Alabama, One Big Front Porch

by Kathryn Tucker Windham

In her inimitable storytelling style, Mrs. Windham takes readers on a tour of the history, people, and places of the “heart of Dixie.” First published in 1975 and long out of print, Alabama: One Big Front Porch is now reissued in a handsome new edition. Alabama, they say, is like one big front porch where folks gather on summer nights to tell tales and to talk family. Everybody, they say, is kin to everybody else―or knows somebody who is. It’s a sprawling porch, stretching from the Tennessee River valley to the sandy Gulf beaches with its sides sometimes slipping over into Mississippi and Georgia. The tale-tellers don’t all look alike and they don’t all talk alike, but the stories they tell are all alike in their unmistakeable Southern blend of exaggeration, humor, pathos, folklore, and romanticism. Family history is woven into the stories. And pride. And humor. Always humor.

168 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Kathryn Tucker Windham was an American storyteller, author, photographer, and journalist.

Windham got her first writing job at the age of 12, reviewing movies for her cousin's small town newspaper, The Thomasville Times. She earned a B.A. degree from Huntingdon College in 1939. Soon after graduating she became a reporter for the Alabama Journal. Starting in 1944 she worked for The Birmingham News. In 1946 she married Amasa Benjamin Windham with whom she had three children. In 1956 she went to work at the Selma Times-Journal where she won several Associated Press awards for her writing and photography. A collection of her photographs is on display at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. She died on June 12, 2011. The 2004 documentary film, Kathryn: The Story of a Teller, directed by Norton Dill, chronicles Windham's life and varied careers.

Reviews

[Mckinley]

This is a delightful example of the importance of the oral tradition...of storytelling . It inspires me to tell & record my own stories .
As usual , Windham teaches as she tells , going into the fabric of the people & histories of Alabama.

[Joseph Raborg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction to the state of Alabama. The author really gives one a feel for its people and history through this book. For one who has only resided here for two and a half years, it’s great and has given me ideas of places to go for day trips.