Graceland, At Last: Notes on Hope and Heartache From the American South

by Margaret Renkl

For the past four years, Margaret Renkl's columns have offered readers of The New York Times a weekly dose of natural beauty, human decency, and persistent hope from her home in Nashville. Now more than sixty of those pieces have been brought together in this sparkling new collection.

"People have often asked me how it feels to be the 'voice of the South, '" writes Renkl in her introduction. "But I'm not the voice of the South, and no one else is, either." There are many Souths--red and blue, rural and urban, mountain and coast, Black and white and brown--and no one writer could possibly represent all of them. In Graceland, At Last, Renkl writes instead from her own experience about the complexities of her homeland, demonstrating along the way how much more there is to this tangled region than many people understand.

In a patchwork quilt of personal and reported essays, Renkl also highlights some other voices of the South, people who are fighting for a better future for the region. A group of teenagers who organized a youth march for Black Lives Matter. An urban shepherd whose sheep remove invasive vegetation. Church parishioners sheltering the homeless. Throughout, readers will find the generosity of spirit and deep attention to the world, human and nonhuman, that keep readers returning to her columns each Monday morning.

From a writer who "makes one of all the world's beings" (NPR), Graceland, At Last is a book full of gifts for Southerners and non-Southerners alike.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Memoir, Nature, History, Southern, Book Club

296 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 8, 2021

About the author

Margaret Renkl is the author of The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year (due from Spiegel & Grau on Oct. 24, 2023), as well as Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss and Graceland, At Last: Notes On Hope and Heartache From the American South. She is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, where her essays appear each Monday. A graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Carolina, she lives in Nashville.

Reviews

[Ed Tarkington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Margaret Renkl is a national treasure. I would like to put this book into a time capsule so that thousands of years from now, evidence will remain that even at this late hour, there remained at least one voice of reason and compassion speaking for the vulnerable, the heroic, and most of all, for our fragile planet.

[Olive Fellows (abookolive)]

The food, the music, the accent: the American South has more than its fair share of idiosyncrasies. By the way the region is often spoken about, the unfamiliar would be inclined to believe that “the South” is one big indistinct landmass defined by a love of guns and deeply red politics. But what if the stereotypes fell short of characterizing the dynamic, if undeniably flawed area? In “Graceland, At Last: Notes on Hope and Heartache from the American South,” author Margaret Renkl (“Late Migrations”) – who lives in Nashville but originally hails from Alabama - aims to give a well-rounded view of the part of the country she calls home in this collection of columns previously published in The New York Times.

Click here to read the rest of my review in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

[Kris Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since I am not a reader of The New York Times, I had the sheer joy of reading each of these essays for the first time as part of this beautiful collection. Though I purchased Graceland At Last as a treat to myself at the end of 2021, I didn’t pick up until this week. I’m always astonished of how the universe puts books in our hands exactly when we need them. 🥰 I would give five hundred stars if I could.

Ps: I love that she went with an independent publisher. Talk about living your values!

[Cathrine ☯️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

5💛💛💛💛💛
Dear Margaret,
Will you please be my BFF 👭?
Sincerely,
Cathrine

[Reid Belew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really love Renkl, but I sort of thought this collection was a mixed bag. Some of these essays I had read before, others I hadn’t. Every essay is good, but stacked together like this, you begin to notice patterns in Renkl’s writing that become very tired. I’m a proud southerner, and Renkl is one of our guiding stars. But putting these essays back to back to back, instead of being read each week or every other week in the NYT, the “the south isn’t what you think” position gets a bit exhausting.

[Maureen Grigsby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful and inspirational collection of essays published by Margaret Renkl in the New York Times from 2018 till 2021. Her thoughts on a broad range of issues from the environment to the arts to religion to family and many more topics are collected one place. I read a few a day for a couple of weeks and it gave me plenty to look forward to. I was sorry to actually finish the book.

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't even know where to start with this review. After reading this book, I've come to the conclusion that Margaret Renkl and people like her are exactly what is wrong with America today.

