The Catbird Seat is a brilliantly conceived tour through the nation’s great tragedies of past slavery and contemporary racism, laying the foundation for an understanding of both. To a public quite willing to rely on the perspectives of others expressed in simplistic soundbites, Catbird very thoughtfully presents the story of American racism as a whole in an environment where complacency is no longer an option. Grounded in thorough and meticulous historical research combined with the remembrances of the author—who grew up Southern—Catbird is a page turner that shows history as it has led right up to the present day.

At first, Gillian Culkin feels only mildly inconvenienced by crowds of demonstrators debating the presence of the Confederate flag flying brazenly atop the South Carolina State House. Gil passes these people every day as she makes her way to work in the Caroliniana Library on the University of South Carolina campus. Like so many other White Southerners, she had never before given much thought to racial issues. But over the course of a few weeks, she comes to realize that the flag represents important and entrenched issues of race and inequality. Gil finds her views on race developing and evolving as she examines the past and sees its influence on the present.

Meanwhile, at the Caroliniana, she studies the 1857 diary of a South Carolina dirt farmer named William Medlin. Hollingsworth makes him the center of a second story. Thinking to turn a quick profit, Medlin buys a slave at auction. In the course of the tragic journey he then undertakes with his newly acquired slave, Medlin’s views of enslavement change. The two narratives—one told in the present, the other in the past, in alternating chapters—provide a probing and insightful look at what it means to be human within an often inhumane system.

“She was surprised to see that no matter how fine-tuned her own intellect was on race, early influences and experiences remained and contributed to personal bias that had the strong potential to defy natural instinct toward logic and decency.”

What People Are Saying

  • This is a deeply thought-out and considerate story that anybody who cares about race relations should read. When a book provokes deep thought and searching personal questions from its readers, it has achieved its goal. This book does that…

    — Reader’s Favorite

  • I just finished this novel. Whoa!

    Tears, fear, anger, and sympathy. This story evokes all emotions.

    The author's command of the English language is both stunning and engaging. Her scenes are painfully real for the reader. Her historical facts are well-researched and skillfully woven into her story.

    This book is simply a masterpiece.

    — Lisa Weldon

  • This work is an important contribution to a better understanding of our past. You are inspiring.

    — Joe Riley Former Mayor of Charleston, South Carolina

  • Such a good book exploring the issues of racism in the South that takes place in alternating times.. Both times are fascinating and so informative. Not only did I learn a lot from this book, but I also enjoyed the story very much.

    – Charla Wilson

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