Several books out this year have links to our area as well as to its journalism and journalists.

Marshall Conyers, a former middle school teacher from Wilson, has written an account in lyric prose-poetry of the third day at the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg. His book, Amongst Immortals Raging published by Pelican Publishing, tells in first person of the fears and aspirations of those who lived and died on this turning point day in history.

With a deft touch, Conyers uses many of the historic figures of the battle to retell the epic story of Pickett's charge. I'm not qualified as literary critic or battle expert, but his work is moving. Here he describes Confederate Gen. George Pickett, who would lead the deadly final charge into the face of Union guns that day:

... but here comes Pickett now, /grinning pure sunlight among the trees. /Poor sad fierce warrior boy, /fame will surely coin his name, /grant gallantry its rightful due /beyond the briefness of this day /and the tragedy inevitably to come.

He also gives voice to those whose names would not be remembered, such as this from a Northern field medic who came upon a dying Southern drummer boy:

I gain my feet to leave this wasted boy, /folded slightly in death's throes, /sad crumpled little child in gray ... /drum clutched gently in one small broken hand.

Conyers follows the historic trail of the crucial battle, from the first shots fired to Gen. Longstreet's doubts about the infamous charge, to the friendship of two great commanders — on opposite sides — and to Robert E. Lee's crushing sadness at the end:

Riding on beneath grandfather trees, /beneath the dappled light, /beyond the annals of all time itself, /I lean over, /pat Traveler's shoulder affectionately once, /whispering quietly on the spring-filled air, /We won't have to ride this way again, old friend ...

Conyers' work is certainly another take on familiar but perpetually compelling subject matter. It's received some good reviews so far.

Also out this year is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book, authored by editors with nearby links. Gene Roberts, long the editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer and now a journalism professor at the University of Maryland, and Hank Klibanoff, a managing editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, co-wrote The Race Beat, detailing the role of the press in the early struggles of the civil rights movement.

Roberts began his career at the nearby Goldsboro News-Argus, and was well known in those days as the voice of the column, Rambling in Rural Wayne. He also worked at The News & Observer and other papers before moving on to The New York Times and the Inquirer.

Klibanoff noticed and befriended a young man in Atlanta, Corey Johnson, while doing research and recommended him to me through our Cox Newspapers connection. Corey went on to become an award-winning reporter here and now is continuing his journalism career at The Fayetteville Observer.

And one more book I must mention is The Loving Caregiver, co-authored by Ambrose Dudley and his wife, Alice. Ambrose is the former North Carolina Associated Press bureau chief who so kindly and generously helped me learn the ways of the AP as I began my tenure as a newspaper editor here in the early '90s. The Dudleys' book chronicles the difficult period when both faced unrelated but life-threatening health crises.

These books offer the prospect of excellent reading from writers with associations close to home. I commend them to you.

Al Clark is executive editor of The Daily Reflector. Tell him what you think at aclark@coxnc.com or at 252-329-9560.