Born in 1950. Write for a living. Three cats. Other car a canoe. Live in Asheville, North Carolina in a fixer-upper. Very much in love. Garden. Fix up. Read. Fix up. Blog. Fix up. Rinse. Repeat.
I am a professional journalist and my presence on the Web goes back a long way. I began publishing Duck Soup: Essays on the Submerging Culture as an e-newsletter and Web site in 1995—long before the word “blog” had entered the vocabulary. Duck Soup was a nationally syndicated print and regional radio commentary over a ten year period. Currently I have eight books in print with two others in the works.
A more formal bio would include:
Cecil Bothwell—biographer, investigative reporter, builder, organic gardener and public servant—has addressed issues of sustainabiliity, human rights and social responsibility in personal appearances and media venues around the world. His career includes two decades of newspaper reporting, eight years of radio commentary and interviews, and intermittent stints as a singer/songwriter and slam poet. He has won national and regional awards for investigative reporting, humorous commentary and criticism, and was tapped as the Southeast Poetry Slam champion in 1993. He was elected to the Asheville, North Carolina, City Council in 2009, and his critical biography of evangelist Billy Graham has garnered international acclaim.
Thanks for the book exposing the Prince of War. I only wish that some of the people of WNC would read and understand what the Prince has done. All I see or hear about is what a sainted person he is. I am very tired of the reports of his ill health. May he rest in peace………………soon.
good recursive reference to ‘prince of peace’, brave ulysses. I hope your book is up at Malaprops and you will be giving a talk?
I’m betting that the review by CounterPunch does not reflect, I hope,what is in the book. Hitchens and crowd have no idea what has taken place in the South over the past 50 years. They can only imagine.
I grew up in a family of Billy Graham-ers and John Birchers. I know these people well. Even when I visit my octogenarian mother,we sit and watch old Billy Graham shows (her pick). When my mother would be late picking me up at Columbia High School in Decatur in Atlanta, I imagined that she had been raptured and that I was now left because I was basically a sinner who didn’t really believe all that stuff. Years of being on my knees in private places or public ones, down front in the church, could not steer me toward continuing to carry my Bible to public high school (very unpopular back then). Years of church slowly taught me the matter which, in conversation with friends in later years, was the straw that broke the camel’s back: ‘what happens to all the heathens in AFrican when they die….and if some missionary hadn’t somehow convinced them to be saved?” “Well, honey, they die and go to hell” (as if to say, well, God can’t do everything you know).
There is a significant charismatic quality to Graham which has been built layer by layer over the decades. A friend of mine in Atlanta speaks of having seen him cleave the sheep from the wolves in Florida at some annual teen ritual rife w/ flesh. His eyes are described as Rasputin in quality.
I am betting that he no longer comments as he is simply too old to pull together his comments and I believe his wife just passed.
If John Birch Society had not been in place (don’t know that history) in the houses of middle class white people in the late 1950’s, in the South, I would wonder if Graham would have had such a smooth entrance. His fame was also bolstered by the very insistent ‘radio preachers’ e.g., Lester Roloff, etc., which was the background soundscape while I grew up. That and WAVO radio station in Atlanta which was manned by people who had attended Bob Jones University in Greenville (where my mother went to school).
My point is, Graham’s place was not created in isolation. He may be the ‘prince of war’ but the trappings around him is what seated him. His place in history was scored and underlined by Christian schools e.g., Bob Jones University; Tennessee Temple University….by the persistent radio preachers. To my mind, your book seems to be hinting at the history of Christianity in the South—-and that would make for mighty interesting reading indeed (someone should write that book; I can imagine that for me it would be an edifyingly cleansing moment).
marsha hammond, west asheville
One of the fascinating pieces of the puzzle that I unearthed and included in the book is that Ruth Bell Graham’s father, Dr. L. Nelson Bell, was head of the John Birch Society in Asheville in the 60s.
And yes, the book will be at Malaprop’s starting Nov. 15. Reading there Nov. 17.
For more dates visit http://theprinceofwar.com.
I HAVE JUST BUILT MY LARGEST BRIDGE:
w/ WSOC FM 103.7 FM …”Tanner in THE MORNING”
so…………here goes:
http://www.ifeveratwainyoumeet.blogspot.com
THANK YOU!
Love, Cam
aka
Twain
aka
twainbrain
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Hey Cecil – I have 3 cats, too. No fixer upper, but I garden! I heard from SAFC about a certain auction winner you may know.
Good luck with the primary (if I have my dates right!)
Cheers,
Anne Alexander
(former Ashevilleian, now Coloradoan)
Dear Cecil:
I ran across “Gorillas in the Myth” recently, and would love to feature it on Snowflakes in a Blizzard (snowflakesarise.wordpress.com), a unique, author-friendly and absolutely free book marketing project. Regional authors are one of our niches, along with books we think our blog followers would benefit from reading. We feature three books a week, and our posts go out to 3,200-plus blog followers, many of whom share on their own social media. The posts are then achived on our Author page forever, or until Armageddon, whichever comes first. Check it out,and if it interests you, my e-mail is writersbridge@hotmail.com.
Best,
Darrell Laurant