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3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 Memories Refreshed Jan 21, 2010
By Merlyn
"Writer and Music Lover"
I am a reviewer with Pinnacle editing. I give this book five stars because of the vivid recollection of memories it gave me.
This book is subtitled, A memoir of the rural south. The title is well chosen, but the subtitle speaks to this reviewer quite personally. I was born and reared within thirty miles of the places the author describes in loving--mostly--detail.
Scruggs grew up just outside the small town of Cullman, Alabama. The city is named for Johann Gottlieb Cullmann, a Bavarian immigrant who, at first, settled in Cincinnati. He formulated a plan to build a "Deutche Kolonie" to be a haven for Germans who immigrated to the United States. After several missteps, Cullmann met a former governor of Alabama who introduced him to a land agent of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company (L&N). The railroad was seeking people to inhabit land along a newly laid stretch of railroad in north Alabama. Cullmann was made a Colonel and given the authority to act as agent for L&N to sell 349,000 acres of land. From this, sprang the city of Cullman, Alabama.
Scruggs has researched the pioneer days of the city and recounts the growth of Cullman without becoming overwhelmed by detail. He then takes the reader through a section that recounts some of the difficulties faced by the German immigrants in the face of two world wars, because of their heritage and clinging accents.
The author moves the clock forward, bringing us along as the little town grows and begins to develop. Some of the day-to-day business in a southern town during the forties and fifties now seem antique and, except for a book such as this, are forgotten by all but older readers. An example is the trip, faithfully described, by farmers in their mule-drawn wagons to the cotton gin--sights and sounds from a bygone era, clearly recreated.
The chapters devoted to old time (some of them still exist) comics ("funny papers," they were called then), and old time radio programs were doorways into the past. The time spent lying on the couch reading "Alley Oop," and laughing at the escapades of Dagwood flashed back like summer lightning. Hours spent sitting on the floor listening intently--through the static--to The Lone Ranger and Sky King came back as if they were only yesterday.
Scruggs devotes a chapter to farm animals and tells a hilarious, though painful to imagine, story of a young mule, Queenie, who bit. Not just people but other mules, too. Stories of animals on a farm are particularly appropriate. Telling about life on a "hardscrabble farm" in Alabama in the forties would be incomplete without describing the animals that shared the place with the people.
I enjoyed reading The View from Brindley Mountain for several reasons. Mr. Scruggs and I have several memories in common (the dentist he describes was mine, too),
I've eaten hamburgers in the same café and shopped in the same "dry goods" store. The value of the reminiscences in this book are not limited to people who, like me, shared them; they are like a virtual slideshow for younger people who have never--and now, will never--experience some of the happy and unhappy times from those days.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
The View from Brindley Mountain (by C. Eugene Scruggs) Apr 07, 2010
By David B. Austell
Dr. Eugene Scruggs' latest book, "The View from Brindley Mountain," is his finest work to date. "Brindley Mountain" even surpasses, in overall scope and literary style, his previous work, "Tramping with the Legion," a narrative history of the Confederate Holcombe Legion (K Company) during the American Civil War, and a volume which was very well received especially among fans of Shelby Foote's historical narratives of that same period. "Brindley Mountain" focuses on growing up in the South before and during the Cold War years. It beautifully describes the passing of a rural culture, which in many ways has been lost along with so many cultures worldwide resulting from the steady erosion-effects of globalization and cultural homogenization. In this regard, the reminiscences are nostalgic, but never sentimental, from the standpoint of cultural loss. However, the writing is also extremely entertaining, humorous, and quite engaging in its details of the period. If you're interested in the Southern United States, and your only exposure has been Cash's "The Mind of the South," then it's high time to update your cultural awareness. "The View from Brindley Mountain" will do the trick, and should not be missed.
-review by Dr. David B. Austell, New York University (April 2010)
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
The View From Brindley Mountain Dec 23, 2009
By Jere R. Aldridge
This was a walk through our lives again through Gene's eyes and memory. It is historical, informative and very funny. Gene has a way of using sound, sight and smell, making everything come to life again. A true work of love, poetry and memories about a life in a time when life was simple. We would reccommend this book to anyone wanting to be entertained and informed. Jere and Hilda Aldridge
Very interesting!!! Oct 26, 2011
By M. Scruggs
This book tells the story of a boy growing up in Cullman, Alabama in the 1930s and '40s. Being much younger than that, I find the facts and stories incredibly interesting. The author gives several funny tales from his childhood that can keep a reader occupied for long periods of time (if that kind of time is available). I would highly recommend this not only for people who grew up in similar situations, but for younger readers who are interested in finding out how their grandparents lived.
Loved Brindley Mountain (even though I am a Yankee!) Sep 24, 2011
By sunlover721
Many of the other reviews here discuss stirring old memories- and I definitely cannot say the same. I grew up in a northern, industrial city which could not have been further from the reality of life in rural Cullman, Alabama. However, Eugene Scruggs's writing is excellent-- I actually felt myself transported back to the time and place that he describes so well in this book, and it was so enjoyable to read about a life completely removed from the type I lived.
Dr. Eugene Scruggs is an international scholar. He has studied in Paris and introduced many college students to the French culture via an immersion program in France which led to a Master's Degree for participants. In later years, he also traveled extensively to Europe, Africa, Asia, Central America, and South America as Director of Student Exchanges and Study Abroad for the University of South Florida. These are quite lofty achievements for a boy born in a clapboard house in Cullman County, Alabama.
From his humble beginnings growing up on a hardscrabble farm in rural northern Alabama, Dr. Scruggs shares with us what life was like growing up and how that meager, though loving, existence shaped the man he was to become. It also paints a poignant picture of what life was like for generations past as they struggled to make a living and feed their families. I think most Americans can relate to his tales, regardless of which part of the country their family called home, as most Americans during these times had similar struggles.
Part of what Dr. Scruggs says in his preface to the book - "Regardless of where our journey takes us, neither place nor time erase the thoughts and actions of youth" - rings very true for most people in my generation. Being one of the so-called "Baby Boomers," people in our generation have raised children and in some cases, have grandchildren as well. Yet no matter how far we go from where we grew up, we keep in touch with the people and the places that formed our values and the "grownups" that we have reluctantly become.
The View from Brindley Mountain is a wonderful memoir of growing up, and will hit especially close to home for those from the south. However, it also has great lessons for those who were as far removed as the large northern industrial cities or the fledgling towns of the American west. I highly recommend this book!
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