Acclaimed novelist Short here turns his hand toward the biography of a colorful Southern lawyer who refuses to fit into any convenient pigeonholes. Short's subject, a former Alabama assistant attorney general who is now one of the South's prominent plaintiff's attorneys, gained a reputation for taking unpopular and often controversial cases. This authorized bio tracks McPhillip's career from collegiate All-American heavyweight wrestler to equally dogged watchdog of the public trust.

The People's Lawyer

Biographies & Memoirs

Short, Carroll Dale

Professionals & Academics

Court Street Pr

Analyzing his own writing and that of his teachers, and reflecting on the writing advice he had been given over the years, Carroll Dale Short’s epiphany was the recognition of a dozen practical fundamentals of good writing. As one would expect from the author of The Shining Shining Path (available from NewSouth Books), the book is also fun to read. Drawing upon example after example, Short reveals the shortcuts and techniques of strong writing, providing easy ways to use transitions, enhance narrative sequence, and spice up dialogue. Reading this tool kit will improve any writer, from expert to novice.

A Writer's Tool Kit: 12 Proven Ways You Can Make Your Writing Stronger―Today!

Reference

Words, Language & Grammar

NewSouth Books

Novelist Carroll Dale Short turned his hand to creative non-fiction with this profile of Alabama lawyer Julian McPhillips, issued in hardcover in 2000 and now out of print. The new paperback edition has been revised with a 2005 update written by the subject of the book, who had a lot to talk about. Over the past five years, McPhillips was Bill Bradley’s state campaign coordinator, ran himself for the U.S. Senate (he lost), and continued to build his reputation as an advocate for the underdog in cases ranging from police brutality to corporate malfeasance, from employment discrimination to product liability, and more.

The People's Lawyer: The Colorful Life and Times of Julian L. McPhillips, Jr.

The Shining Shining Path is a triumphant blend of magical realism and spiritual adventure which examines the power of love, forgiveness, and redemption in everyday lives. Its collison of Easter mysticism and Deep South culture ranges effortlessly from humor to profound emotion.

The Shining Shining Path

Literature & Fiction

Contemporary

In the eighteen stories in this retrospective of his best short fiction, Dale Short shows why he is one of the best prose stylists of his generation and why he deserves a break-out success. Short's writing has been hailed by Wally Lamb as “simultaneously mythical and modern; a wild ride,” and Dennis Covington has called him “wise and compassionate, a major Southern writer.” He writes here from many perspectives―male, female, first person, third person, grieving widow, newly divorced dad, jailed redneck, river man laid up with heart trouble, conjure woman―and in every story the voice is as true as that of a child and as clear as fresh ice. The marvel of Short's prose is that the writing is so good it disappears, leaving the reader surrounded only by the story, which resonates long after the last word is absorbed. The other remarkable thing is how Short can go from comedy to tragedy within a single paragraph, sometimes within a single sentence, and then back again. His time lines here range from the Civil War to the near future, and the locales vary from a Kentucky mining town to the Gulf Coast of Mexico to the constellation Orion―all in all, a rare feast for the imagination. Stories that have appeared before only in magazines, this collection charts more than two decades of the growth and exploration of an author who won the first Redbook Fiction Prize at the age of twenty-seven, and whose acclaimed novel The Shining Shining Path was called by reviewers “Southern magical realism” and praised by Publishers Weekly as “boldly imaginative; a provocative spiritual odyssey.” Publishers Weekly added, “Short takes risks in a single paragraph that many writers never attempt in an entire novel.”

Turbo's Very Life and Other Stories

United States

After Dale Short moved away (reluctantly) from his hometown of Shanghi [sic] in Walker County, Alabama, he wrote home every week -- by means of a newspaper column in The Daily Mountain Eagle, where he held his first writing job in the late 1960s. The columns -- a homesick country boy’s reflections on the comforts, conflicts, and absurdities of living in the modern world -- have become a consistent favorite of Walker County readers, and have been honored multiple times by the Alabama Press Association and Alabama Media Professionals as the outstanding newspaper column in the state. They are collected here in Short's book I Left My Heart in Shanghi, Alabama, along with a new introduction by the author.

I Left My Heart in Shanghi, Alabama: Essays on Home and Place

History

Americas

Black Belt Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Short, Carroll Dale. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Short, Carroll Dale

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Short, Carroll Dale. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The People's Lawyer

A Writer's Tool Kit: 12 Proven Ways You Can Make Your Writing Stronger―Today!

The People's Lawyer: The Colorful Life and Times of Julian L. McPhillips, Jr.

The Shining Shining Path

Turbo's Very Life and Other Stories

I Left My Heart in Shanghi, Alabama: Essays on Home and Place

The Shining Shining Path