This entire book is infused from beginning to end with anti-Trump screeds and the author presenting herself and people who agree with her progressive political viewpoints as "good". I read this as if you disagree with her viewpoints, you therefore must be "bad", or "evil", or even "deplorable". By presenting people who disagree with you as "other", you create division and misunderstanding. When you no longer have common ground, it is impossible to compromise. I don't think the author realizes how incredibly offensive this is to anyone outside of her own circle.

Here's a quote: "If you're reading this, you're probably among the Americans who don't get their news from conservative echo chambers, so you've probably made some changes in your habits of late." So, she expects that Americans who aren't liberals like her are close-minded and don't read anything they disagree with. Does Ms. Renkl read anything that she disagrees with?

I originally wanted to read this book as someone who spent most of my childhood in the South and whose parents were both raised in the South. I went to college in Nashville, where the author lives. I enjoyed her previous book, "Late Migrations". I did like the chapters about birds and exploring outside in Tennessee. However, the author's obvious dislike for anyone who disagrees with her and the constant harping about Donald Trump resulted in my rating.

[Elizabeth Chandler · Rating 5 out of 5]

How refreshing this book was to read! The author has such a way of writing about what it is like to be liberal and living in a red state. To love your southern surroundings but to also recognize it’s history and current faults. There are many of us who find ourselves in the same situation but our voices are not found easily. She is able to put into words what so many of us have tried to do. It was also fun to read about places like Vulcan or the Ave Marie Grotto that are such landmarks in Alabama but often out of staters do not know about. This book has certainly turned me into a new follower of her opinion column in New York Times!

[Debbi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author's book Late Migrations is one of my favorites. I was hoping for another round of essays in the same vein from her new book. I think it was an unfair expectation. These pieces are editorials that have been compiled under the umbrella of the South (Tennessee} and everything that means. Some of them are wonderful, all of them are short. I love personal essays and nature essays...regional culture and politics not so much. Renkl is a wonderful writer but as a West Coaster many of these pieces simply did not speak to me.

[Elizabeth Conn-Harr · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes after the introduction, in which Renkl lauds the great diversity of this region—that the South is not a monolith, it’s nuanced and misunderstood, etc.

She then proceeds to criticize and condemn every person and ideological position that doesn’t meet her very narrow worldview. While I share many of her positions, the tone is quite preachy.

The flora and fauna section was the strongest.

[Kazen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited to read this book for the Booktube Prize - essays! nature writing! - and the first section, especially, is delightful. I fear that Renkl is best read in shorter chunks, though, as the writing starts to lose its charm after ~150 pages. Not bad, not great, so three stars.

More complete thoughts in my Booktube Prize Octofinal Vlog Part 2.

[Frances Baldwin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is VERY political. Not sure if I will finish reading it even though Anne patchett highly recommended it

[Jill Stevenson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I abandoned this audible book. The author consistently maligns the South as a bunch of rubes (except for her, of course) and god forbid you’re from Tennessee. Maybe she’s an Alabaman but she spent too much time elsewhere to comment on our current problems. She denigrates anyone who considers themselves conservative or -gasp- Republican. She criticizes mightily yet offers no solutions. I am a progressive and I have hope for the south. She is not mired in her past and she is changing, albeit slowly. To continue to perpetuate the myth of the backwards south does a disservice to all, not just southerners. Also, I couldn’t stand the narrator!

[B. Osh · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, having read a few of her NYT columns. I certainly agree that Americans' lawns are bad for the environment in many, many ways. I agree with almost all of her ideas but the writing is nothing special and by the end, I was tired of the book and her patronizing attitude of privilege. In sum, this is a boring book.

[Jeanette (Ms. Feisty) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Read for Nonfiction November.

[Laura Hoffman Brauman · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Human beings are always more complex than the way they vote could ever suggest. People can be good and bad, brilliant and hopelessly short-sighted, empathetic and willfully blind. This is both the glory and the tragedy of human nature: we are not simple creatures.”

