On the Southern Literary Trail discussion

Intrigued by the movie "Lawless," on which the book "The Wettest County in the World" is based, I decided to read Mr Bondurant's work. He is the greatnephew of the main character, Jack Bondurant, the youngest of three hard-case brothers, who choose to operate independently from what was known as "The Franklin County, VA, Moonshine Conspiracy," the head of which was a so-called Commonwealth Attorney who ordered payment from the moonshiners for safe passage through Franklin County. Forrest Bondurant, the middle brother, runs a gas station that is a dropoff point for the "runners." Mr Bondurant alternatively tells the story from different angles, one of which is from the author Sherwood Anderson, a contemporary of Hemingway, Faulkner, and others, who was in the area during that time for his own research. Anderson seems to have been on good terms with Faulkner, and Wikipedia gives him credit for influencing those authors as well as Steinbeck and others. He may be one of the most underappreciated Southern authors(main works: "Winesburg, Ohio," and "Dark Laughter"). I highly recommend "The Wettest County in the World" because Matt Bondurant presents a vivid view of a microcosm of Southern culture in a well-written and informative manner. The setting is Franklin County, VA, ~1918-1935, and, although it has to be classified as fiction, Bondurant has not skipped on his research and has basically filled in the historical blanks with some, but not all, fictional characters to tell an interesting story.
Mike Addington

Mike wrote: "Intrigued by the movie "Lawless," on which the book "The Wettest County in the World" is based, I decided to read Mr Bondurant's work. He is the greatnephew of the main character, Jack Bondurant, t..."

Mike A., Thanks for contributing. This sounds like an interesting read that I need to check out.

Mike S.

This book was also retitled after the movie "Lawless" came out and was so successful. It is here:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15...