JACK TEMPLE KIRBY (1938-2009)

Jack Temple Kirby, author of MOCKINGBIRD SONG: ECOLOGICAL LANDSCAPES OF THE SOUTH (2006)–winner of the 2007 Bancroft Prize awarded annually to a book “of exceptional merit” by Columbia University and the 2007 Bennett H. Wall Award given for the best book in Southern economic or businesshistory from the Southern Historical Association–died on August 6.

Kirby also wrote POQUOSIN: A STUDY OF RURAL LANDSCAPE AND SOCIETY (1995), a history of low-country Virginia that the AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW called “Intriguing and highly readable. . . . Will be welcomed by all who seek to understand the way life was and is in this unique part of the American South.”

Jack Kirby was an outstanding historian of the South and was so recognized by his peers in the profession. At his death he was president of the Southern Historical Association. Formerly W.E. Smith Professor of History at Miami University, he retired to Florida in 2002. For many years he edited the book series Studies in Rural Culture for the Press.

Jack was a man of many interests, about which he could talk with brio. He was a captivating speaker and wrote with great panache. He was a great friend to the University of North Carolina Press and will be sorely missed by his many friends here.

-Chuck Grench, Assistant Director and Senior Editor