Despite the quote that I pulled from the book, this is not really a political read, although there is some commentary on politics in here. Margaret Renkl is a columnist for the New York Times who resides in Nashville. (Since the last two articles my husband has sent me were written by her, it seemed like I should kick off #NonfictionNovember with her essay collection.). Renkl writes about everything from the environment to faith, from art to social justice, from community to family. What she captures in these wide-ranging essays is really a look at people and the things they care about and that give their lives meaning. She excels at getting the reader to think beyond sterotypes defying stereotypes and reminding you respectfully that there is no one way to be anything. I appreciate the way she approaches the complexities that are our friends and neighbors and the walking contradictions that we all are. While I read this book straight through, honestly I think dipping in and out, an essay at a time would be a wonderful way to spend some time in Renkl’s world.

[Autumn · Rating 5 out of 5]

She’s a gift. An oracle. Someone I want to be when I grow up.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

okay so complicated and conflicting thoughts on this one.....

i love the subject matter. my family is from the south, and i've lived here my entire life, so i have a lot of love for the region, even though it has a horrible history and is dominated by racist white grievance politics. but it's home, and it always will be. renkl touches on a variety of topics about the south—the politics, the environment, the people, the culture, and they create a picture of the south that isn't represented in media as much as tired stereotypes and spotlights on our worst qualities are.

the fauna & flora section was one of the strongest i believe, with beautiful essays on the biodiversity and environmental richness of this land. i'll readily admit that most of the time i don't pay attention to the natural world of my home, especially in the suburbs. but renkl knows what she's sharing her home with, and she goes into beautiful detail on the animals, insects, and plants of this land with anecdotes and stories. she also emphasizes the fragility of our environment and how human development (from colonialism of course, not from the indigenous inhabitants) is threatening its survival. overall it made me reevaluate my relationship to the environment around me.

the politics & religion and social justice sections, on the other hand, were the weaker two. i share a lot of political beliefs as renkl, and i'm probably even further left than her, so it's not like my objections come from some place of republican whining. i understand a lot of renkl's feelings: despair and frustration that our government doesn't represent our views and actively suppresses our voices, and the response by a lot of the american left is to act like we don't exist and our home can be written off wholesale. however, renkl's defensiveness gets old after a little while, especially when removed from the context she originally penned the essays. yes, she often explains the political situation that prompted the writing, but it's not the same as reading it in the moment.

i also couldn't connect to the defense of christianity. i was raised as a christian (not a particularly devout one), and i went through cycles of intense belief and rejection until just giving up a few years ago, motivated a LOT by my inability to reconcile my morals and beliefs with christian theology. and i'm not just talking about american evangelists twisting the bible to support their cruelty but the passages that are accepted without criticism while still being regressive and harmful (coughproverbs31cough). and you know what, i know there are christians in the south that aren't like the loudest, most extreme, most hateful of their religion—i'm literally friends with them. but my GOD do i roll my eyes. how do they not see that they're still complicit? they still benefit from a culture (american in general but especially in the south) that prioritizes their viewpoint and morals while people with other faiths or no faith are demonized. everything down here revolves around the church, and when you're not part of one, you're automatically at a disadvantage. i, at least, have the benefit of being socialized as a christian. jewish? muslim? hindu? any other faith? you don't have that privilege! you will constantly be seen as an outsider, the other. i know it's part of renkl's life and her story, but i'm just tired of stories of the liberal christian surrounded by bigots who don't really understand the gospel like they do. this is my personal opinion though, and i don't expect other readers to agree with me or be as bothered by it. it's definitely a me thing lol.

however, i really do not fuck with a section of "America's Killer Lawns" and think it reflects poor judgement on renkl's part. the quote in question:

It can make a huge difference to our own health, too: as the Garden Club of America notes in its Great Healthy Yard Project, synthetic pesticides are endocrine disrupters linked to an array of human health problems, including autism, ADHD, diabetes, and cancer.

come onnnnnn. autism and adhd fear-mongering? i agree that liberal pesticide and herbicide usage is worse for us in the long run and is objectively bad for the environment. but "linked" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here and autism & adhd is being placed on the same level as fucking cancer. reading that as somebody with adhd... it doesn't feel fucking great! is this the worst example of prejudice against autism and adhd out there? of course not. but it soured my entire view of the essay and almost made me stop reading.

overall, it was mostly my own personal views that limited my enjoyment of the collection, but there were bright spots.

