One of the great things about the internet is that you can find out, in pretty great detail, about the contents of a book, the style of writing, and the author well in advance of the official release/publication of the book. If you are a bit patient, you can even wait and read reviews written by "every day" readers of a book on Amazon. It just might help you decide whether you'd be interested in purchasing a book - or not.
A very nice aspect of thjs daily WBMUTBB Digest is that it allows its readers to voice a wide range of opinion, so I'll humbly add mine this time. Daniel de Visé, the author of Andy & Don, does not strike me as a "make a quick buck from muck-raking" kind of writer. He did not work for the National Enquirer or other rags of its ilk when he worked as a journalist, but rather was highly regarded for his investigative reporting. Twice his reporting led to the release of wrongly convicted men from life terms in Florida prisons, which I think is a good indicator of the depth of his research skills. I had read his first book, I Forgot to Remember, co-authored by Sue Meck, and I liked it... Don Knotts' third wife is the sister of De Visé's wife - the author is family, in other words. It looked like a book I'd be interested in reading. I live in Mount Airy, where our family has very long and deep roots. Some time ago (2010, I believe), I emailed a link to an interesting article to one of our older relatives who had gone to school with Andy Griffith. She wrote back: "Thanks Bisse, It was a great read and took me back to Rockford Street Elementary School where Andy, a year older than me, would play on the girl's side of the playground because there was a girl he was sweet on. It also took me back to Mt. Airy High School where he copied my Algebra papers until I gave him the wrong answers and our teacher, Annie Fawcett Jackson, caught on to OUR cheating. He sat behind me and could look over my shoulder if I moved a little. I loved his show, his mother Geneva & dad Carl, but I never liked Andy! I always thought there was something "FAKE" about him." Emmett Forrest, Mr. Griffith's best friend from school, never had anything but wonderful, positive things to say about him, while also acknowledging that the students who went to Rockford Elementary did not always have it easy when they got to the city-wide High School since they "came from the wrong side of town, the poor side." So, there are two different views of Mr. Griffith from his childhood and youth, both authentic and neither "wrong." I dare say the same could be said about most of us...and I was certainly willing to see what De Visé had found in his research. Briefly: I liked the book. I found it to be well written, well researched and annotated, nuanced, sensitive and informative. I agree with the 80+ % of reader reviews that gave the book 5 stars on Amazon. In my opinion, the author did not resort to trashing "the names of our beloved sheriff and deputy for his own gain," seeing as how he did not criticize the two fictional characters, but wrote about what he had learned about the two actors who created and portrayed them. He added some insights from people who knew the two men, insights that rounded out much of what was already publicly known and that, rather than sensationalize, did so with warmth and understanding. Bisse Bowman _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list WBMUTBB@wbmutbb.com http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
