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Literary Works and Reviews
Reviews
Reluctant
warrior fights forces of evil in tale of the Fourth
Reich
At dawn of a new century could a small group of
fanatical conspirators perpetrate acts of terror capable of
extinguishing thousands of lives in mere minutes? Would
Americans be up to the challenge as they were a half-century
earlier when they fought Nazis whose reign of destruction
led to the deaths of 60 million
people?
The 50-year
anniversary of the end of World War II in 1995 started a lot
of people thinking about what a previous generation did to
ensure our liberty. One of these was Athens, Alabama,
trial lawyer Jerry R. Barksdale.
As a child, Barksdale was enthralled by the tales of
GI fortitude in the face of almost insurmountable odds as
told by his uncle, a World War II veteran. But these stories
of valor and sacrifice only whetted his appetite for the
what-ifs? of today. He couldn't shake the question
of whether the present generation would be capable of facing
down an evil tyrant the likes of Adolf
Hitler.
But what if it were more than just someone like
Hitler? What if Hitler left behind an heir to carry on his
legacy of doom?
Hardy Jackson is a small town lawyer in Barksdale's
first novel, "The Fuhrer Document, who fights with these
questions and eventually fights for his own life when
confronted by Neo-nazi operatives. Jackson's problems
begin when he stumbles upon an intriguing document among the
effects of his dead father, a World War II veteran who was
part of the invasion force that liberated Europe. What
Jackson inadvertently uncovers is a Pandora's Box. To open
it is to reopen one of the darkest eras in human
history.
An average Joe content to meld into the fabric of a
small-town southern lie, Jackson is forced to overcome his
own ambivalence about getting involved in someone else�s
fight when he learns the document holds the key to financing
the comeback of Nazi conspirators intent on establishing a
Fourth Reich and ruling the world. The knowledge of what he
possesses makes him a marked man and costs the lives of
people around him.
The gripping conclusion in the heart of Hitler's lair
reaffirms the triumph of good over evil. The Fuhrer
Document will make you believe in the will of even the
reluctant warrior to battle any foe that threatens
freedom.
Barksdale, a graduate of the University of Alabama,
practices law in Athens, Alabama. He serves as legal
counsel on the Alabama Veterans Museum & Archives Board
of Directors. He is a local newspaper columnist and
the author of When Duty Called, a collection of World War
II veterans recollections that launched his writing career
in 1998.
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GILES FREE PRESS -
10/21/04
Lawyer-Hero Foils a Dastardly Neo-Nazi
Plot
By: David Bowman
Interesting people always turn up at
independent bookstores. That's why they and
public libraries deserve our continued support. These two
institutions are safe havens for the free exchange of ideas
in this increasingly close-minded society.
For example, on Saturday, Oct. 16, I
happened to be in Shaver's Bookstore in Huntsville, Ala.,
where there was an author book-signing in progress.
Jerry R. Barksdale was there to promote
his new spy thriller, "The Fuhrer Document" (iUniverse,
$13.95, 178 pages), which takes place mostly in or around
Huntsville, the Elk river and elsewhere in this part of the
Tennessee Valley. He happens to be a trial lawyer based in
Athens, Ala., but like his novel's lawyer hero, Hardy
Jackson, Barksdale also seems to be an inveterate scribbler
like me. His previous work, "When Duty Called,"
collected the stories of a bunch of World War II veterans
and led him to serve on the board of directors of the
Alabama Veterans Museum & Archives.
"The Fuhrer Document" begins with Hardy's
daddy, James Bowman (Jabo) Jackson, in the last twitches of
that war, in the vicinity of Hitler's Eagles' Nest in
Bavaria. The paratrooper comes upon a bunkered cache
of millions of reichsmarks -despite his commanding officer
telling the men not to do any looting - and a mysterious
document that turns out to have been signed by the Fuhrer
himself.
Fast-forward 50 years and Jabo dies,
leaving Hardy the sad task of sorting through his father's
leavings, including an old Army footlocker that turns out to
contain nine million reichsmarks and the document.
Hey, thinks the small-town lawyer, maybe
the old Nazi currency is worth something, so he contracts
with a New Orleans auction company to advertise the old
bills for sale.
The footlocker, of course, proves to be
the Pandora's Box that opens a whole lot of violence and
grief for all concerned.
