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Rating: 
Summary: "A True Treasure"
Review: ...Years later, the memories are still with me about Graves Springs (football camp) - some good, and some not so good. Bill Lightle's memories are a true treasure of that hallowed ground called Graves Springs.Duck Wall, sports columnist for the Albany Herald and former sports director of WALB-TV in Albany, Georgia.
Rating:
Summary: Made or Broken Gotta Have It
Review: As a kid we just wanted to play ball. We didn't care what color the guy beside us was. We didn't realize all that was going on outside of our little world in those trying and changing times. I look back now and see what our parents went through, but in that stadium on Friday nights they cheered for Orange and Green!
As I read this book I realized what a difference in my life Graves Springs and sports in general made. "Made or Broken" reminded me of the many Fourth and Ones that life deals you on a daily basis.
I laughed and I cried while reading. This book is a must read not only if you are familiar with Southern Football Tradition, but if you are interested in the flavor of the times in the Old South.
Rating:
Summary: "A Fascinating Tale"
Review: Bill Lightle has explored a dimension of mid-twentieth century southwest Georgia culture - the high school football camp - and in the process has shed light on the significant transfromation in race relations that accompanied desegregation in Albany. This book has many of the ingredients for a fascinating tale including race, gender, and athletic competition. Lightle reveals how young athletes in Albany - at first all white, and then black and white - faced the challenge of two weeks in the blistering August heat of south Georgia in the all-male environment of a camp notorious for its almost burtal training that came close to abuse even for its time. The boys' ability to withstand the physical challenge and to meet the social challenge of integration in one of the most racially intransigent parts of the Deep South demonstrates how much the human spirit can endure and how it can triumph over adversity. Lee W. Formwalt
Executive Director
Organization of American Historians Bloomington, Indiana
Rating:
Summary: A different kind of summer camp
Review: I didn't grow up in South Georgia, but I've lived here for over 25 years, and Mr. Lightle's book is one of the best pieces of work I've seen which explains some of the mystique of Southern males. This area of the country has given a disproportionate number of its youth to the military, and you can see why when you read about the kind of qualities fostered in summer football camps in South Georgia. The story encompasses comradery, the shared misery, the eventual acceptance of other young men without regard to background or race: of course, the racial integration of the football camp was a major component of the story. This book is a must read for the history of the area and the South in general.
Rating:
Summary: A different kind of summer camp
Review: I didn't grow up in South Georgia, but I've lived here for over 25 years, and Mr. Lightle's book is one of the best pieces of work I've seen which explains some of the mystique of Southern males. This area of the country has given a disproportionate number of its youth to the military, and you can see why when you read about the kind of qualities fostered in summer football camps in South Georgia. The story encompasses comradery, the shared misery, the eventual acceptance of other young men without regard to background or race: of course, the racial integration of the football camp was a major component of the story. This book is a must read for the history of the area and the South in general.
Rating:
Summary: The mystique of the Southern Male
Review: I grew up in Pennsylvania and have lived in South Georgia the last 26 years. This book illustrates as well as anything how the South has managed to produce such a disproportionate number of young men who have answered the call of the nation and made the ultimate sacrifice for their country in times of national crisis. More than just a football book- actually, very little is about football- it tells the tale of young men molded by shared hardship and miserable conditions in the woods of South Georgia. Racial strife in the outside world is handled differently here, where young black men and young white men had to put aside their predispositions (a kinder word than prejudice) and learn to judge others by standards that did not include race. This book is a worthwhile addition to any personal library of works that deal with history and social progress in the New South.
Rating:
Summary: The mystique of the Southern Male
Review: I grew up in Pennsylvania and have lived in South Georgia the last 26 years. This book illustrates as well as anything how the South has managed to produce such a disproportionate number of young men who have answered the call of the nation and made the ultimate sacrifice for their country in times of national crisis. More than just a football book- actually, very little is about football- it tells the tale of young men molded by shared hardship and miserable conditions in the woods of South Georgia. Racial strife in the outside world is handled differently here, where young black men and young white men had to put aside their predispositions (a kinder word than prejudice) and learn to judge others by standards that did not include race. This book is a worthwhile addition to any personal library of works that deal with history and social progress in the New South.
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