Virginia book notes

His "The Confessions of Nat Turner" stayed on the best-seller lists for weeks in 1967 and eventually earned him a Pulitzer Prize. More than a decade later, "Sophie's Choice" attracted readers by the thousands and was made into a memorable movie starring Meryl Streep.

Newport News native William Styron is considered one of the 20th century's major novelists -- American or otherwise -- and his biographer, James L.W. West III, adds to the Styron legacy with Letters to My Father (238 pages, Louisana State University Press, $28).

The book covers 1943 (when Styron was a student at Davidson College in North Carolina) to 1953 (two years after he published his first novel, "Lie Down in Darkness"). Humorous and heartfelt, they show the fledgling writer's talents and illuminate the forces that led to his art.

Styron died in 2006 at age 81, and West's book is blessed by a preface from his widow, Rose Styron, a respected poet in her own right.

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When E.D. Hirsch Jr. published "Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know" in 1987, the book stirred a national conversation about his premise and the successes and failures of America's schools.

Now, the retired University of Virginia professor brings forth The Making of Americans: Democracy and Our Schools (261 pages, Yale University Press, $25), in which he argues that the nation's schools have declined because for the past 60 years, educational theorists have rejected academic content in favor of "child-centered" and "how-to" learning.

Hirsch lays out a plan to correct the shortcomings and explains why: Creating competent and loyal citizens -- the cornerstone of any democracy -- requires an equality of opportunity that only education can achieve.

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Charles V. Mauro, a manager at the Federal Aviation Administration, has devoted much of his spare time to the history of Northern Virginia, and he continues his passion in A Southern Spy in Northern Virginia: The Civil War Album of Laura Ratcliffe (160 pages, The History Press, $21.99).

Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart entrusted a secret album to Ratcliffe, a young woman in Fairfax County. A protector of Confederate forces and a gatherer of intelligence, Ratcliffe entered four poems and 40 signatures in the album. Mauro has identified the people behind those signatures -- 26 Confederate soldiers and 14 civilians -- and examines the relationships between soldiers and civilians during the war.

The book includes a wealth of photos and reproductions and should be of interest to aficionados of the Civil War.

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Katie Ford's "Colosseum" has won the 12th annual Levis Reading Prize from Virginia Commonwealth University for the best first or second book of poetry published in 2008.

"Colosseum" stems from Ford's experiences living through Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath in New Orleans. Ford examines ancient and contemporary catastrophes in the book with particular attention to Katrina's power and impact. "Colosseum" was named a Best Book of 2008 by Publishers Weekly and among the top 10 books of poetry of the year in the Virginia Quarterly Review.

Ford is also the author of "Deposition," a book of poetry, and "Storm," a chapbook. Her poems have appeared in the Paris Review, the American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, Pleiades and Seneca Review, and are forthcoming from The New Yorker, Smartish Pace and Bayou.

Ford teaches at Franklin & Marshall College and lives in Philadelphia with her husband, novelist Josh Emmons. -- Jay Strafford