Louisiana Books

*Family Gathering* is a rare gift: a book that one can share with others.

I first read the book after encountering some of Chappell's other poetry and prose and hearing him read at a conference. Making full use of rhyme and structure, Chappell weaves a tale of some kind of family gathering--the occasion isn't important. The fact that the family has congregated together is. Framed by poems about a young girl who can't understand's adults' need to talk everything to death at such gatherings, Chappell's book roams from person to person, introducing us to characters like Uncle Einar, a likable blow-hard who "smokes his big cigar." We also meet his wife, Aunt Wilma, who "makes him pay" for every mistake the old philanderer commits. We meet others as well, some named and some not. The strength of this approach is obvious: we all have these people in our families. We all know an Uncle Einar; we all have at least one outcast cousin; we all have that one aunt at our reunions who insists on taking everyone's picture.

Chappell's poems are laugh-out-loud funny, a rarity these days when poetry tends to be about little but itself.

*Family Gathering* is a book you can buy for those non-poetry poeple on your gift list. It'll show them that poetry can indeed be for everybody and needn't be an exclusive, elitist pursuit.

Fred Chappell, one of our modern poetic masters, has given us a book that brings its reader no-holds-barred pleasure. Chappell renders his family portraits with wit and craft, using rhyme, for example, that makes us sit up and take notice, lift our ears, ready for more. This book is a loving, though sometimes caustic and, yes, sly, evocation of family. We finish reading it feeling as if we know these people, indeed have always known them. Chappell invites us onto the front porch, into the kitchen, the parlor, the upstairs and downstairs of a dwelling populated by an extended family as eccentric and memorable as our own.

Carolyn Haines has done it again. With her prose that flows as smoothly as the dark waters of the swamps of Louisiana, she plunges the reader into this land of superstition, spirits and mystery. Haines has always been a story teller of the first degree, but she gets better and better. Don't be misled. This is not one of Haines' golden happy girl tales (see the Delta Mystery Series) though they are wonderful in their own right. Fever Moon keeps the reader on the edge of the page, but don't read it without turning on all the lights.

Society has always had an ingrained fear of strangers. In more primitive or rural societies, where attitudes might be governed by legends and/or superstition, people who were ill might be regarded as possessed. False claims and public hysteria could lead to people being executed as in the Salem witch trials.

The present story is set in the rural bayous of Louisiana during the early 1940s. This is Cajun country, with attitudes passed down from the Acadians with origins in France. The wealthiest man in the parish has been brutally killed and a young woman was found near the body. She appears ill and delirious. Rumors arise that she is a werewolf. While being treated by a local herbal specialist, Madam Louiselle, she disappears into the night.

Deputy Sheriff Raymond Thibodeaux is investigating, but must deal with a variety of problems. This was a time when prisoners from the state prison at Angola were leased out to plantation owners to be used as what amounted to slave labor (the ancient practice of selling criminals into slavery). The unsavory victim of the crime, a man not well liked, had been using such laborers, one of whom is believed to have escaped. There are a large number of people who had reasons for wanting the man dead.

Various characters come into play. There is a Catholic priest assigned to the parish (he would have preferred to be in Ireland). There is a local doctor dealing with various illnesses and injuries. There is the Sheriff, who seems more concerned with politicing than police work. There is the sadistic boss of the work crew on the plantation. There is the brother of the missing woman, who lives in the marshes with his dogs. There is the postmistress, a woman who has managed to break into a government job normally reserved for men. And there is a local prostitute who would really rather be a teacher if events in the past had not taken a bad turn.

Raymond, who was discharged from the Army with a disability, must deal with the ghosts from his own past as he tries to head off mob hysteria, find the missing woman, and try to solve the case. It is a dark tale worth reading.

I have read most of the books written by this author and loved everyone of them. The prequel to this book is the last story in Thicker than Water by Kendra Norman-Bellamy.

This story finished what the story 'The Devils's Advocate' started. Great story with a lot of twists and turns but the ending was beautiful. Another great and inspirational story by Linda Hudson-Smith.

Excellent review - I was at the Cajundome as a volunteer, and it was truly amazing to see how this small city was run so smoothly. It was really interesting to read some of the behind-the-scenes information, the results of which were part of my experience. I remember the Red Cross people pretty much stayed in their air conditioned quarters, staying cool. They would come out occasionally, clean and fresh, with their clipboards, to the outside area where we volunteers were working tirelessly sorting contributions in the searing heat, and say "good job!" and go back into their isolated area. How patronizing! I worked on the meal service, too, sometimes - it was truly amazing how that amount of people could be fed GOOD FOOD, so quickly and courteously! Lafayette truly rose to the occasion without red tape or fuss. Volunteers came from all over the country, at their own expense and without being asked. Once there, it was up to everyone to make up his or her own job and get things done. It was an incredible experience and I thought this book gave a really nice picture of it, at least from one who was there.

