A new book by southern Indiana historian Jane Sarles includes a collection of newspaper clips from southern Indiana over the last century. Sarles is chair of the Clarksville Historic Preservation Commission and president of the Clarksville Historical Society. She also writes a column in the News and Tribune called “Looking Back.” Now her book titled, "The Best of Looking Back: Local History as Printed in Clark and Floyd County Newspapers over the last 100 Years," includes the best of her articles, which pull newspaper stories and advertisements from the past 100 years. Sarles says rather than seeing the book divided by time periods, she sees themes of social life, social justice and language that today’s media lacks. “The language can be very beautiful and very expressive and I think it’s gotten lost in newspaper writing today. But of course people want it quick. People want it simple and quick,” she said. Sales illustrates the poetry of language often found in news reports in the earlier part of the last century. “They had mule cars in Jeffersonville and they were doing away with the mule cars and they were putting in electric trolleys. And the way the newspaper reported it was that from now on people would be quote served hence forth by the power of electra instead of the humble beast,” she said. This is the third book authored by Sarles.
