Louisiana Books

Mr. Brock has gathered from many sources to compile this history of an oft-forgotten great city of the South. From clearing log jams and beginnings of settlement in the 1850's, to the casino playground of the 1990's, this work provides a glimpse into the transformation of a rural port into a thriving center of commerce.

Johnson does an excellent job capturing the rich heritage and community of this often overlooked area of Louisiana.

Although I had never seen many of the buildings pictured in these postcards, they offered a fascination look at the Shreveport of the past. I couldn't believe some of the beautiful architecture that was destroyed for box-like replacements. Thankfully a few are still standing.

I am so pleased to have this retrospective.

This is poetry as it was meant to be...fun, enjoyable. The best poem in the book is called "Anatomy Lesson" and it conjures up some amazing images, especially the heart. Jan Heller Levi imagines the heart as an anthropomorphic writer, pounding away missives just as she is probably pounding away at her typewriter, writing these poems.

To first address the sterling recommendation I've given this book of photographs, I say why shouldn't it recieve 5 stars as after all, I'm his son. Good to have a critic in the family right?

The five stars speak to the images themselves and not to the quality of reproduction. The printing of this book was and remains a singular tragedy. We received no galley proofs before hand and only after strenuous insistence did we receive two pre-release copies. These were delivered well past the release date due to them having to follow my father and I through the Bahamas on our yacht. My father's pride was quickly replaced by disgust upon seeing the first image. After protracted depression and sleepless nights, the organization charged with producing the book for Jargon Soceity, received a short yet effective response from Lyle Bongé. A memorable quote from which follows: "That piece of Sh** went through the tubes like a mango through a sick gringo!"

Not only had our friend in charge of publishing (who replaced Minor White at the helm of Aperture) suffered terrible personal tragedy, but also due to in house politics he had relinquished editorial authority to a zealous young art school graduate with less brains than experience. Eager to wreck the editorial work (arrangement of images in sequences) of Tom Murphy (longtime student & friend of Minor White and practised eye) and Lyle Bongé, this zealous casting couch achiever rearranged all the photographs using amateruish and collegiate cute tricks. All very pedestrian...

Decisions were made without consulting either Jargon Soceity or Lyle Bongé which ruined the reproduction of the images. Cheap paper was used. Paper which couldn't accept wider ranges of black inks nor concomitant gradations to white resulted in fewer blacks and cheaper inks. Results: Muddy, seemingly out of focus images, misty hued, overcast crap!!!

The images contained in this book are a stark exposé of the darker lurking creatures within the Mardi Gras reveller. Seen through the eye of a hungry devourer of souls and a really great guy! What the viewer of these reproductions misses are the rich crystaline blacks, the glowing and ghostly aparitions withing the frame, and subjects seeming to float just above the ground.

There is only one photographer that has captured Mardi Gras in the French Quarter of New Orleans and that is Lyle Bongé. Many have tried and none have gotten close. When Lyle photographed his last regular Mardi Gras he'd been doing it for 30 years without missing a year. If he'd done no other work as a photographer, he'd have done enough.

I found the book wonderful. Lenora Worth wrote it in a way that made me want to just read it from cover to cover without stopping.
The book is about a young man named Lucas Dorsette who always lived at the edge. He challeged God, and played with life, never really forgiving God for His mysterious ways. But then he meets beautiful Willa O'Connor. Even though she also has doubts about why God does what He does, she is helped by Lucas and his family to overcome her problems, and fears. And in God's garden they all learn how to trust Him and lean on Him always.
This book definitely got me thinking about all the things that I take for granted. It got me to really count my blessings and pray for those who really need prayer.
"So we do not lose heart...For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal."
2 Corinthians 4:16-18

a magnificent cookbook filled with her life stories as well as great recipe's. i really love this book.

My stepfather asked me to purchase this book for him since he did not have a computer. He read the first 400 pages within 3 days. He called me to tell me that he totally enjoyed this book and he asked me to order the book for another person(he raved so much to this person about the book). He's leaving the book to the family (once he passes on) to let each
member to read and learn about Afro American History.

Very good book the only major problem is that the book fell apart and now I will have to return it for a replacement.

Carl Rowan's account of his travels through the American South in the 1950s brings to life the harsh realities of the racial inequalites that existed in our great nation just a half a century ago. I used this book as a primary source in a US History Survey course. I would reccomend this book to high school and college age students as well as adults who are interested in race relations just prior to the Civil Rights Movement.