Books by Willie Morris

In this collection of essays Willie Morris explores the subject of “home” and what it means to Americans. Morris takes the reader on a chronological journey of places he lived and worked: as a student at the University of Texas in Austin, as Rhodes scholar in Oxford, England, as Editor-in-Chief of Harper’s magazine in New York City, in Bridgehampton on Long Island, in Washington, DC, where he wrote guest columns for The Washington Star in 1976, and, finally, returning to his native Mississippi in 1980. “Willie Morris in this book that is reminiscent of the rhythms of Thomas Wolfe reveals his love of a place where individuals, relationships, the link with generations gone not only matter but buttress the everyday life. Like all the fine artists who live linked to a place from which they draw nourishment and strength, Morris makes us understand his people and his land.” (Chicago Tribune Book World)

GOOD OLD BOY: A DELTA BOYHOOD is a novel for young readers about a boy's adventures growing up in post-WWII Mississippi. Author Willie Morris, then editor of Harper's Magazine in New York, wrote GOOD OLD BOY when his son David, age ten, asked, "What was it like to grow up in Mississippi?" Morris's response turned into a timeless story of growing up in Yazoo City, Mississippi, in the early 1950s, roaming the town with his friends and playing practical jokes and having adventures. GOOD OLD BOY is recommended for sixth through ninth grade.

The novella, "The Fumble," a sports classic about high school football in the Deep South in 1951 describes an epic game between a small town football team and the omnipotent Central High Tigers. Six autobiographical essays form chapters of a Great American boyhood. Illustrated with 28 photos from h.s. yearbook.

At the time of Marcus Dupree's birth, Willie Morris journeyed north in a circular transit peculiar to southern writers. His memoir of those years, North Toward Home, became a modern classic. In The Courting of Marcus Dupree he turned again home to Mississippi to write about the small town of Philadelphia and its favourite son, a black high-school quarterback.

In the course of his career Willie Morris (1934-1999) attained prominence as a journalist, editor, nonfiction writer, novelist, memoirist, and news commentator. As this eloquent book reveals, he was also a master essayist whose gift was in crafting short compositions. The diverse works included in this anthology reflect the scope of Morris's wide-ranging interests.