Barksdale tells a truly thrilling tale,
involving Jackson and his law partner, Sarah
Dickerson-Dunnivant; Jackson's cancer stricken wife Millie;
a gang of Neo-Nazis who want to bring into into being what
they call the Fourth Reich; an elegant real estate agent in
Huntsville named Magdalene (Sunny) Webber, who lives on
Monte Sano Mountain, and is on her way to being given a
civic award at the Von Braun Center; and a mysterious fellow
named Rudolph Birch, who runs an international travel
agency. There are also a couple of federal law enforcement
tough guys - Ben Wasserman from the U.S. Department of
Justice's Office of Special Investigations (OSI0 and a
Huntsville-based FBI agent-in-charge simply named Preston -
who don't know exactly whether there are any good guys.
They are as ready to nail Jackson, who is
the leading suspect of an unsolved murder of a Huntsville
wino, as they are to go after the Hitler worshippers.
Many of us remember the real life saga of
Arthur Rudolph,. He as the rocket scientist who headed the
development of the Saturn V moon rocket and , decades alter,
was investigated by the OSI for alleged war-crimes and
slave-labor at Peenemunde. Rudolph was deported and
returned to Germany a decade or so ago. This makes us pay
closer attention to Wasserman's speech in Barksdale's
thriller.
"Allow me to explain. In the
closing days of World War II as the Russians advanced from
the east, many Germans fled west and surrendered to the
Americans. The most significant of these was a group of
Peenemunde rocket scientists who developed the V-1 and the
V-2 under the leadership of Wernher Von Braun. They gathered
near Hindelang, Bavaria, close to the Austrian border,
waiting for the American forces. Contact was made by
elements of the 324th Infantry Regiment, 44th Division. An
agreement was made by our government to allow these
scientists to come to the U.S. in return for their services
in developing our rocket program. In September, Von Braun
left for France and then went to El Paso, Texas. Over the
next few months 127 of his co-workers went to Ft. Bliss, and
later White Sands" (p. 49).
Wasserman explains that a boy child came
with the rocket team families who was not related to
them. If you guess his parentage, you are way ahead of
the game in reading this thriller.
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MADISON RECORD
-8/27/04
Local Author pens first novel.
By: Melanie Walker
Jerry Barksdale suffers from the same
pleasant affliction of most writers.
"Those characters will wake me up at 5
a.m. telling me what to write," Barksdale said.
At first glance Barksdale is a
mild-mannered, soft spoken Southern gentleman.
likewise, his prose can be down home and soothing. However,
under that mild-mannered exterior beats the heart of a true
writer of thrillers. His prose changes easily from
homespun to gritty and edgy dialogue and intense action.
His first novel "The Fuhrer Document" is
a wild ride into World War II history and modern
politics. In the traditions of great writers of
regional flavor, like Greg Isles ("The Quiet Game" and "24
Hours"), Barksdale has put the South, and more particularly
North Alabama, on the map by styling a thriller that takes
the reader on a high-speed chase down I-565, into rural
Limestone County and across the Atlantic into the very
talons of Hitler's Eagle's Nest.
While Barksdale, an Athens attorney, has
written countless columns about Southern life, and published
lectures on the law and even a critically acclaimed book,
"When Duty Called" on the wartime experiences of WWII vest,
this is his first book-length piece of fiction.
As Barksdale began recording the memories
of the veterans for use in the series "Soldier Stories" for
the Athens News Courier, he became familiar with the
individual experiences of these brave young men. As he came
to know of their exploits in Germany and France during he
service of their country, he became intrigued with the "what
if?" possibilities their stories raised and a story was
born.
"The Fuhrer Document" follows the Hardy
Jackson, a small town lawyer, as he works against the clock,
to solve the mystery behind a vintage document written in
German and a pile of Reichmarks.
The story also cleverly converges Hardy
Jackson's adventure with intersecting story lines involving
Washington, D.S. O.S.I. agents, neo-Nazi groups, and
Huntsville's own rocket scientists.
The approximately 180 page novel keeps
the reader on the edge of their seat while at the same time
making the reader long for more detail about Hardy Jackson
and the inhabitants of the small fictional North Alabama
town of French Springs.
Barksdale's writing career began in
earnest in 1998 with the publication of the veteran's
stories. Since then, the prolific author has published
nearly 100 columns and stories.
Born and raised in Athens, Barksdale
graduated from Athens High School in 1960. He attended
Athens State College before going onto the University of
Alabama School of Business and graduating from the Alabama
School of Law and being admitted to the law in 1967.