While world-wide attention was given to the many Katrina horror stories that took place in the Superdome and Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, little notice was taken of a very different story that occurred in the Cajundome of Lafayette, also filled with a multitude the storm displaced.

The Cajundome, in fact, had to cope with a double whammy when days after Katrina struck, Hurricane Rita pummeled the western Louisiana coast sending yet more refugees to the facility.

The staff of the Cajundome and volunteers, many of them descendants of the refugees of the Acadian Diaspora of 1755, on the whole welcomed the 21st century refugees with empathy, kindness, efficiency, and ingenuity. This is the story that Ann B. Dobie tells in her lucid, well-written, and moving chronicle of the 58 days in 2005 during which the Cajundome was used as a shelter.

There are villains also in this story, but the overwhelming emphasis of the book is on the success of the effort to provide shelter and comfort to those made homeless by the two disasters, when the Cajundome staff and the many volunteers treated those fleeing the storms more like guests than intruders.

There is much to be learned from this book. It should be required reading for all those involved in disaster planning. The book also amply illustrates the qualities of the people of Acadian Louisiana who have long made it a good and human place to live. I recommend this book very highly.

Before I begin, I must acknowledge that this book was written by my nephew and it is based on his grandfather's (my father and name sake) WWII journals.

Greg Daddis, the author, is a graduate of West Point, a veteran of Desert Storm and currently serving as a Major in the US Army. This is not 'Saving Private Ryan', but a very factual, meticulously researched and well documented perspective on WWII, as it correlates to the actual journal entries made by my dad as he began basic training, then on to Officer Candidate's School (90 day wonders), overseas for the build up in England, on to the war in Europe and his eventual return to the states. Greg makes a point of the fact that we fought WWII with a civilian army and my dad epitomizes that fact.

More 'History Channel' then 'Hollywood'...Greg took no 'literary license' and included every journal entry exactly as it was written, without corrections or deletions...he then provided a detailed and documented historical perspective as it related to the entries that were being made in the journals and spaced throughout the book.

As to my 5 star rating...it's a book written by my nephew who I'm very proud of, about my father who I loved dearly...what other rating could I possibly have given it? ;-)

Anyone interested in American history in general, or American military history in particular, will appreciate the discovery of an untapped diary of an American soldier. Gregory Daddis has unlocked one such diary of a young artillery officer in World War II. What is more, Daddis offers a history of one of the least mentioned, "work horse," divisions, as Russell F. Weigley discribes it in the Foreword, in the European Theater: the U.S. 8th Infantry Division. Daddis reproduces the daily journal entries of George Schwend verbatum. Schwend hides his emotions and sticks to logging his daily routine. Other than his obvious love for his fiance Jean at home, we never know his fears, hopes, aspirations or opinions. Yet the entries shed interesting insight to the training of the U.S. Army (Gen. Eisenhower called the 8th Division the best trained unit to enter the ETO). From the cultural aspect, Schwend lists every movie he saw in three years in the Army. In addition, Schwend's log shows the postal system during the war years, was quite efficient. According to Schwend's daily weather discriptions, except for scattered days, perhaps the weather in Europe (and the 8th Division was in the thick of it) was not abnormally cold as some historians have claimed. Throughout the book, Daddis placed Schwend and the 266 days the 8th Division saw combat from Normandy, Brittany, the bitter Hurtgen Forest, the crossings of the Roer and Rhine Rivers and the horror encountered at the Wobbelin concentration camp in overall perspective. As a veteran of the Persian Gulf War, Major Daddis offers some analysis of his own on combined operations, the role of artillery, and the command structure of the U.S. Army in World War II. Daddis draws from a wealth of sources including some unpublished manuscripts housed at the West Point library, used here for the first time. My only criticism is the book is too short. A valuable addition to the lexicon of the "citizen-soldier!"

As a preface to my review of Vetter's book, .Fonville Winans' Louisiana: Politics, People and Places I am obliged to first speak about his subject, Fonville Winans. Not knowing who captured the images until much later, I was captivated by Winans' photographs early on.

Over time, living in Baton Rouge, LA, I learned more about the man and explored the different areas his wonderful photograpy encompassed. More than any other, I was and continue to be moved the most by his photographs of the inhabitants of Coastal and South Louisiana of his day; those of the old fisherman and oystermen, with their sun and wind-chiseled features that said much about who they were and the things they stood for in life. One of the first photos that I came to recognize as Winans' was that of the old bus on Grand Isle, LA. I believe it was Fonville Winans' work that sparked my life-long love of black & white photography.

