Gregory Crouch's Blog, page 32
July 11, 2012
Old photograph fever sweeps China
“Old photograph fever” is currently sweeping China as people try and recapture a visual sense of their own history.
Apparently, the Communist party frowned on China’s history as “black time,” particularly during the Cultural Revolution, and its scourging of past associations caused most Chinese to purge their family photographs. Official historical archives were also destroyed, along with their photos. As a consequence, there are almost no photographs of China — in China — prior to 1970.
A website comment this morning brought this BBC link about the story to my attention. It’s worthy of its own post. The accompanying slide show is absolutely gorgeous.
And for any China-enthusiasts wanting to see a photos related to flying and culture in the Middle Kingdom during the 1930s and ’40s, I’ve posted a set of images on my China’s Wings board on Pinterest and in a photo album on my China’s Wings Facebook page.
I’d be thrilled if China’s Wings could catch a draft from China’s new passion for its fascinating past — it’s going to be published in Chinese.
CNAC Forever!
July 10, 2012
China’s Wings event in Houston, July 21
On Saturday, July 21, at 3:00 p.m., I’ll be doing a China’s Wings presentation and book signing in Houston, at the Barnes & Noble in Vanderbilt Square (3003 West Holcombe Blvd., Houston, Texas 77025)
Here’s the link to the store’s events page.
Everybody is welcome, and of course, I’d love to see you there. I’ll have lots of excellent photographs and stories to share.
CNAC Forever!
July 2, 2012
China’s Wings reviewed by Noozhawk
China’s Wings received an excellent review from Tom Cahill in Noozhawk, Santa Barbara’s online newspaper.
The article includes a picture of me signing a copy of China’s Wings for Dolores Pollock, my mother’s longtime boss at Marymount School — who you’ll find thanked in the book’s acknowledments. My greatest regret on the whole project is that mom never got to see the finished product.
June 30, 2012
Foster McEdward and China’s Wings
CNAC pilot Foster McEdward
Foster McEdward flew DC-3s, DC-4s, and C-46s over the Hump with the Army Air Corps from June, 1943 to January, 1945, flew with CNAC from mid-1946 to 1948, and with CATC in 1948 and ’49. He lives in Middlebury, Vermont, he’s currently 90-years old, and his daughter, Pennie McEdward-Rand, hooked him up with a copy of China’s Wings. Her recent email said that her father, “thoroughly enjoyed” the book, and that he “could recall all the names and places you mentioned in the book. It was a treat for him to read this at the end of his life. He said that of all the books written about the airlift, yours is by far the most well documented and most interesting.”
That’s high praise indeed, and I’m grateful to Pennie for sending along the good news. She also included these two excellent photos of Foster at his home in Vermont. One of his friends made the painting more than 20 years ago.
Foster with his granddaughter, Annavitte
June 23, 2012
On the Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference Non-Fiction Panel with Brian Fagan and Kathleen Sharp
A few Sundays ago, I participated on the non-fiction book panel at the Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference with Brian Fagan (Elixir, 2011) and Kathleen Sharp (Blood Feud, 2011), and the Conference posted a video of our discussion. I enjoyed this more than I expected, and if you’ve got some spare time and an interest in how non-fiction books get written, you might, too. My only regret was not having a more expansive opportunity to talk with Brian and Kathleen afterwards, both of whom I found fascinating.
Both are widely published authors, and I’m really looking forward to reading their books.
June 16, 2012
Bookshelves!
I love books, and here’s where I keep ‘em:
June 15, 2012
China’s Wings – how the sausage got made
I built most of China’s Wings from these 4×6 cards, using the process described by Barbara Tuchman in her book Practicing History (which I described in this old post).
I’d loaned one of my boxes of index cards to another writer, and they came back to me this morning. Feels good to have them home.
The box of cards, returned home. (The blue stripes mark cards whose factoids found their way into my original draft.)
Some of the cards pertinent to China's Wings, 1939
June 14, 2012
China’s Wings reviewed by the Kansas City Public Library
A very favorable review of China’s Wings appeared in the Kansas City Public Library’s blog last week.
“fascinating” & “highly recommended”
June 9, 2012
China’s Wings in the Huffington Post… again
Journalist Christine Negroni mentions China’s Wings a story about visiting The Great Wall of China… (it was also reproduced in The Huffington Post, but I’ve provided the link to Christine’s aviation and travel themed blog instead.)
June 4, 2012
Katharine Dunlop Bond… China’s Wings’ undersung heroine
Bond’s wife, Katharine Dunlop Bond, generally known as Kitisi, didn’t get near the quantity of column inches she deserves in China’s Wings, but I think it’s fair to say that her love was the glue that held William Langhorne Bond’s life together through the trials of his long war, 1937-1949.
Katharine Dunlop Bond
