Did you always want to be a writer?
What are some of your favorite books and authors?
Have you also written fiction and, if so, explain how the process is different for you?
Was there a moment that led you to begin writing non-fiction?
How did you first become interested in the topic of your book and what made you want to write a book about it to tell a particular story?
How long did research for this book take and did you know at the beginning that it would take the direction it did? What did you learn from the process of writing it?
Were there any surprises when you were researching the book?
What was your biggest surprise in writing this book?
If you could choose one book to read over and over for the rest of your life, which book would you choose?
From your perspective, what has been your greatest accomplishment in life?
Are you working on anything new and, if so, what can you tell us about it?
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a discussion with Andy Ambrose
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No, when I was a kid I wanted to be a musician, an athlete, and president of the United States. I discovered I had a talent for writing in college when I was taking history and literature classes.
I love southern literature and novels, particularly works by southern women writers, such as Alice Walker, Ellen Gilchrist, Eudora Welty, Lee Smith, and Kaye Gibbons. Favorite southern male novelists include: William Faulkner, Reynolds Price, Clyde Egerton, and James Agee. Not surprisingly, I read a good deal of southern histories and historical biographies.
No, all of my published writing thus far has been non-fiction. I do harbor dreams, however, of someday writing short stories or a novel.
No, but there was a moment in college when I discovered that I enjoyed history, and, quite frankly, it came as a complete shock to me. The way I had been taught history in elementary and secondary school put all the emphasis on dates and so-called "facts." I have never had a great memory for dates and the "facts" that I was taught in school were not particularly inspiring or interesting. What I discovered in college was that history was really composed of stories, many of which disagreed with one another, about an incredibly wide range of things that had happened, why they happened, and what they meant. A historian, I came to realize, operating like a detective, sorting through these competing stories, examining and discovering new "evidence," looking at what happened from several perspectives, and choosing the interpretation that appeared to make the most sense. The rise of "social history," or history from the bottom up, encouraged historians to re-examine events and movements from the perspectives of groups who had often been marginalized in or ignored by mainstream society, and I found this very enlightening and exciting.
There have been a lot of good histories of Atlanta written over the years. Most of these, however, have focused on specific time periods, individuals, groups, events, communities, etc. Many of the historical overviews or general histories of the city that have been written are chamber of commerce-type promotional histories or publications that include individual corporate histories. What I've attempted to do with Atlanta: An Illustrated History is to provide a readable, and concise history of the city that utilizes hundreds of historic images to help tell the story, but that doesn't shy away from the unpleasant, violent, and unflattering aspects of this city's history. I've also tried to draw upon and incorporate the research and findings of these other fine histories of Atlanta and point the reader, through the book's bibliography, to publications that can tell them more about specific historical topics or eras of interest.
The book draws upon personal research and writing on Atlanta that I have done for the last twenty years, as well as almost 5 years of research by Atlanta History Center staff and consultants in preparation for the opening of "Metropolitan Frontiers" - the History Center's award-winning exhibition on Atlanta history. The book also highlights some of the estimated 1.5 million images that have been collected, researched, and identified during the Atlanta Historical Society's 75-year existence. The writing of this book impressed upon me once again just how complex the history of this city is and what a debt I owe to the past and present efforts of other Atlanta historians and researchers.
I am always discovering new things when I do research on Atlanta or read the findings of other Atlanta historians, scholars, and experts.
As I reexamined the history of Atlanta, I was surprised to discover just how often over the 165-year history of the city certain historical themes and forces - such as race and race relations, civic boosterism, the impact of new modes of transportation, unbounded growth, and the alliance of the interests of business and city hall - helped shape the city's response to changing historical developments.
This is almost an impossible question for me to answer because there are so many books that I have enjoyed immensely or that have had a big impact on my life. I will choose, however, James Agee's A Death in the Family because it is set in my hometown of Knoxville and explores the life of a young boy, who like me, loses his father at an early age.
My greatest accomplishment is difficult to identify but clearly my greatest joy in life is my family - my wife Terry to whom I have been married for 22 years and my two children - son Kalin and daughter Madison.
I've got two other writing projects currently in the works. One is a collection of essays by southern historians on the South during the twentieth century. The other will be another collection of essays exploring the origins and impact of the Color Line, or Jim Crow, in early twentieth-century Atlanta. The rest of my energies are focused on the broad spectrum of exhibitions, programs, events, interpretive tours, archival and museum collections, and publications that we will be producing and presenting at the Atlanta History Center during the upcoming year.