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This Goodly Land

Douglas Fields Bailey

Dates

June 23, 1912 - November 2, 1987

Other Names Used

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

Alabama Connection

  • 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

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 Prefaces

  • Belsches, Alan T. Introduction. Devil Make a Third. By Douglas Fields Bailey. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1989. 1-9.

Last updated on 2009-09-28.