Louisiana State University Press, 2003

George Garrett’s presence turns dark rooms brighter than rainbows. He makes people smile, and for moments worry grinds slower and life seems more gift than burden. In George’s company scoffers become appreciators. The weary shake the creeping palsy of cynicism and return to desk and library invigorated. “What a friend we have in George,” a poet once said to me at Sewanee, paraphrasing the good old hymn. Too often people confuse selflessness and its consort generosity with insignificance. Decency is rarely achieved easily. Selflessness is not natural to man, no matter an individual’s inclination toward the sunny. George’s pages will illuminate the future. How fortunate we are to have both the books and the man.