[Johnny Keeley · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Mississippi Delta
Was shining like a national guitar
I am following the river
Down the highway
Through the cradle of the Civil War
I'm going to Graceland, Graceland
Memphis, Tennessee" - Paul Simon

In "Graceland, at Last," Margaret Renkl writes gushingly about the Mississippi Delta, in a way that makes you believe, like she does, that it's one of the most beautiful places on earth.

She brushes broad literary strokes of landscapes in backwater Alabama towns to coal dusted Virginia mountains and then hones into their details, like the innumerable plants and animals that call the American South home. A good writer like Renkl makes you mourn the loss of yet another Tennessee wildflower you've never seen, and have hope for a threatened songbird that calls home a low country state you've never been.

She's based in Nashville, so of course she also talks of music, and with that also culture, and the complexities that exist in a diverse, multicultural, growing and yet still, red-state Tennessee.

Renkl sees the "cradle of the Civil War," not as a static place that could summed together in a throwaway paragraph in an online publication after Election Day, but a living breathing organism. An organism that's had arrows continuously shot in its flesh for years, and no matter the healing others may apply to it, even more continue to shoot this beast, and themselves, in the foot, and everywhere else in-between.

The thing is, this beast Renkl describes, for all the pain, suffering, ugliness its been inflicted, is also beautiful, hope-filled and most of all, worth saving. For every racist, MAGA spewer who was failed by both the state and the world, there is a person working to counteract both their hate, and their vote.

She writes in one of the final chapters: "Maybe being a Southern writer is only a matter of loving a damaged and damaging place, of loving its flawed and beautiful people, so much that you have to stay there, observing and recording and believing, against all odds, that one day it will finally live up to the promise of its own heart."

When I started reading this book in January I was living in Chicago, almost positive I was moving to Virginia and North Carolina for the summer. I wanted to better understand the places I'd be moving to. It's late Spring now and instead of living near the Shenandoah River and Blue Ridge Mountains, I'm settled between the Wasatch Mountain Range to my right and the Great Salt Lake to my left.

As so many things have changed between these months, for reasons I cannot explain,
there's still some part of me wants to see, Graceland. And more importantly, believe in, Graceland.

[britt_brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfectly organized collection of Renkl’s New York Times op-ed columns documenting life, nature, and culture from a southern perspective, but for a broad audience. Seamless, smart, and concise writing. I savored this collection, dipping in and out for several weeks. I had the pleasure of meeting her a few years ago at the Southern Festival of Books and she’s just lovely. Reading/supporting my local (Nashville) authors is such a joy.

[Dana Booth · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book of beautifully written essays about the South - mostly the Nashville area and the state of Tennessee. I believe they were all published in the NYT by the author, Margaret Renkl. She is a liberal living in a red state and captures it very well. So well, in fact, that it was hard for me to read. Having lived there for over 20 years, I recognized everything - locations, flora, fauna, attitudes, politicians' names, natural disasters, musicians/music, etc. I never fully fit in - in Nashville/Franklin, TN having grown up in New England. These essays were so spot on, that they brought back a lot of uncomfortable memories. Despite the negatives, the author has chosen to live in the South, because she grew up there(Alabama) and it feels like home to her. I, on the other hand, moved back to where I grew up - which feels like home to me - Massachusetts. I think this book probably deserves 4-5 stars, but it was such a downer for me to read, that I can only give it 2.

