Shifting Interludes

<p>In the course of his career Willie Morris (1934-1999) attained national 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.</p><p><em>Shifting Interludes</em> an anthology that spans his career of forty years includes pieces he wrote for the <em>Daily Texan</em> <em>Texas Observer</em> the <em>Washington Star</em> <em>Vanity Fair</em> <em>Southern Living</em> and other publications. These diverse works reflect the scope of Morris's wide-ranging interests. The collection comprises biographical profiles newspaper editorials and columns political analyses travel narratives sports commentaries book reviews and his thoughts--both critical and affectionate--about his beloved home state of Mississippi.</p><p>Two notable essays were published for the first time in this collection--"A Long-ago Rendezvous with Alger Hiss" and "The Day I Followed the Mayor around Town." Another essay "Mississippi Rebel on a Texas Campus" was the first article he wrote for a national publication.</p><p>Morris's subjects reflect his autobiography his poignant feelings and his courtly manners. He expresses his outrage as he decries southern racism in "Despair in Mississippi" his melancholy as he recounts a visit to his hometown Yazoo City in "The Rain Fell Noiselessly" his grace as he salutes a college football team and its fallen comrade in "In the Spirit of the Game" his humor as he admits to a bout of middle-age infatuation in "Mitch and the Infield Fly Rule" and his pensiveness as he remembers his much-loved grandmother Mamie in "Weep No More My Lady."</p>