Taking the Town: Collegiate and Community Culture in the Bluegrass, 1880-1917 explores culture and intellectual life in Lexington, Kentucky, at the turn of the twentieth century. Drawing from local newspapers and from the work of historians and other writers, Kolan Thomas Morelock reveals Lexington to be a city of contradictions: known as a cultural "Athens of the West," it also struggled with the poverty, ignorance, and bigotry characteristic of southern communities after the Civil War. Taking the Town examines the contributions to local culture made by the literary and dramatic clubs prevalent on the city's college campuses. It is a vital account of turn-of-the-century southern intellectual life thriving within an environment of considerable turmoil, violence, and change.

Kolan Thomas Morelock is currently director of programs at the Men's Hope Center in Lexington, Kentucky.

Reviews:

"This is an excellent historical research, bringing fresh and unexpected discoveries to an under-studied and under-appreciated era and place. Morelock is effective in persuading one to get on board this unexpected magical mystery tour of an often overlooked Southern city."--John R. Thelin, author of A History of American Higher Education

"This study not only informs us about a particular time and place but also reminds the reader of a university's relevance in a community prior to the onslaught of big time college athletics, 24/7 broadcast media, and the constant effort to link development with the university's mission."--Terry L. Birdwhistell, co-general editor of Kentucky Remembered: An Oral History Series

"Based on Kolan Thomas Morelock's meticulous research in a rich array of primary sources, Taking the Town is the story of the rise and decline of campus literary societies and their replacement by dramatic clubs in post-Civil War Lexington, Kentucky."--David E. Alsobrook, Journal of American History

"Dr. Morelock has done his homework in telling of this transformation. This is a well-researched work, with excellent use of newspapers and college records... This is an informative and instructional look at an era and a place in change, and the process of that transformation."--James C. Klotter, Teachers College Record

"Morelock demonstrates that Lexington's public culture fused regional New South qualities with trends affecting most smaller American cities."-The Journal of Southern History