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Alan Huffman is an American author and journalist. He is the author of five nonfiction books, three of which deal with history related to the American South. He is notable as an
opposition research In politics, opposition research (also called oppo research) is the practice of collecting information on a political opponent or other adversary that can be used to discredit or otherwise weaken them. The information can include biographical, leg ...
er.


Life and work

Huffman is from
Bolton, Mississippi Bolton is a town in Hinds County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 567 at the 2010 census, down from 629 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Bolton is in north-central Hinds County, ...
. He moved the Holly Grove Plantation House from near
Port Gibson, Mississippi Port Gibson is a city in Claiborne County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,567 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Port Gibson is the county seat of Claiborne County, which is bordered on the west by the Mississippi Ri ...
to
Bolton, Mississippi Bolton is a town in Hinds County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 567 at the 2010 census, down from 629 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Bolton is in north-central Hinds County, ...
in 1990. The home is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
. ''Ten Point: Deer Camp in the Mississippi Delta,'' (1997) was his first book. It is a photo-essay, exploring decades of the
Issaquena County Issaquena County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 1,406, making it the least populous county in the United States east of the Mississippi River. Its county seat is Mayersville. Wi ...
wilderness in the Mississippi Delta. Huffman wrote text as a setting for photographs by his grandmother Florence Huffman. She had frequently accompanied her husband and friends to the hunting camp, and her photos spanned the period of 1927 to 1962. After that, developers and the US Army Corps of Engineers took over the area. This territory was the setting for
William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most of ...
's short story " The Bear". '' Mississippi in Africa: The Saga of the Slaves of Prospect Hill Plantation and Their Legacy in Liberia'' (2004) explores two related but different worlds of African Americans in the antebellum period. It reveals the settlement of
Mississippi-in-Africa Mississippi-in-Africa was a colony on the Pepper Coast (West Africa) founded in the 1830s by the Mississippi Colonization Society of the United States and settled by American free people of color, many of them former slaves. In the late 1840s, so ...
, in present-day
Sinoe County Sinoe is one of Liberia's 15 counties and it has 17 districts. Greenville is the county's capital. As of the 2008 Census, it had a population of 104,932, making it one of the least populous counties in Liberia. Sinoe has the third-largest area ...
,
Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
, as well as the slave world at
Prospect Hill Plantation The Prospect Hill Plantation was a former 5,000-acre plantation in Jefferson County, Mississippi. In the early 19th century, the plantation was owned by planter Isaac Ross of South Carolina, who enslaved African American people to farm cotton as a ...
, which they left behind. This colony was initiated in the 1830s by the Mississippi chapter of the
American Colonization Society The American Colonization Society (ACS), initially the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America until 1837, was an American organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to encourage and support the migration of freebor ...
, in order to relocate freed slaves out of the state. It was later incorporated into what became the independent nation of
Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
. ''Sultana: Surviving the Civil War, Prison, and the Worst Maritime Disaster in American History'' (2009) follows four young Union soldiers through the American Civil War, including their capture and imprisonment. It culminates with their surviving the explosion and sinking of the riverboat ''Sultana'', in which 1700 people died; it was the worst maritime disaster in American history. ''We're with Nobody: Two Insiders Reveal the Dark Side of American Politics'' (2012), co-authored with Michael Rejebian, describes the authors' work for 18 years as opposition researchers. During this period they studied candidates ranging from presidential appointments and congressional representatives, down to people running for the local school board. They reveal an inside look at a little-understood aspect of American politics and show that they are trying to bring factual material to public light so that voters have information on candidates. ''Here I Am: The Story of Tim Hetherington, War Photographer'' (
Grove Press Grove Press is an United States of America, American Imprint (trade name), publishing imprint that was founded in 1947. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, and Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it in ...
, 2013), is a biography of photojournalist
Tim Hetherington Timothy Alistair Telemachus Hetherington (5 December 1970 – 20 April 2011) was a British photojournalist. He produced books, films and other work that "ranged from multi-screen installations, to fly-poster exhibitions, to handheld de ...
. He covered conflicts in the African nations of Liberia, Sierra Leone, Darfur, Nigeria, and Libya, as well as Afghanistan. Huffman describes Hetherington as having an artistic eye and focused on revealing the lives of his subjects, setting him apart from other conflict photographers. In addition, he was credited with
Sebastian Junger Sebastian Junger (born January 17, 1962) is an American journalist, author and filmmaker who has reported in-the-field on Dirty,_dangerous_and_demeaning, dirty, dangerous and demanding occupations and the experience of Light_infantry#United_Sta ...
) as co-director of the documentary film '' Restrepo,'' about an American base in Afghanistan, which was nominated for an Academy Award. Hetherington was killed in
Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
, alongside photographer
Chris Hondros Chris Hondros (March 14, 1970 – April 20, 2011) was an American war photographer. Hondros was a finalist twice for a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography. Biography Chris Hondros was born in New York City to immigrant Greek and Ger ...
, on April 20, 2011, while covering that nation's revolution.


References


External links

*
National Public Radio interview with Huffman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huffman, Alan Living people American male journalists American non-fiction writers Year of birth missing (living people)