The Preservation Society of Charleston announces an upcoming book signing with Louis D. Rubin, Jr. for his collection of fast-paced tales highlighting the intriguingly dichotomous reality that existed on the Charleston peninsula when Rubin was growing up in the 1930's and 1940's. The signing will be at the Preservation Society's Book & Gift Shop, located at 147 King Street, on Saturday, June 5, 2010 from 1:00-3:00pm.
From the publisher:
In Uptown/Downtown in Old Charleston, Rubin draws on equal parts autobiography and imagination in a series of kinetic episodes that capture the atmosphere of the Holy City during this era when the population had not yet swelled above sixty-five thousand, when oldtimers still spoke with awe of the 1886 earthquake, and when the coming social and economic revolutions that shaped the latter half of the twentieth century had not yet found a toehold in the old city. Rubin's wide-eyed narrator is an earnest and observant guide, who ably takes readers on excursions to and through recognizable landmarks, including Adger's Wharf, the Battery, Union Terminal, the shops of King Street, the High School of Charleston, the Majestic Theater, and the College of Charleston. With youthful glee he watches the barges and shrimp trawlers along the waterfront, rides streetcars down Rutledge Avenue and trains to Savannah and Richmond, paddles the Ashley River in a leaky homemade boat, pitches left-handed for the youngest team in the Twilight Baseball League, ponders the curious chanting coming from the Jewish Community Center, and catches magical glimpses of the Morris Island lighthouse from atop the Folly Beach Ferris wheel. His fascination with the gas-electric Boll Weevil train epitomizes his appreciation for the freedom of movement between the worlds of Uptown and Downtown that defines his youth in Charleston.
Louis D. Rubin, Jr. has been an author, an editor, a publisher, an artist, a newspaperman, and a university professor during his distinguished career. He currently lives near Pittsboro, North Carolina.
