Erskine Caldwell: A Georgia Author Giant!

This is a blog on a cultural Georgia treasure. Way back in late 1903 there was a man born in Coweta County, (now in metro Atlanta) Ga. by the name of Erskine Caldwell. The fellow great up to be a writer who had plenty of book sales savvy and much cultural impact on the distinct ethos that is the Deep South experience. He worked in Atlanta, Memphis, New Orleans and Lord knows how many other places. In 1925 he came to Atlanta and became a reporter for The Atlanta Journal. Years ago, I met a man who knew Mr. Caldwell quite well and he said E. Caldwell was a fascinating intellectual who truly understood the people of the Southern region of this country. In 1932 Erskine Caldwell came out with the mighty book called, 'Tobacco Road' and this work proved to be a remarkable literary juggernaut. It got deep into the souls and the raw passion that is the primal core of so many great Georgians. In 1933, Mr. Caldwell came out with another giant book success, 'God's Little Acre.' This thing gained the strong Mr. Caldwell even more success! 'Little Acre' is a wild story of a Georgia dirt farmer and all his people. It is full of a raw vigor that just vividly overwhelms the reader. In the late 1930s, Caldwell was a news correspondent in Spain, Mexico and Czechoslovakia. Two more Caldwell big novels came out soon. One in 1940 called, 'Trouble in July' and one in 1943 called 'Georgia Boy.' The fascinating aspect of Mr. Caldwell's work is the fact the man so beautifully earned his place as a great regional writer, a gentleman who could encapsulate the complex layers of the Deep South emotional experience and then bring this marvelous deep cultural world to life. Caldwell did for Georgia what the marvelous William Faulkner did for his area, the soulful 'Ole Miss' region. I stand amazed today knowing that I am a product of the very same beautiful state of Georgia, the place that produced a tremendously great man like Erskine Caldwell.