Being one myself, I thoroughly enjoyed Chapter 4, "Spinsterhood is Powerful". She says in this chapter: "I am often accused of being an anti-feminist, and my name is mud at Ms. Magazine, but in truth my whole life has been a feminist statement. The conflict lies not in my outlook and attitudes but in the definition of feminism that has been foisted on America in the late twentieth century".
Chapter 16, about her foray into the lusty romance novel genre (which she wrote under the pseudonym of Laura Buchanan) is hilarious, as are her efforts to write a magazine piece on the work of John Updike.

This collection of 18 essays was originally published in '89, and is a good example of her cynical but humorous viewpoint. Though dreadfully missed as a contributor to National Review Magazine, where she has recently taken her leave (her "Misanthrope's Corner" had graced the back page for decades), her books will continue to delight me, in their uniqueness and passionate spirit of independence.

George Will wrote of Miss King- "If Mencken were alive, he would be her". This is the highest praise imagineable, and well deserved.

Miss King is to prose as Elton John is to rock piano. Do not overlook this book.

When I moved to the South to attend graduate school, I dutifully read _The Mind of the South_, to ready myself. I was utterly unprepared nevertheless. I simply had never met people who talked about their ancestors, or didn't know the price of a movie ticket because: "Mah escort always buys the tickets!"

Then, a kind soul told me to read _Southern Ladies and Gentleman_. After reading it, nothing Southern surprised me. Thanks to Miss King, I knew about the tombstone twitch, i.e. geneaologists who desperately wanted to prove they had royal blood, self-rejuvenating virgins, why you never, ever cross
a Dowager, Rock or a Dear Old Thing--three varieties of southern old ladies, and the Pert Plague, that is the tendency of some southern women to shriek loudly and at length about the strangest things. This behavior will greatly puzzle anyone who is a stranger to the south. If you read _Southern Ladies and Gentlemen_, gentle reader, you will UNDERSTAND.

So, if you are about to spend substantial amounts of time south of the Mason-Dixon line, spare yourself much anxiety, and read this book. I predict that once you have read this title, you will immediately want to read everything Miss King has written.

It's a comical examination of the south, written with a stilleto rather than a pen. And yet, that stilleto is an elegant instrument. Florence King is a wonderful writer.

Miss King, I beg of you, write another book, please. Soon.

The "failed Southern lady" sets off into history, searching out other members of her own kind. This results in some intriguing character sketches of people like Ambrose Bierce, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Dian Fossey, and other famous people-haters. She verges on preciousness in places, as in the interweaving of Nixon's career with a poem by a French courtier. But the book is full of her acidic well-readness, and is endlessly quotable. The introduction is a great exposition--maybe the only one in popular literature--one what makes and what does not make a misanthrope. Enjoy your bitters!

I LOVE Florence King and was thrilled when I found this book on the bargain table at a local bookstore. Being from the South myself and being spawned from a long line of women with world-famous wombs, I felt an immediate kinship with her when I first read "Southern Ladies and Gentlemen" years ago.

This collection is a wonderful sampling of King's best work and I recommend it to anyone who (1) is from the South; (2) loves a Southern woman; (3) would like to know more about Scarlett O'Hara's strange relationship with her father; (4) likes to laugh out loud; and (5) has ever wanted the world to just leave you the h*** alone!

King is the world's best misanthrope.....and the world is better for having her here.

You go, girl!

This anthology is, of course, utterly delightfull and one of the rare books that lives up to every expectation built up on the dustcover. King's scrumptuous analogies and meticulous self-editing have created prose I could eat my lunch on, it is so clean and perfected.

The other 'King partisan' I know told me once that people who read her inevitably end up buying all her books. As I am a man given to contrarianism, I balked at the idea and resolved not to be that dreaded monicker- a fan. I further balked when I read her editor's praise of her work in the same vein. Those are the same kinds of praises the moron teachers in my english classes in college gave John Updike for having prose I would not feed to rabid dingos.

But damned if I haven't bought every book in her set. I have, against all good sense, become a thorough fan of this excellent woman's works. She is, simply put, the best prose stylist of the latter half of the twentieth century. Her works are like an elixer on the relentless nature of my hyper-modern Gen-X environment. A good hour long sit down reading of King can dispell an entire week's worth of the New York Times and two months worth of CNN.

In short, buy her book. If you're here reading this review and you're wondering about the possibility of it being a good buy, stop wondering- no one with an ounce of artistic appreciation could possibly feel they had not had money well spent.

And I am wailing and gnashing my teeth to say it, but you will end up buying every single one of her books. If you're the praying sort, pray for two thing- one, that Miss King will write a book real soon, and two, that the doorbell that just rang was not Bill Buckley come looking for his twenty nine dollars.

You will find yourself identifying with this woman whether you want to or not. Her descriptions of Huggybears, Malkins and Watery Moles will bring names of people you know who fit just those descriptions. It will be hard not to use these words when you talk about others as well.

Florence King is a Virago in my eyes. Don't know what that is? You'll have to read to book to find out. It's a short book and easy to read, but not at all simple.

Until I purchased Gene Florence's book, I used black & white reference books. Those are useless to me.

This wonderful book has helped me determine if shaker lid and fireking flour piece went together (did not-flour shaker originally had a flat shaker lid the color of the writing on side not silver aluminum); if the "yellow" plate in a fire king design was old (was not (did not come in yellow) - but that yellow piece was made from fire king mold - one step up from out and out reproduction); and whether or not my 10 pieces of bakeware (some with lids) and marked Fire King were rare or reproductions. On the 10 piece baking set, I ended up e-mailing Gene Florence, and he responded that my piece was not rare - or did it even appear anywhere. The pieces are selling Very slowly - so they must not be very special.

The book is difficult to understand how to match pricing & pictures at first, but well worth the effort. I am comfortable with the process now.

If you collect or sell fire king - you need this book!