My Kind of Country: Favorite Writings about New York

by Carl Carmer

This book is really a "best of," as chosen by the author himself. These are Carmer's favorite pieces, drawn from three decades of work. He mixes leisurely reminiscences with folklore, verse, and portraits of Upstate's diverse population. Geographically, they range from Niagara Falls to Montauk Point, and include pieces on the fate of Native Americans, ghost stories, tall stories, character sketches, a piece on the erosion of New York State's natural beauty, as well as poems and works of wit and humor.

288 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 1995

About the author

Carl Cramer is a former professor of English, columnist, and assistant editor of Vanity Fair and Theatre Arts Monthly. In more than thirty years of writing he has produced an impressive list of books, including history, historical novels, poetry and juveniles.

Reviews

[Sally Lindsay-briggs · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was assigned reading for a History book club that I recently joined. It was necessary to confer with an older member and a friend who've read the book. One said, she skimmed it and didn't really read it all. The second said the author was very popular in the 40's and 50's but she thought he rambled a lot. He did. Frankly, this had quite a bit of local history around New York State that was somewhat interesting but largely, it was a vast collection of short, unrelated articles (some published elsewhere and some never published). There was no continuity and it was largely very dull and hard to plow through. The best part was the last page because then I didn't have to read any further!