Barksdale lives and works in Athens and
is the father of three children. He is one of the founders
of the Athens Veterans' Museum which honors vets from all
branches of service. He was recently honored with an
award from the Alabama State Board of Bar Commissioners for
his efforts on behalf of the WWII veterans and the
museum.
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Barksdale's next project is "The Magnolia
Sanction."
THE
HUNTSVILLE TIMES - 8/29/04
Action is nonstop; Book is a
touch one to put down.
"The Fuhrer Document," by
Jerry R. Barksdale;
By: Jean Greenwood
For The Times
Jerry Barksdale is an Alabama
writer who proved his worth with his first book, "When Duty
Called," a compendium of stories gathered from
Limestone County veterans of World War II.
His belief in the values of
those vets and his willingness to immerse himself in their
stories paid large dividends in this first novel. And the
evil they fought is about to return.
James Hardy Jackson,
small-town lawyer, is just trying to survive and keep his
world in one piece. Then his beloved daddy, Jabo, dies.
Jabo Jackson had a secret in
the attic, and Hardy discovers what may change the
world for good or evil. Because Hardy is just a little too
subtle for his own good, what follows is a surprising
and action-packed adventure. Hardy becomes embroiled
with people who are willing to hurt him in unimaginable ways
for their own ends.
Hardy Jackson is a flawed
character in the Dashiell Hammett tradition;: too
ready to distrust authority, too easily secluded by ethical
shortcuts and too willing to jump into the fray when common
sense would serve him better. Ultimately, it is his core of
belief in what is good that saves him.
"The Fuhrer Document" is ready
for a screenplay. The action is nonstop, taking the
reader from Alabama to Switzerland and back again at
breakneck speed. Fair warning: Don't start this book at
bedtime or you will be bleary-eyed in the morning.
VALLEY
PLANET REVIEW - 8/26/04
Review By:
Tammy Westmoreland
"The Fuhrer Document" begins with
the story of Jabo Jackson, a young American sergeant, in the
last days of WWII in Germany, and then picks up when he is
an old man back home in Alabama.
On the other side of the world,
WWII-era Nazi's are living obscure and hidden lives, hiding
a monumental secret, a secret that eventually unravels in
Huntsville, Ala. Many German scientists had relocated to
Alabama's Rocket City to work with Wernher von Braun after
the war, bringing their families and history with them. But
all is not as it seems, and many years later, this elite
group has plans that will shock the world.
After Jackson's death, his son
Hardy, an attorney in a small town near Huntsville,
discovers a fortune in collectible deutschmarks and a
mysterious document written in German that his father has
kept secret. His father never discussed the war, and
his dying words - a warning - were to "leave it be."
Not knowing what his father's words meant, Hardy anonymously
puts the stash up for auction, which leads the Nazi's to
him. The Nazi's have been watching for the marked money to
surface for decades, but not because they want the money.
They need the document that disappeared with the money
because it poses a threat to their plans.
Murder, intrigue, foreign and
American spies, government cover-ups, all these elements are
present. Being a fan of Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum, I was
particularly swept up in this well-written story, which also
includes divorce, deception and drugs. Because the primary
setting is the Huntsville area in which I live, I found
myself wondering about he places and people mentioned and if
there was any basis of truth to the local stories.
Believability is an important factor and Barksdale gives you
that.
Barksdale's plots are good, and I
wanted to know more about the characters.. For
example, Sunny Webber, a Huntsville businesswoman and
socialite, whose charitable community work hides the seedy
side of her success, is under investigation by the
FBI. She has information vital to the U.S. Government
- even to the world - concerning the Nazi's, but we're never
told how she obtained it.
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The Decatur
Daily - 8/8/04
Neo-Nazi intrigue focus
of thriller by Athens lawyer
By: Ronnie Thomas
DAILY Staff Writer
rthomas@decaturdaily.com
340-2438
Many area residents know Jerry
Barksdale as an Athens attorney.
And readers first realized his
flair with a pen when he published "When Duty Called in
1998. The book is a collection of World War II veterans from
Limestone County.
Now Barksdale, perhaps taking
the path of another attorney, noted author John Grisham, has
written his first novel, a fast-moving mystery thriller,
"The Fuhrer Document, A Story About the Fourth Reich."
As her interviewed veterans
for his non-fiction book, he began to think, "What if a
tyrant such as Adolf Hitler attempted a comeback in today's
society?"
Barksdale stayed on track and
slowly developed a character, Hardy Jackson, who becomes
involved in such a plot.
