If These Walls Had Ears: The Biography of a House |
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You Are Here: Home > History Books > Arkansas History > Item 161
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If These Walls Had Ears: The Biography of a House
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by James Morgan
Sales Rank: 588657
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List Price: $27.00
$27.00
At Amazon
on 9-15-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Hard Cover with 304 pages
Published by: Grand Central Publishing August 23, 1996
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0446519146
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0446519144
Book Dimensions:
9 x 6.6 x 1 inches
Weighs: 1.4 pounds
From Publishers Weekly
In 1989, Morgan, a freelance writer who collaborated with President Clinton's mother, Virginia Kelley, on her autobiography, Leading with My Heart, moved with his family into a low-slung Craftsman-style bungalow at 501 Holly in Little Rock, Ark. Intrigued by the eight families who had occupied the house since it was built in 1890, the author researched their lives and interviewed their survivors and here presents engaging vignettes of each occupant. After building it as a sturdy, spacious and somewhat luxurious dwelling for themselves, Charles and Jessie Armour had to begin taking in boarders after Charles's business failed. After several other families lived there, the house began to deteriorate, and Morgan describes the loving restoration by Forrest and Sue Wolfe, the residents from 1976 to 1980. The book is most interesting for its chatty detail about previous occupants, but the author's sidetrips into his own past blur the focus.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
What could be so remarkable about a four/five-bedroom house in an older neighborhood of Little Rock, Arkansas, that would justify a book about it? Its only claim to fame is that Bill and Hillary Clinton once lived several blocks down the street. Morgan, the former articles editor at Playboy and founder of Southern Magazine, bought the house with his wife, Beth, in 1989, then undertook to write a history of its former occupants. We learn that the eight owners since it was built in 1923 are ordinary mortals, and their lives were as filled with insignificance and tragedy as those of most of us. But Morgan's skilled writing has brought his characters to life, letting us in on their ups and downs at the house at 501 Holly. Though the various owners are unexceptional, Morgan lifts his material above the quotidian and elevates it to the universal. Anyone who has ever cherished a house will identify with the residents of 501 Holly. So enter these pages and welcome home. Recommended for public libraries.?Edward B. Cone, New York City
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Reader Reviews
Jim Morgan gets most (but not all) of his facts straight, approaching his subjects with an affecting blend of humor, compassion, and both human and architectural insights. IF THESE WALLS HAD EARS: THE BIOGRAPHY OF A HOUSE offers up eight families' worth of bittersweet reminiscences, ruminations and recriminations comingled with the author's own personal reflections on this whale of a house. Portions of the book are uneven and a bit awkward as Morgan transitions between the families' and his own perceptions and his narration. But overall, it's an interesting and enjoyable read which should resonate truly with anyone who has ever experienced the mixed blessings of home ownership -- or found themselves haplessly ensnared by a four-walled moneypit. Ed and Sheri Kramer: Chapter Ten
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If These Walls Had Ears: The Biography of a House
Available from Amazon
Price: $27.00
Updated on 9-15-2008.
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