[Colby · Rating 3 out of 5]

wildly hit and miss: her pieces about family, the environment, and the natural world are moving, motivating, and beautiful

but her pieces about politics amount to 'not every southern is a dumb yokel who gets duped by Republicans'. Renkl has so much faith in 'movements', which tend to be aligned with whatever the DNC is aligned with. That's all well and good, but it all feels so flat-footed and predictable. How can she not see that the same corporate interests which animate anti-environmentalism of the Rs also fund the Ds. Its not as if Democrats don't shop at Amazon or buy mass produced kitsch. it all seems so silly to me to think the problem of the south is that people vote republican, as if the problem isn't larger and more insidious and more, well, human.

[Mia · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I couldn’t tell her that the true miracle will never come until human beings have finally learned to live a better way: in concert with the natural world, and not in domination.”

Margaret Renkl is my favorite New York Times writer and I’m sad to say I only discovered her earlier this year when I read her other book, Late Migrations. Now I’m hooked on her writing for life!

Graceland, At Last is a collection of her New York Times articles broken down by different subjects. She writes about politics, culture, religion, and even the environment. She writes about the south in a way that always transports me back to my rural hometown. Give her writing a chance and you won’t regret it!

[Heather Honeycutt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would say a 2.5. This is simply just a collection of articles from the NYT. They don’t connect in any way, they don’t give you a conclusion to things that are brought up in the article (which makes sense for a weekly newspaper but not for a book). The topics themselves are fine - she clearly has her own agenda on some of them and there are times when she makes such gross stereotypes that she seems to say she doesn’t like when people do about those in the south. But to say that “the other side” is doing nothing to “heal the sick” or “elevate the marginalized” is a bit too generalizing and stereotyping - which again, can work for a newspaper article where you are trying to rule people up.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book. If you are a Southerner, you will feel gratitude and pride in one of our own speaking so movingly about this fraught beautiful place. If you hail from elsewhere, you might unlearn some stereotypes about the South, become obsessed with native plants or pollinators, or be reminded to hold your own beloved family close.

[Gena · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book that I wanted to (and did!) spend a lot of leisurely time with. It’s so wonderful to have writers (and people) here in Nashville like Margaret Renkl, who capture both the beauty and the flaws of this city and the South in general. This is the kind of book I want to share with many, many others.

[East Greenbush Community Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series of essays by The New York Times contributor touches on flora/fauna, Jimmy Carter's Sunday School Sermon, a tribute to John Lewis, most welcome examples of Southern humanity too often ignored by the region's critics and a detailed description of Graceland, (Elvis Presley version) that may or may not encourage you to visit. Short but pithy, these essays are compelling reading.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe a new favorite writer? Found this in a free little library in the neighborhood. What a find! Short stories of personal experience in the south for Renkl. Gorgeous.

[Ashley Bound · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've ever held a cast-iron skillet, admired butterflies dancing above wildflowers on the side of a road, or enjoyed the company of songbirds in the trees around your backyard, read this book. If you've ever scoffed as a response to red-dappled electoral maps, brushed off southern states as deserving of climate disasters just because of their Republican representatives, or thought only of state schools and rural hometowns as somewhere you "end up" rather than choose, please, please read this book. Margaret Renkl speaks with the clarity and distinction of a journalist and the heart and spirit of a Southern woman in love with her home, her family, and her people, and every hitch, bruise, scrape, spot of light, old recipe, and humid afternoon that comes along.
If you've lived in the South, these essays will remind you of the conflicting relationships that can outline an existance in a place of community and hospitality, as well as stubborn old ways and traditional modes of thinking. If you've never set foot in the south, out of the city, or, worse, have qualms against doing so, this book will open your eyes to the complexities of a region too often painted with too broad and too nasty of a brush. There is nothing more I can say about it that Renkl does not say in far more poetic words, in far more punching lines. Each essay touches on a new topic, and each essay begins and ends the same: with a gentle invitation, and an often tear-jerking closing statement. One such line sums up the book with the grace, pride, recognition, and hope that stitch together the intricately beautiful quilt squares of this collection: "Maybe being a Southern writer is only a matter of loving a damaged and damaging place, of living its flawed and beautiful people, so much that you have to stay there, observing and recording and believing, against all odds, that one day it will finally live up to the promise of its own good heart."