Jackson's father was an
infantryman with the company that first reached Eagle's Nest
in world War II. He helped himself to some souvenirs
and returned home with them.
After "Jabo" Jackson's death,
Hardy Jackson, an only child, went to the attic and sorted
through his father's old Army footlocker. What he
inadvertently uncovers is a Pandora's Box
Barksdale's protagonist, a
somewhat lazy small-town southern lawyer, begins a faster
paced life when his discovery draws him into intrigue.
The book speeds along from the
German community in Huntsville to Europe as Barksdale finds
time to provide adequate descriptions of people and
places.
And Hardy Jackson becomes a
marked man. The feds are after him as well as neo-Nazis.
The book is an easy read,
leaving one to believe that the war stories aren't over for
Barksdale.
The
News-Courier - 7/11/04
In Search of "The Fuhrer
Document"
By: Charlotte
Fulton
...Barksdale's rural southern upbringing gives his
novel a unique flavor. One action-packed scene takes
place inside a gin, where a Nazi thug gets pulled into the
machinery. Barksdale knows well the danger of a
misstep n a cotton gin in the days when exposed belts and
pulleys and blades posed a hazard. And then there's the
quail hunting; the Alabama-Auburn rivalry; the one-armed
circuit court clerk who lost a limb a cotton-ginning
accident; the familiar place names like Monte Sano, Green
Mountains, Forks of the River...
"In my mind, French Springs is a
lot like Athens," says Barksdale, "except that it's got the
Giles County (Tenn.) Courthouse. I love that old
red-brick courthouse."
The characters, too, are
influenced by the people of North Alabama. Hardy
Jackson's law partner is reminiscent of a hippie-style
lawyer Barksdale knew in Huntsville; Barksdale says Hardy's
wife Millie bears resemblance to his own ex-wife, a
two-pack-a-day smoker who, next to her own children, loved
Auburn more than anything.
Barksdale, who tried to join the
Marines at 16 by producing a driver's license that gave his
age as 17, said making Hardy Jackson a Marine was perhaps
his attempt to live vicariously through his main
character."
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When
Duty Called Reviews
Colorfully recorded by Athens attorney Jerry
Barksdale with all the espirit de corps of a best selling
novel.
flesh and blood narratives to complement the
necessary if often dry-gutted analyses of a war that is at
least as significant as the Civil War.
When Duty Called stands as a tribute to those
who made it back and as a memorial to those who didn't. The
fact that these are Limestone County veterans is almost
incidental. They can be seen to represent veterans from
every state in the union, and from every country that sent
young men and women to fight with the Allies.
The stories of these young people are so detailed
that you feel you know each and every one of them, and you
feel that you know just what they were thinking during the
most intense times of their lives.
PUBLICATIONS BY JERRY R.
BARKSDALE
When Duty Called,
World War II
remembered, Magnolia Press, 212 South Marion Street, Athens,
Alabama 35611
SOLDIER STORIES
General Clyde Mabry: From Bastogne to
Korea
Raymond Phelps: First and Always a
Marine
The Making of Marine: Childhood friends grow
up to serve country
The Making of a Marine: Boot Camp
The Making of a Marine: The Christmas
Party
The Making of a Marine: Semper
Fidelis
Limestone soldier experiences savagery of
Vietnam�s jungles
Billy Duncan fights the battle for Hill
875
Billy Duncan remembers the TET
Offensive
Attorney is Green Beret all the
way
His life for his country: Soldier dies on
beaches of Normandy
Youthful Athens aviator navigates October
skies
Mean dogs and nukes make the world a hostile
place
Bill Allfrey vowed jungles of �Nam wouldn�t
claim him
Eagle flyer stopped counting at 300
missions
Athens man played role in military
history
When Hell froze over � Local veteran
remembers the cold, hard days of war
Sam Gibbons: In for the duration
The longest war: Athens man recalls days
with "Powder River" Part I
Athens man recalls days with "Powder River"
Part II
Cpl. Lowell Williams had the right stuff
Part I
Cpl. Lowell Williams had the right stuff
Part II
Lowell Williams had the right stuff Part
III
Price Black: Tempered by hard
