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Voice of Blue Devils A new autobiography by award-winning sports announcer Bob Harris reveals an interesting history of Duke athletics, high jinks and celebrity appearances. Harris, the Voice of the Duke Blue Devils for football and men’s basketball for 36 years, began behind the mic in his hometown of Albemarle and became the official sportscaster for Duke in 1976. He has broadcast 383 consecutive football games and 1,147 basketball games, including 12 Final Four games and 4 NCAA titles (entering the 2010–2011 season). His stories are told with home-spun enthusiasm and recount his school years, career choices and what it has been like to work with talented athletes. More than 100 photographs show Harris at various stages along the way. “How Sweet It Is, From the Cotton Mill to the Crow’s Nest” includes an 80-minute CD with play-by-play calls Harris made, as well as interviews with the likes of Red Skelton and Muhammad Ali. Hardcover, 381 pages, $39.95. Self-published, and available at select N.C. bookstores and the website below. |
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Ghost Cats of the South Some cats give you whisker kisses, while others will invite you to rub them, then swipe you, claws out. And apparently, departed pets are one of the more common ghost experiences. Good ghost kitties, bad ghost kitties, ghost kitties in their many manifestations — you’ll meet them all in these 22 stories. Readers can savor stories about a cat smelling of chicken soup who saves a pair of street musicians in Kentucky, a face-hungry Mississippi cat who inhabits the seats of a 1956 Chevy Bel Air, a porcelain cat who inspires girls at a North Carolina summer camp to reveal cherished secrets, and a Virginia cat who must get its owner his glasses before his coffin is sealed. The author, “ghostlorist” Randy Russell, lives outside Asheville. Softcover, 266 pages, 20 b&w photographs, $14.95. Published by John F. Blair in Winston-Salem. (800) 222-9796 |
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Myths and Mysteries of North Carolina This book explores unusual phenomena, strange events and mysteries in North Carolina’s history, with travel writer and North Carolinian Sara Pitzer pulling back the curtain on some of the state’s most compelling stories. Sometimes a story has the facts wrong, but the legend grows. Take ol’ Tom Dula (pronounced Dooley), hanged in Iredell County for the murder of his fiancee in Wilkes County. Was Tom really guilty? And who really made those etchings on the Jadaculla rock that Cherokee lore attributes to devil Tsul ’Kalu? “Myths and Mysteries of North Carolina” looks at 14 Tar Heel tales, ranging from the Lost Colony to ghosts in Gold Hill and strange occurrences in Old Salem. Chapter titles include “Pee Dee A.D.,” “The Devils Tramping Ground,” “The Ballad of Frankie Silver” and “Apparition at Maco Station.” Published by Globe Pequot in Guildford, Conn. Softcover, 176 pages, $14.95. (888) 249-7586 |
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Wild North Carolina Celebrating the beauty and diversity of the state’s natural landscapes, this new book provides an illustrated introduction to North Carolina’s interconnected plant and animal life. From dunes and marshes to high mountain crags, through forests, swamps, savannas, ponds, pocosins and flatrocks, North Carolinians David Blevins and Michael Schafale reveal in words and photographs natural patterns that help readers see familiar places in a new way and also view new places with a sense of familiarity. “Wild North Carolina” introduces the full range of the state’s diverse natural communities through color illustrations, accounts of significance and details on where to go to experience the communities first hand. Blevins is a nature photographer and forest ecologist, and Schafale is a community ecologist. Hardback, 184 pages, $30. (800) 848-6224 |