Mississippi Books

This is a beautiful cook book. I bought my first copy locally, intending it as a gift for my mother. I liked it so much that I kept that copy and bought a copy through Amazon to send to her. Its a beautiful cook book, combining history with recipes. Its great for both the cook book collector (my mother) and for people who just want great recipes in a nice book.

The scope of this work is astonishing. Originally published in 13 volumes, Parkman's magnum opus is here distilled to a mere 800 pages.

Beginning with Cartier's forays into the Canadian wilderness, Parkman recounts the gradual European settlement of the continent. Along the way, the giants of pre-1776 North America -- Champlain, Brebeuf, La Salle, Amherst, Montcalm, Wolfe and the powerful nations of the Iroquois -- are presented in all their humanity, by turns heroic and flawed. Throughout, Parkman's style is highly readable and entertaining.

Especially wonderful are his occasional lapses into the high-toned style of the late 19th century. The reader is invited to "embark in the canoe of some Montagnais Indian" and cross the St Lawrence to Quebec, to climb the cliffs and, "pausing for breath," behold the tenants of this wilderness outpost in 1635: "a soldier of the fort; an officer in slouched hat and plume; a party of indians; a trader from the upper country, one of the precursors of that hardy race of coureurs de bois;" -- and of course, a Black Robed Jesuit -- none other than Father Le Jeune himself -- the vanguard of European exploration into the interior.

By contrast, the reader is invited to become indignant -- as the colonists were -- at the latter half of the reign of George II, "the unwashed and unsavory England of Hogarth, Fielding, Smollett, and Sterne; of Tom Jones, Squire Western, Lady Bellaston, and Parson Adams; of 'Rake's Progress' and 'Marriage a la Mode'; of lords and ladies who yet live in the undying gossip of Horace Walpole, be-powdered, be-patched and be-rouged, flirting at masked balls, playing cards till daylight, retailing scandal, and exchanging double meanings." Great stuff.

Throughout, you'll get plenty of history and plenty of Parkman, with all that entails. I've seldom enjoyed reading so much as with this book, and I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in the subject matter.

CAVEAT: This book was written over 100 years ago. That means there is no new historicism, no Marxist theory, no psychoanalytic criticism, no semiotics, no neoformalism (or, for that matter, plain old formalism), no structuralism or post-structualism, no analysis of perceptual processes, no modes of discourse or discourse on modes. So beware.

Morris examines the development of a Mississippi community from early frontier to its rise as a center of the cotton culture. The book is extremely well written. Unlike most historians who attempt to write community studies, Morris writes with the reader in mind. His prose is accessible yet informative, sophisticated yet always enagaging. A must read for anyone who wants to learn more about antebellum Mississippi.

Best Of Bayou Cuisine is a new version of the classic 1970 cookbook showcasing favorites from the Mississippi delta, and is edited to contain only the most highly acclaimed recipes from the original edition. In addition, the editors have added nearly one hundred brand new recipes showing the amazing talent and inventiveness of Delta cooks in the past thirty years. Filled with mouth-watering, sumptuous recipes from Sherried Shrimp Dip; Hamburger Cornpone Pie; and Mississippi Fried Chicken; to Sazerac Cocktail; Crystallized Grapefruit Peel; and Caramel Pudding, Best Of Bayou Cuisine has something for all three meals of the day!

I enjoyed this one. It was well written and just chucked full of facts I did not know. A good overview of the Mississippi today. I can be rather depressing at times, when you read what we have done with one of our greatest natural wonders...but this is the sort of stuff we need to know. Recommend it highly.

The Big Rivers is an excellent book. It takes the older elementary student through the water cycle using the big flood of '93 as a living example. I recommend this book for every library. Teachers this book is a great non-fiction book for use as supplemental reading for any environmental education curriculum.

Wilma Knox is a clinical psychologist hailing from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, as well as engaging in itinerant travel. She is a poodle and cat enthusiast. She has published numerous articles in national and international journals. THE BILOXI TRAVELER is her third novel.

Kerry is the epitome of a Southern magnolia, working as a veterinarian in her father's clinic and developing a lasting relationship with her fiancé, Frank Borth, Sheriff of Harrison County and ex-Vietnam vet. They plan to be married in October, but Frank decides to travel to Bogota, Columbia as a mid-level ambassador. Frank and his companions are kidnaped, and Kerry embarks on a cruise across the Atlantic to keep her mind off of Frank's fate. She is officially accompanying her Aunt Bess and Flush, a nervous spaniel who is Kerry's charge for the trip. Kerry is worrying about Frank non-stop, but manages to get involved in the murder of Jeremy, an art gallery owner from Mobile with less than perfect morals and behavior: "You said there were times when he tried your patience; I didn't know him long but he certainly tried mine. He gave my aunt a painting of a flower arrangement, very medieval looking in its lighting, colors and design. Just when she was really fond of it and redecorated her bedroom to set it off, he wanted it back. What can you say? The painting was his, but he seemed a little cruel."

THE BILOXI TRAVELER is mostly character driven, with all sorts of hidden agendas. The setting is mostly on a cruise ship, which is a great place for murder. Kerry is a likable lass who is a bit sheltered and definitely prone towards anorexia when the going gets tough, but she is also intelligent and resourceful. The orchestrated presence of dogs throughout the story is a delight, and adds quite a bit to an already rich plot.

Ms. Knox has made for pleasant, light reading of this Agatha type of cozy. The settings are beautiful; the characters are, for the most part, refined and upper class, and the human emotions are accurately drawn and fun. The ending leaves the reader yearning for more. Well done!

Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer

African-American folk art, and more specifically the twenty African-American folk artists of this book, were the subject of a large traveling exhibition which began at The Corcoran Gallery in Washington, and traveled across the country for the next 15 months, in 1982-3. This beautiful and in-depth book is lavishly illustrated both with plates of the actual art works, and photos of the artists. There is much painting and wooden sculpture, and also mixed media pieces. In addition, biographical material is presented with great respect and focus. The authors are committed to promoting a deep understanding and appreciation for their subject, Black American Folk Art, and succeed. John Beardsley's essay, "Spiritual Epics: The Voyage and the Vision in Black Folk Art" discusses funerary art, and is both moving and erudite. A wonderful book.

If you're at all interested in "places" and cultures of the U.S. Southwest, this is an outstanding book. Coupling rigorous research with fine and respectful storytelling, the author gives the reader a great sense of the Zuni people and where they live. Dodge expertly explores what "place" means in this specific context, but also gives us significant pause to think about "place" more abstractly.

This work is essential to an understanding of the impact on the 1965 Voting Rights Act. It focuses on Mississippi, the state where African-Americans were almost completely disenfranchised as late as 1965. It traces the efforts of the Mississippi political establishment to evade the implementation of the Voting Rights Act and the persistence of the Civil Rights community in making certain that it be enforced