Jackson, Carlton 1933- (Carlton Luther Jackson)

PERSONAL:

Born January 15, 1933, in Blount County, AL; son of Luther H. (a farmer) and Winnie Jackson; married Patricia Dow, 1954; children: Beverly, Daniel, Matthew, Hilary. Education: Birmingham-Southern College, B.A., M.A., 1959; University of Georgia, Ph.D., 1963; Exeter College, Oxford, graduate study, 1966. Religion: Episcopalian.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Morgantown, KY. Office—Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101.

CAREER:

Birmingham Post Herald, Birmingham, AL, reporter, 1956-57; teacher in Birmingham public schools, 1957-59; Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, assistant professor, 1961-63, associate professor, 1963-67, professor of history, 1967—. Visiting summer professor at College of William and Mary, 1965, University of Maryland Overseas Program at Upper Heyford Air Force Base, England, 1966, and Tufts University, 1968, 1970; Fulbright lecturer at colleges and universities in Pakistan, India, 1971-75, Dhaka University, 1985, and University of Helsinki, 1989-90. U.S. Information Agency lecturer in Greece, Iran, and India, 1972; visiting professor at Pahlavi University, 1978, University of Graz, 1981, and University of Hawaii, 1991 and 1993. Military service: U.S. Air Force, 1951-54; became staff sergeant.

MEMBER:

American Association of University Professors, Southern Historical Society, Phi Alpha Theta.

WRITINGS:

Presidential Vetoes, 1792-1945, University of Georgia Press (Athens, GA), 1967.

(With others) Foundations of Freedom, Laidlaw Brothers (River Forest, IL), 1973.

(With others) Challenge and Change, Laidlaw Brothers (River Forest, IL), 1973.

Zane Grey, Twayne, 1973.

(With others) Two Centuries of Progress, Laidlaw Brothers (River Forest, IL), 1974.

J.I. Rodale: Apostle of Nonconformity, Pyramid Press, 1974.

The Great Lili, Strawberry Hill Press (San Francisco, CA), 1979.

(With Harold H. Eibling and Vito Perrone) Two Centuries of Progress: United States History, Laidlaw Brothers (River Forest, IL), 1981.

The Dreadful Month, Bowling Green State University (Bowling Green, OH), 1982.

Hounds of the Road: A History of the Greyhound Bus Company, Bowling Green State University Press (Bowling Green, OH), 1984.

Who Will Take Our Children?, Methuen (London, England), 1985.

Hattie: The Life of Hattie McDaniel, Madison Books (Lanham, MD), 1990.

A Social History of the Scotch-Irish, Madison Books (Lanham, MD), 1993.

(Editor and author of introduction) Zane Grey, George Washington, Frontiersman, University Press of Kentucky (Lexington, KY), 1994.

Kentucky Outlaw Man: A Novel Based on the Life of George Al Edwards, Iris Press (Bell Buckle, TN), 1994.

Picking up the Tab: The Life and Movies of Martin Ritt, University Popular Press (Bowling Green, OH), 1994.

(Editor and author of preface and introduction) Befriending: The American Samaritans, University Popular Press (Bowling Green, OH), 1996.

Forgotten Tragedy: The Sinking of HMT Rohna, Naval Institute Press (Annapolis, MD), 1997.

Joseph Gavi, Young Hero of the Minsk Ghetto, Turner Publishing (Paducah, KY), 2000.

Allied Secret: The Sinking of the HMT Rohna, University of Oklahoma Press (Norman, OK), 2002.

Freedom's Way: From Slavery to Liberty: A Novel, Acclaim Press (Morely, MO), 2005.

P.S. I Love You: The Story of the Singing Hilltoppers, University Press of Kentucky (Lexington, KY), 2007.

Contributor of articles to professional journals, and short stories to Link and Southern Humanities Review.

SIDELIGHTS:

When asked the question "What first got you interested in writing?" Carlton Jackson told CA: "Probably from an early age when I used to listen to all the radio shouws, like The Lone Ranger, Hop Harrigan, and Gunsmoke.

"Most of what it is that I know about writing, I learned during my stint as a photojournalisy. The most important lesson here was ‘keep it simple.’

"I work late at night for about two hours. I leave right in the middle of a sentence. At my next writing session, my first thought will be how to finish the incomplete sentence. Finishing the incomplete sentence inspires the one after it, and so on."

When asked the most surprising thing learned as a writer, Jackson responded, "Absolute power of editors. How capricious ‘peer reviewers’ can sometimes be, using the critique process to grandstand their own philosophies rather than the work at hand. How gratifying it is to see your work finally in print. And how in a real way, sad, that it's all over. It's somewhat akin to losing an old friend."

Jackson remarked when asked about favorite books that "I suppose for emotional value it would be two Hattie: The Life of Hattie McDaniel. She was so ‘human’ I would love to have met her. The other is Allied Secret: The Sinking of HMT Rohna. Here again, there was the human element that drew me to the subject."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American History, May 1, 1997, review of Forgotten Tragedy: The Sinking of HMT Rohna, p. 10.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, December, 1994, F.L. Trice, review of George Washington, Frontiersman, p. 599; September, 1995, R. Blackwood, review of Picking up the Tab: The Life and Movies of Martin Ritt, p. 130; May, 1997, review of Forgotten Tragedy, p. 1552.

Film Quarterly, summer, 1997, Matthew Bernstein, review of Picking up the Tab.

Library Journal, November 1, 1992, Richard B. Finnegan, review of A Social History of the Scotch-Irish, p. 102.

New York Times, September 1, 1985, Edwin McDowell, review of Hounds of the Road: A History of the Greyhound Bus Company, p. 11.

New York Times Book Review, October 15, 1989, Al Young, review of Hattie: The Life of Hattie McDaniel, p. 13.

Nineteenth-Century Literature, June, 1990, review of Zane Grey, p. 120.

Publishers Weekly, May 31, 1985, review of Who Will Take Our Children?, p. 51; December 16, 1996, review of Forgotten Tragedy, p. 53.

Reference & Research Book News, August 1995, review of Picking up the Tab, p. 49.