This Goodly Land

Douglas Fields Bailey (June 23, 1912–November 2, 1987)

Other Names Used

• William Fields Bailey: full name
• Doug Bailey: nickname

Alabama Connections

• Dothan, Houston County: birthplace, childhood residence, adult residence, place of death, setting for Devil Make a Third
• Birmingham, Jefferson County: education
• Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County: education

Selected Works

• Bailey, Douglas Fields. Devil Make a Third. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1948. Rpt. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1989.

Biographical Information

Douglas Fields Bailey was born in Dothan, Ala., to a prominent local family. He attended the University of Alabama where he was mentored by Hudson Strode. Bailey also attended Birmingham-Southern College and the University of Missouri. After leaving college, he worked for newspapers in Marianna, Fla., and in Dothan. He kept in touch with Strode and sent drafts of stories for Strode's opinion. In 1945, Bailey began writing a novel set in Dothan at the turn of the century. He worked for an insurance business in the daytime and wrote in the evenings. Strode sent Bailey's manuscript to a New York publisher, and Devil Make a Third was published in 1948. Reviews of the book were mixed, and Bailey didn't publish again but pursued a career in business. He remained in Dothan and died there in 1987.

Interests and Themes

Douglas Fields Bailey's novel, Devil Make a Third, is set in a fictional version of Dothan, Ala., in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries. The story is partially based on his family's history.

For More Information

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Reference Book Prefaces

• Belsches, Alan T. Introduction. Devil Make a Third by Douglas Fields Bailey. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, . 1-9.

Last updated on Sep 28, 2009.