This Goodly Land

Wyatt Blassingame (February 6, 1909–January 8, 1985)

Other Names Used

• Wyatt Rainey Blassingame: full name
• W. B. Rainey: pen name
• William B. Rainey: pen name

Alabama Connections

• Demopolis, Marengo County: birthplace
• Birmingham, Jefferson County: education
• Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County: education
• Montgomery, Montgomery County: brief adult residence

Selected Works

• Blassingame, Wyatt. John Smith Hears Death Walking. New York: Bartholomew House, 1944.
• Blassingame, Wyatt. The French Foreign Legion. Illus. Harper Johnson. New York: Random House, 1955. For younger readers.
• Blassingame, Wyatt. Live from the Devil. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1959.
• Blassingame, Wyatt. Ponce de Leon: A World Explorer. Illus. Russ Hoover. Champaign, Ill.: Garrard Pub. Co., 1965. Rpt. as Ponce de Leon. New York: Chelsea Juniors, 1991. For younger readers.
• Blassingame, Wyatt. The Look-It-Up Book of Presidents. Illus. Ted Lewin. New York: Random House, 1968. Rpt. New York: Random House, 1984. Rpt. New York: Random House, 2008. For younger readers.
• Blassingame, Wyatt. Jim Beckwourth: Black Trapper and Indian Chief. Illus. Herman Vestal. Champaign, Ill.: Garrard Pub. Co., 1973. Rpt. New York: Chelsea Juniors, 1991. For younger readers.
• Blassingame, Wyatt. Pecos Bill Rides a Tornado. Illus. Ted Schroeder. Champaign, Ill.: Garrard Pub. Co., 1973. For younger readers.

Literary Awards

• Benjamin Franklin Magazine Award, Short Story, University of Illinois, 1956, for "Man's Courage"

Biographical Information

Wyatt Blassingame was born in Demopolis, Ala. He attended Howard College (now Samford University) in Birmingham, Ala., for two years, then transferred to the University of Alabama. After graduating in 1930 with an AB degree, Blassingame worked for a year as a police reporter for The Montgomery Advertiser. He then enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Alabama but left in 1933 without writing a thesis. Blassingame spent some time travelling on freighters before moving to New York City to live with his brother Lurton, who was a literary agent. In New York, Blassingame focused on his writing and began selling short stories to mystery magazines.

Blassingame married in 1936 and moved with his new family to Anna Maria, a small island off the coast of Florida. From 1948 to 1951, Blassingame was a writing instructor at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Fla. Later in his career, he also taught at Manatee Junior College (now Manatee Community College). Blassingame's first book, a collection of mystery stories, was published in 1944. The first of his four novels, For Better, For Worse, was published in 1951. Two years later, he published the first of his many children's books. Blassingame also continued to write articles and short stories which appeared in national newspapers and magazines through the 1970s. He died in Bradenton, Fla., in 1985.

Interests and Themes

Wyatt Blassingame wrote seven children's books based on "tall tale" characters and about fifty nonfiction books for children, many on Florida subjects. His books for adults include a collection of mystery stories and four novels. Three of his novels, Live from the Devil, The Golden Geyser, and Halo of Spears, are set in historical Florida.

For More Information

Please check your local library for these materials. If items are not available locally, your librarian can help you borrow them through the InterLibrary Loan program. Your librarian can also help you find other information about this author.

There may be more information available through the databases in the Alabama Virtual Library. If you are an Alabama citizen, AVL can be used at your public library or school library media center. You can also get a username and password from your librarian to use AVL at home.

Reference Book Chapters and Encyclopedia Entries

• "Blassingame, Wyatt (Rainey) 1909-"; Something About the Author. Vol. 34. Detroit: Gale Research Company, . 41-43.
• "Blassingame, Wyatt Rainey 1909-1985 (W. B. Rainey)"; Something About the Author. Vol. 41. Detroit: Gale Research Company, . 40-41.

Location of Papers

• University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg

Photo courtesy of the University of South Florida Tampa Library, Special and Digital Collections Department.

Last updated on Dec 12, 2009.