Shiloh Resources

Now you can give your significant other the heave-ho just like your favorite fictional couple. Make like the Moffats and high-tail it to Shiloh National Military Park—and don't forget the Yodels. This website provides visitor information that can help you plan your trip. You can also learn about the historical significance of Shiloh and explore the site's educational and multimedia resources. Check it out.

Step inside the Bobbie Ann Mason's home(page), where you can read more about her life and work, and learn about upcoming book tours, readings, and other events. Y'all come back now!

There are no film or TV versions of "Shiloh," but if you liked the story, you will likely enjoy this film version of Bobbie Ann Mason's critically acclaimed first novel, In Country, which stars Emily Lloyd as a 17-year-old Kentucky girl whose father died in Vietnam before she was born, and Bruce Willis as her uncle, a Vietnam vet with PTSD. Together, they try to find meaning in and release from the past.

If you want to read more about the feminist undertones in "Shiloh," check out this article, which argues that one of the most prominent themes of Mason's work is the changing ways in which men and women relate to one another. It goes into some pretty rich detail, describing how some of Mason's female characters try to forge new identities in response to shifting gender roles. Seems pretty convincing to us.

A look at Mason's use of bird imagery in "Shiloh." Words of a feather… 

In an interview, Mason discusses various influences that shaped her as a writer, and boy, she has quite a few.

This article explores the tensions in Mason's fiction between the personal growth found in pursuing an education, on the one hand, and the positive meaning and values of "home" that college-bound characters are leaving behind, on the other. This might be something a lot of college students can relate to—give it a gander and see what you think. 

In an interview, Mason discusses among other things, the role music has played in her life and her reverence for Bruce Springsteen. Deep down, we all kind of love Springsteen, don't we? 

A fellow Kentucky native agrees with Mason (but not with most critics of her work) that the changes brought by the New South are not uniformly negative, but open up possibilities for characters and offer them choices. It takes one to know one…

A much mustachioed man, who goes by the moniker EnglishGuyinTexas, discusses "Shiloh," with a particular focus on the story's symbolism.

Country singer Rick Trevino sings a song about his supposed high school crush on Bobbie Ann Mason. According to Mason, "The song is not really about me, but it was named for me. The guy who wrote the song likes my fiction and the sound of my name." (Source). Aw shucks, Bobbie Ann, surely you're just being bashful.

In these two audio interviews (conducted by Don Swaim in the 1980s), Mason discusses Shiloh and Other Stories and what it was like growing up in Mayfield, Kentucky, among other topics. She has such a soothing voice.

Bobbie Ann Mason's kid sister LaNelle snapped this portrait of the author. Looks like someone has a future in photography.

This photo (by former Kentucky Poet Laureate James Baker Hall) captures the country girl spirit of Bobbie Ann Mason.