times
Billy Morgan Phillips� Last
Christmas
Recon team forms band of brothers
Local Marine endures the siege of Khe
Sanh
Miracle changes Marine's future
life
Coming to America: Hungarian refugee never
forgot home
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COLUMNS THAT APPEARED IN ATHENS NEWS
COURIER AND DECATUR
DAILY
Christmas in Beulah Land
How I came to own an �O�Keefe�
�7/27/97
Normandy Visit Emotional � 4/8/00
French will never amount to anything �
4/23/00
A Southern boy learns how to survive in the
big apple � 11/12/00
Memories of an unforgettable Christmas �
12/21/00
Down and out on pork and beans -
2/18/01
Tour of British Isles brings bad case of
castle burnout � 4/22/01
Columnist going to war with the roses �
5/24/01
Kernels of truth from my Uncle Robert �
6/10/01
Role models can come in many different
shapes and guises � 6/24/01
Memories of a Thanksgiving Nightmare �
11/22/01
Red Devil pills too much cure for a 1951
Christmas illness � 12/24/01
American Justice: I�m madder than hell, and
I�m going to sue � 8/4/02
Down and out in a Datsun B-10, 1970�s style
� 8/25/02
Sometimes Halloween just works out right, if
you�re lucky � 10/31/02
Fifteen-year-old financier invests heavily
in peanut, soft drink futures � 11/29/02
22 years on lam: Local attorney trailed by
Rocky Mountain lawmen � 12/8/02
A warm spot is thing of beauty �
1/9/03
Plastic stuff of strong spines �
1/26/03
No way to evacuate at 35,000 feet �
2/23/03
America: Defendant of world�s underdogs �
3/2/03
Speak softly, Hollywood �others carry a big
stick for you � 3/23/03
Mama and moonshining bill of rights �
4/13/03
Old nag taught the first rule of business �
5/5/03
A walk on the wild side � 6/15/03
A lawyer by any other name would smell
richer � 6/8/03
I learned the medium rare secret of life �
7/27/03
Attack of the killer roses �
8/10/03
Death in the afternoon docket �
8/22/03
He�s gone from dogs to plants �
9/7/03
Just don�t let the bedbugs bite �
9/28/03
Rhode Island Red �just a dumb chicken� �
10/5/03
Hope made Christmas wishes come true �
12/14/03
Shake the family tree for a good lawyer �
10/19/03
Learn to read ears or leave well enough
alone � 11/9/03
A Monday morning tale of the one that got
away � 12/7/03
Athens think tank proposes Rat Killing
Festival � 1/18/04
Barksdale: �a buck don�t buy near the sin it
used to� � 1/04
Mad cow, terrorists and baby Kelvie make
holiday trip a real gamble � 2/1/04
What really motivates the Tidy Bowl Man �
2/8/04
Name Change: It can�t be done �
2/15/04
Going to the dogs ain't bad �
2/22/04
Forget Valentine�s Day and you pay �
2/29/04
Looking for a good catch � 3/7/04
Southerners just got to have their greens �
3/21/04
I�m just glad to be back home �
3/28/04
Why some women have to show off �
4/4/04
A stroll down memory lane �
4/25/04
A rabbit ear guy lost in a cable world -
5/9/04
Neurotic neighbor was soothsayer
-5/16/04
Talking to plants and visiting shrink -
5/23/04
Confessions of a former crank caller -
5/30/04
Gambling is a fowl past time -
6/6/04
Late sleepers face the wrath of Daddy Robert
- 6/20/04
Swiss pledge to honor and share a sink -
7/11/04
Squishing bumblebees: Children living
life on the edge -7/25/04
Last word often last nail in coffin -
8/8/04
Smokin' and cussin' lost arts to home
schooled - 8/22/04
Lonely senior jump-starts pickup line -
9/10/04
Wild nights of watermelon dreams -
9/12/04
Good Kansas folks help young, stranded
family - 9/26/04
Cold night in mountains sure makes one
appreciate home - 9/28/04
Board the windows and pass the Charmin -
10/3/04
Social graces line the road to perdition -
10/17/04
They serve fried chicken on B-Team Angels'
flights - 10/31/04
Coming to America: Hungarian refugee never
forgot home
Other Publications:
Published by: Title:
The Huntsville Times In Defense of Trial
Lawyers
Athens State College
Alumni News Attorney, Author,
Alumni
The Champion � National
Association of Criminal
Defense Lawyers Cat Bennett � A Personal
Remembrance
Mad Hall, Y�all, a Literary
Collection, University of The
Vacation
Alabama at Huntsville Joe�s Truck Stop
Alabama Trial Journal "In Pursuit of the
Jealous Mistress"
Alabama Lawyer "Uninsured
Motorist, Validity and
Effect of Exclusion Clause"
Co-Author
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