Official Review: Battle for Athens by Anna Faktorovich

[Totoro]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Battle for Athens" by Anna Faktorovich.]

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Battle for Athens is a poetry collection. It contains forty five poems relating to the election events in Athens, Tennessee, in 1946.

After serving in World War II, veterans of Athens, Tennessee, returned home. Not long after, elections were held, but in a time and place where money is power, the results of the elections were predetermined with back room handshakes. Having fought for their country, the veterans hoped to see an end to the highly rigged elections. With a tremendous turn out on election day the Sherriff started to worry about ensuring that the "right party" would win. Some voters rights to vote were questioned, a judge overseeing the election was put in jail when he tried to ensure a fair voting process. A local Black Farmer was shot after trying to vote and hauled away. Polls were closed early, with many still waiting in line to vote. As the votes were counted, witnesses were intimidated.

The entire process deteriorated from there. Veterans and the crowd eventually started to fight back. Deputies were put in Jail, many shots were fired, and eventually the National Guard Armory was opened for the Veterans to arm themselves. After much violence, eventually the rigged candidate did concede the election.

This was not an historical event I had ever hear of before and found it interesting to learn more about. The author also intersperses the story with more current events, leading the reader to think about whether or not anything now is really all that different from what it was during this dark moment. Does corruption ever go away. She also ends with a frightening idea, that the only contested election that came out in the veterans' favor was this instance where it took violence. There were other non violent attempts to question election results and ensure a fair election process, but none of these were successful. Sort of a sad commentary of might vs. right.

While the book was presented as a book of poems, I feel it really read like a book of very short historical vignettes and commentaries. All of the poems relied on the rest to tell a story. I did not feel that any one of the poems could be taken out on its own. I rate the book 2 out of 4 stars.

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[Ralph E Vaughan]

Not a collection of poems, but a long narrative poem composed of many elements, most of them used in very clever and unusual ways to advance the central story. I found Battle for Athens to be quite enjoyable, informative and perceptive though a bit heavy-handed in places, which is not entirely unexpected considering the nature of the event itself.