"It's in the nature of things that whole worlds disappear,"
writes the poet Robert Hass in the foreword to Jimmye Hillman's
insightful memoir. "Their vanishings, more often than not, go
unrecorded or pass into myth, just as they slip from the memory of
the living."
To ensure that the world of Jimmye Hillman's childhood in Greene
County, Mississippi during the Great Depression doesn't slip away,
he has gathered together accounts of his family and the other
people of Old Washington village. There are humorous stories of hog
hunting and heart-wrenching tales of poverty set against a rural
backdrop shaded by the local social, religious, and political
climate of the time. Jimmye and his family were subsistence farmers
out of bare-bones necessity, decades before discussions about
sustainability made such practices laudable.
More than just childhood memories and a family saga, though,
this book serves as a snapshot of the natural, historical, and
linguistic details of the time and place. It is a remarkable record
of Southern life. Observations loaded with detail uncover broader
themes of work, family loyalty, and the politics of changing
times.
Hillman, now eighty-eight, went on to a distinguished career as
an economist specializing in agriculture. He realizes the
importance of his story as an example of the cultural history of
the Deep South but allows readers to discover the significance on
their own by witnessing the lives of a colorful cast of characters.
"Hogs, Mules, and Yellow Dogs "is unique, a blend of humor and
reflection, wisdom and sympathy--but it's also a hard-nosed look at
the realities of living on a dirt farm in a vanished world.
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