay within their place and never, ever look a white person in the eye. Then her family hires Lucy, a black nanny from Cypress Grove, a primitive farm located deep in isolated woods near Martha’s home. Martha becomes infatuated with Lucy’s powerful storytelling, and when a financial crisis severs Lucy’s services, Martha begins secret weekend treks into the woods to visit her new friend.
As she learns to question the accepted stereotypes of her fellow human beings, Martha becomes more and more accepted into Lucy’s extended family, even preferring it to her own. And slowly a fondness develops between Martha and Lucy’s nephew Silas -- a relationship that could threaten to tear their lives apart if it’s ever discovered by those who simply can’t understand it.
What follows is a remarkable journey of love, strength and growth spurred by intolerable injustice that will keep readers guessing right up until the shocking finale.
In the Land of Cotton intersperses Taylor’s gripping storytelling with accounts of landmark contemporary events bearing directly on the civil rights movement. The effect brilliantly captures how individuals’ lives were -- or were not -- affected by what was occurring in Washington and courthouses across the South. Taken together, In the Land of Cotton provides an outstanding snapshot of life in the South during those troubled times -- a snapshot everyone must examine, regardless of era or color.
In the Land of Cotton is now available through Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and the online bookstore of Outskirts Press, at outskirtspress.com/store.php.
Book Statistics
ISBN: 978-1-4327-3471-8
Suggested Retail Price:
US$17.95, CAN$22.95
Size and Format: 6.14 x 9.21 Paperback
Page Count: 272
Genre: Political Freedom & Security - Civil Rights
About the Author: Martha A. Taylor is the author of Outside the Lavender Closet, also through Outskirts Press. She lives in Hurst, Texas.
Author Contact: Visit her on the Web at www.outskirtspress.com/IntheLandofCotton
About Outskirts Press, Inc.: Outskirts Press, Inc. offers full-service, custom self-publishing services for authors seeking a cost-effective, fast, and flexible way to publish and distribute their books worldwide while retaining all their rights and full creative control. Available for authors globally at www.outskirtspress.com and located on the outskirts of Denver, Colorado, Outskirts Press represents the future of book publishing, today.
###
Outskirts Press, Inc., 10940 S. Parker Rd - 515, Parker, Colorado 80134
http://outskirtspress.com — 1-888-OP-BOOKS
Contact
Outskirts Press
Kelly Schuknecht
888.672.6657
www.outskirtspress.com
Kelly Schuknecht
888.672.6657
www.outskirtspress.com
Contact
Categories