Initially, not knowing its history, while in graduate school at LSU, I located a small cafe on the edge of a neighborhood called "Spanish Town." Its attraction to me was three-fold; the low price of a simple, yet filling meal, the live accoustic music featured nightly, and, more than any other, an unmistakable ambience that emanated from the old brick building with its front double-door facing the street corner. Soon, I learned the building was originally the studio of Fonville Winans. I believe the ambience there was the echo of his creativity and had little to do with current decor there.

Having said that, I believe Vetter's book captures all these aspects of Fonville, his work, and much more. Sans the ability to own an original made by this magical photographer or bottle the ambience borne of his creativity, this book provides a means of returning, many times over, to the photographs I have grown to love. This makes Vetter's book a "must have" for me and I think if you have any interest in the art of Fonville Winans, the same would be true for you. Furthermore, if you have not been introduced to Winans, Vetter's compilation will open the man and his photograpy to you.

Thanks for reading, Robb

This is an unusual book. It offers a glimpse into a treasure trove little known beyond south Louisiana. How appropriate that LSU press should dedicate resources to preserving this material and making it available to a wider audience.

For those of my parent's generation who grew up in Baton Rouge, getting a "Fonville" portrait was as much a rite of passage as visiting the Paramount Theatre (now a parking lot) on Third Street (now Riverside Mall).

Fonville Winans' reach went beyond documenting the lives of Baton Rouge society, however, and this book capture the remarkable range of his interest. All the major figures in Louisiana politics are here, either out on the stump or in more formal posed portraits. There are also photographs of other parts of Louisiana life: music, festivals, farmland and river bottoms.

The book offers a rare glimpse into a long-gone time and place. Though it's a much bigger and elaborate book, it's reminiscent of Eudora Welty's _One Time, One Place_. A special treat is the evocative CD that paints an aural picture to match the photographs.

So now you, too, can have a Fonville.

This is a stunningly beautiful and touching collection, full of heart.

Kate Daniels has given our literature a book of poems that deserves to take its place with the finest poetic sequences of the century. She explores the points of union between a woman's body and her soul, and in so doing creates a powerful document of human yearning, vision, suffering, and dedication. This book deserves the widest possible readership.

I got this book as a gift for my boyfriend. He is a serious LSU fan. He loves it. He reads parts of it to me outloud because he finds it so interesting he wants to share it with me. I don't think he has ever read a book for pleasure until now.

My dad is an LSU alumni and when I gave it to him Christmas morning he couldn't put it down. The book itself was in perfect condition when I received it.

"Grounded in impressive primary research and an extensive secondary literature, Sheila R. Phipps's Genteel Rebel is MORE THAN JUST A BIOGRAPHY.

This imaginative work brings readers into the complex world of Civil War-era Winchester, Virginia, and addresses important questions about women's power and Confederate identity."
---George C. Rable, author of Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!
[from the book of the back cover]

Through scholarly research, careful historiography and sharp wit, Shelia Phipps brings alive to the reader the life, personality, and culture of Mary Greenhow Lee in this colorfully written volume. This book is not a biography in the traditional sense, through exploring Lee the author brings the reader into the world surrounding Lee. It is for this reason that this volume is valuable for individuals not only interested in Lee, but also the Civil War and the effect the war had on the individuals who lived through it as a civilian. This book is highly recommended by this reader.

Girocho: A Gi's Story of Bataan and Beyond

I had a special interest because John Henry Poncio is/was a relative, but even more because he bore no enmity for the Japanese. That still amazes me. The story of what our troops endured should be required reading in our schools.

Poncio's story from Bataan to Hirohata, written with total context of the war. An outstanding and complete story.

Every so often, one discovers a "POW" book that is not only accurate, but well written. Each line, each paragraph, each page weaves a complete tapestry of a Prisoner's life under the Japanese. Add to this, one sees beautifully crafted typography that makes this a classic. Of the more than 1000 books w have on the subject, this book ranks in the top ten.

Poncio adds depth and meaning to the history of our POWS, especially the guerilla and public support by foreign nationals and Filipinos. His is one of the rare books that even acknowledges the support from the legendary Madame Utinsky, a heroine who deserved the Medal of Honor. No phase of the experience is slighted nor any detail ignored as the writers weave a tapestry of horror endured yet an inspiring and unending battle to survive and sabotage the Japanese war effort. Poncio's description of desperate hunger alone is worth the price of the book. On a scale of one to five stars, Poncio's book deserves seven extra large stars.
Center for Research
Allied POWS Under the Japanese