The Mark Twain of Alabama

Let me just come right out and say it: Winston Groom was an excellent writer, perhaps Alabama’s best since Harper Lee. He has been called “the Mark Twain of Alabama.”

Groom, who lived in Point Clear on the Gulf Coast before his death in 2022, wrote some of the best fiction and nonfiction published in the past two decades.

The Alabama writer achieved national fame with his novel “Forrest Gump,” which has sold millions of copies. 

The book stayed atop the New York Times Best Seller list for 21 weeks. That feat, by itself, should put Groom in the same league with Lee.

Like Lee, Groom created a character for the ages in Forrest Gump. There’s a world of difference between Atticus Finch and Gump, but they are perfectly created characters of both novelists’ imaginations.

As a side note, let me add that we Auburn fans are glad the dim-witted Gump attended and played football for the University of Alabama — and not Auburn. 

There was something about Gump, perhaps his IQ, though he ran fast and scored one touchdown after the other, which could keep him out of the ranks of true War Eagles.

I had to hand it to Groom, though. In Gump, he gave us one of the great literary characters of our time. Groom’s writing talent kind of snuck up on us and then leaped to life with the publication of “Forrest Gump.”

But it may not be his fiction that secures Groom a permanent place in the annals of the great writers. It could be his nonfiction, too, his historical books on America’s wars and its great military leaders, which gives him his permanent spot among America’s truly great writers.  

Groom’s first foray into nonfiction turned out to be a stunning achievement. “Shrouds of Glory,” which chronicled flamboyant Southern Gen. John Bell Hood’s epic battles in Atlanta and in Franklin and Nashville, Tenn., received rave reviews from critics. 

One noted reviewer said it this way: “The pages turn,” meaning the book’s subject matter was so well written it was difficult to put the book down. It was with me, too. I couldn’t reach a stopping point. I kept flipping the pages. 

Writing that places a hard grip on a reader is rare, but Groom was that kind of writer. His narrative reaches out and grabs you and doesn’t let go. He is, at heart, a marvelous storyteller. 

Shortly after I finished “Shrouds of Glory,” I ran out and purchased “A Storm in Flanders,” which is Groom’s superb account of the intense fighting in Belgium during World War I. It, too, was absolutely riveting and received great reviews.

Then I moved on to “Vicksburg,” Groom’s telling of the whiskey-soaked Gen. Ulysses Grant’s and his year-long battle to capture the city and cut off commerce on the Mississippi River that was so vital to the Southern cause. Again, the book’s riveting writing kept me from closing it and putting it away.

In appearance, Groom has the sharp, starched look of a military officer. He speaks perfect English with a deep Southern drawl. After his graduation from the University of Alabama, Groom served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam as a captain. And that may have helped shape his poise and given him courage to go for the bigtime. 

After his duty in the Vietnam War, Groom joined the newspaper staff of the conservative Washington Star as a writer and a columnist and spent several years there crafting his writing style.

After leaving the newspaper, Groom decided to try his hand at serious writing. Groom penned his first novel, “Better Times than These,” about a rifle company in Vietnam in 1978 that loses many of its fighters and ultimately its patriotism. 

Groom also wrote “Conversations with the Enemy” in 1983. The book was about an American soldier, Robert Garwood, who allegedly deserted and cooperated with the North Vietnamese enemy. Garwood was court-martialed and dishonorably discharged. Groom’s book was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1984. 

I first came into contact with Groom when I lived in Highlands, N.C. I was publisher of a group of newspapers in North Georgia and Western Carolina. Groom, who owned a summer home in Cashiers, was the host of an annual literary festival held in early June each year at the famous and historic High Hampton Inn in Cashiers.

The well-attended festival included talks by writing heavyweights such as William Styron, Pat Conroy, George Plimpton, Peter Maas, Gay Talese, Willie Morris and others. Apparently, Groom hobnobs with the literati of his time.

For burgeoning writers, Groom’s festival was a big deal. Everyone who aspired to literary fame, whether in Southern Gothic, mainstream fiction or historical literature, were in attendance.

I missed an opportunity to have dinner with Groom at his summer home in the mountains because I had to attend an urgent meeting in Highlands, one of those end-of-the-world-if-we-don’t-act-fast sessions.

My wife, Jean, did attend the dinner and informed me I missed the opportunity of a lifetime. Groom was a marvelous host and entertained everyone with great food and wonderful conversation, she said.

Missing my chance to meet and talk with Groom, whom I greatly admired, still haunts me to this day. 

Ralph Morris is a retired newspaperman who lives in near Auburn.