Noodling for Flatheads

Burkhard Bilger vividly captures a world that lies outside the familiar images of life in the United States in the twenty-first century in eight superbly crafted essays about little-known corners of the South. It is a world in which grown men catch catfish with their bare hands, crowds of people cheer on chickens as they fight to the death, and a woman moves into a trailer home when her house burns down just so she can continue hunting 350 nights a year. Bilger records the eccentric and sometimes downright bizarre behavior he encounters with humor and wit but nary a whisper of mockery. In essays that combine history, anecdotes, and personal observations, he describes each activity, its origins, its dangers, and its pleasures. But Noodling for Flatheads is much more than a survey of unlikely pastimes. Through lively portraits of the participants, Bilger illuminates the obsessive individualism that is at the heart of the American spirit.

Burkhard Bilger is a senior editor at Discover, writer for The New Yorker, and series editor for The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2001. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Contents Introduction Noodling for Flatheads IN WHICH A FISH NEARLY EATS THE AUTHOR?S ARM. Enter the Chicken IN WHICH A SPORT BELOVED BY WASHINGTON AND LINCOLN IS DECLARED UN-AMERICAN. Moonshine Sonata IN WHICH THE AGE OF THE MICROBREWERY MEETS THE MODERN POLICE STATE, WITH INTOXICATING RESULTS. Mad Squirrels and Kentuckians IN WHICH NEITHER CHANGING CUSTOM, NOR PUBLIC OPPROBRIUM, NOR LEARNED MEDICAL OPINION CAN DISSUADE SOME PEOPLE FROM EATING A SMALL RODENT?S BRAIN. The Mall of the Wild IN WHICH A GEORGIA MAN, DREAMING OF THE ULTIMATE GAME FARM, CALLS FORTH A PLAGUE OF FROGS. Send in the Hounds IN WHICH DOGS CHASE RACCOONS, HUNTERS CHASE DOGS, THE AUTHOR CHASES HUNTERS, AND NO ONE KNOWS EXACTLY WHY. Low on the Hog IN WHICH A COOK?S SOUL IS TESTED BY A PLATE OF STEAMING INTESTINES. The Rolley Holers IN WHICH A FEW GOOD MEN, ARMED ONLY WITH THEIR THUMBS, CRUSH THE BRITISH AND MAKE THE FRENCH CRY. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS