Here is the news release about Susan's latest book. She is not only living in the southern part of our state, not too far from the Ozarks, but she has published a biography of an amazing woman of the Missouri Ozarks. As a person who has enjoyed the area since childhood, I am excited to learn about this woman, her story so beautifully told by our own Susan. I'm taking my copy next time I expect to see Susan so she can autograph it for me! Thank you Susan for being one of our KHS65 STARS, making us look so good for so long. Such a group we are!! Happy New Year to everyone, we all need a GREAT new year, with the rest of the world too~
An Independent Woman, Changing Times, And A Bully Pulpit:
NEWSPAPERWOMAN OF THE OZARKS Traces the life of an Ozarks Icon
Before the word Ozarks was synonymous with the idea of goofy hillbillies, fast boats, and family vacations, it was a place where real people lived their lives day-to-day and learned about the world from their local newspapers.
Lucile Morris Upton was one of the people who made reading newspapers worthwhile, and she is the subject of a new biography published by the University of Arkansas Press this year: Newspaperwoman of the Ozarks: the Live & Times of Lucile Morris Upton, by Susan Croce Kelly.
One hundred years ago (1923), when Upton traded her teaching job for a reporter’s notebook, she had no idea that during her career, she would rub shoulders with presidents, fly with aviation pioneer Wiley Post, cover the worst single killing of US police officers in the twentieth century, write an acclaimed book on the vigilante group known as the Bald Knobbers, and chart the growth of tourism in the Ozarks.
Between and during all that, however, she may have been best known as half of the Lucile Morris Upton-Betty Love reporter-photographer duo sent by the Springfield News & Leader to cover everything from murders and bank robberies to centennial celebrations and Ozarks folkways, often making the news as much as reporting on it.
After her retirement, she put her experience to good use as a member of the Springfield City Council, played a large part in seeing that Wilson’s Creek became a National Civil War Battlefield and the Nathan Boone Home in Ash Grove was made a State Historic Site.
Told largely through Upton’s own words, this insightful biography captures the excitement of being on the front lines of newsgathering in the days when the whole world depended on newspapers to find out what was happening.
Ozarks folksinger, writer, and raconteur Marideth Sisco says of the book, “To call this work a significant contribution to the history of the Ozarks is an understatement. Author Susan Croce Kelly grasps the importance of Lucile Morris Upton in the development of the Ozarks, charting the events of Upton’s life with an understanding of the characters involved in their historical context. This is an important and enjoyable read.”
Kelly, a former reporter at Upton’s own Springfield News-Leader and the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, is the author of two award-winning books on the history of old US 66: Route 66: The Highway and Its People (University of Oklahoma Press), and Father of Route 66, the Story of Cy Avery. She is also managing editor of OzarksWatch Magazine for Missouri State University’s Ozarks Studies Institute.
The book is available in local book stores, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and through the University of Arkansas Press distribution center (1-800-621-2736).
To talk with the author, arrange book signings, or set up speaking engagements, contact Susan Croce Kelly at susancrocekelly@gmail.com, 573-569-1585
