Brief description:
Cadet John Henry Thompson, Class of l946, was a 'not-too-tall, thin young man when he entered ‘West Point. He had never been this far from home, much less in a very foreign land. Yankee territory. just up the Hudson River from that metropolis of New York City at The United States Military Academy, West Point, just ‘The Point’ to him and the other cadets.
To John, the Hudson River Valley was not unlike the Tennessee Valley near back heme, rolling hills and lots of fresh water. “But there were stately mansions there, a definite sense of being out of his world. Sure, there were old plantation homes back home, but none like these. It seemed that everyone lived this way up there, definitely upscale, ‘landed gentry’ he would call them.
He didn’t have to worry. He would rarely see the outside of the gates that were the confines of The Point for his stay. Sumners were spent doing extra work and earning money, most of which he sent home to his parents to help out during his absence. John had met businessmen from New York City while at The Peabody Hotel in Memphis and had dreamed of one day seeing their world for himself. He knew that he would. lt was never an impossible dream.
The Memphis Kingmaker is a rags-to-riches story of a Tennessee man, John Henry Thompson, and his Georgia-born companion, Ophelia Hartwell. Beale Street, Memphis, the nightlife of Miami, and the Atlanta social scene are among the locales that take the reader on a journey of politics, treachery and international intrigue.
To John, the Hudson River Valley was not unlike the Tennessee Valley near back heme, rolling hills and lots of fresh water. “But there were stately mansions there, a definite sense of being out of his world. Sure, there were old plantation homes back home, but none like these. It seemed that everyone lived this way up there, definitely upscale, ‘landed gentry’ he would call them.
He didn’t have to worry. He would rarely see the outside of the gates that were the confines of The Point for his stay. Sumners were spent doing extra work and earning money, most of which he sent home to his parents to help out during his absence. John had met businessmen from New York City while at The Peabody Hotel in Memphis and had dreamed of one day seeing their world for himself. He knew that he would. lt was never an impossible dream.
The Memphis Kingmaker is a rags-to-riches story of a Tennessee man, John Henry Thompson, and his Georgia-born companion, Ophelia Hartwell. Beale Street, Memphis, the nightlife of Miami, and the Atlanta social scene are among the locales that take the reader on a journey of politics, treachery and international intrigue.
Publication
IRG Press (2006), 378 pages