Mississippi Books

The impressionistic journalism of Lafcadio Hearn provides a more vivid first-hand picture of late nineteenth century America than any book I've read. As a classically-educated European and outsider with a penchant for the ghostly, Hearn's work also offers a nice counterpoint to Twain. The more fantastic passages (picturing a cotton press as a monster) Hearn himself later called too florid, but for the post-modern reader, it's a fitting route into old New Orleans. Few journalists of his day embraced places like Hearn. Having known destitution himself, Hearn writes from the bottom. He describes industry, architecture, manners, crime, clothes, furniture and flora while telling his stories. Those familiar with Hearn's later, more mature work in Japan know that he can both capture a society and retell a good ghost story, sometimes intertwining the two. I recommend this book to anyone seeking highly-visual, narrative vignettes of America's past underworlds.

Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) is generally known for his groundbreaking work on the culture and folklore of Japan.

Less well known, despite the fact that it has been just as influential in its way, is the body of Hearn's Louisiana work. "Inventing New Orleans" -edited by S. Frederick Starr and published by University Press of Mississippi - is an admirable collection of Hearn's writings from the decade he spent in New Orleans prior to leaving the U.S. - first for Martinique and then, ultimately, Japan. From 1878 until 1888 Hearn lived in The Crescent City, and through a series of news articles, editorials, reviews, literary sketches (most published in the New Orleans "Daily City Item" and the New Orleans "Times-Democrat") and two studies of Creole culture, fashioned the romantic idea of New Orleans as a city of mystery, magic and wantonness that has endured to the present day. Nothing short of prolific, Hearn also translated books from the French and penned stories, poems, belles letters and a novel while in New Orleans.

"Inventing New Orleans" includes a small (considering Hearn's output) but thoroughly enjoyable selection of this material. The book is comprised of four sections as follows:

I. The Outsider as Insider: Impressions
II. From the Land of Dreams: Sketches
III. Of Vices and Virtues: Editorials
IV. Reports from the Field: Longer Studies

Sections I and II, each very similar in style and subject matter, are my personal favorites. Here, Hearn describes and discourses upon a variety of subjects pertaining to the City Care Forgot in a slice-of-life literary manner. Hearn's first impressions of New Orleans, famous residents of the city (the most well known of which is no doubt Marie Laveau), legends, traditions and myriad topical observations will be found in these pages.

Section III consists of a selection of editorials written for the "Daily City Item" and the "Times-Democrat". It is here that we see Hearn exercising his judgmental pen against political agendas to which he did not subscribe and social ills which he felt to be harming the city. He could not have been popular with the New Orleans police, for instance, judging from the scathing indictments against their alleged corruption to be found in this section.

Section IV includes selections from Hearn's two studies of Creole Culture: "La Cuisine Creole" and "Gombo Zhebes: Little Dictionary of Creole Proverbs. . .". I personally found the former, essentially a cookbook, to be rather dry reading. Those interested in culinary arts will no doubt find much of interest here. The latter is a collection of Creole proverbs, as the title implies, and is a joy to read for those interested in language and a glimpse into the social mind of the lost Creole culture.

All of this is preceded by an erudite introduction (written by the editor) which provides an overview and definition of Southern writing as well as an excellent thumbnail biography of Lafcadio Hearn.

If you are an admirer of Lafcadio Hearn or simply one who has known the haunting charms of The Crescent City, "Inventing New Orleans" will provide you with pages and pages of reading delight.

In 1862 Island No. 10, so named because it was the tenth island south of the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers at Cairo, Illinois, was a natural fortress 1 mile long and 450 yards wide. It was shallow, 10 feet above low water, in the middle of the channel, and straddled the boundaries of the states of Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri. It was an ideal site from which the Confederates could maintain control of both rivers, effectively choking all northern river traffic and thus the export of all Union production north of these rivers as far east as today's West Virginia. It was a critical site indeed.

But in March and early April of 1862, the combined Union army and navy launched a campaign for command of the Island No. 10, which became the site of the first extensive seige of the Civil War. Success here launched the elevation of General John Pope to command of the Army of the Potomac and set the stage for the Union's subsequent disaster at second Manassas. But this engagement also demonstrated the strength of Union control in the Mississippi River Valley and set the stage for the Union's ultimate triumph at Vicksburg and the opening of the Mississippi River system over a year later.

An often mentioned yet overlooked Mississippi River battle, Larry J. Daniel and Lynn N. Bock render an excellent analysis of this key, early Civil War Union victory.

Island No. 10 is always there but never really part of the story. It happens off to the East if you are reading about the Trans-Mississippi. It happens off the West when you are reading a book on Shiloh. When you read about Forts Henry & Donelson, they clear the way for it to happen and it had to happen to allow the Vicksburg Campaign. If you read about the 1862 campaigns in Virginia, Island No. 10 makes Pope into McClellan's chief rival. Setting up all the questions about Second Manassas and did or did not the AOP with hold troops allowing Pope to be defeated. In 1862, Island No. 10 is one event that seems to be included in every story but is not important enough to be a story. We all know about it but we lack knowledge of the campaign falling into the always their but never central to the story.

With no large battles or star players, it is easy to see how this happened. Pope's reputation is destroyed in six months and Foote dies within a year canceling the Union leaders. The Confederacy never commits a major player to the defense of the island. After surrendering, reputations destroyed; captured and imprisoned the commanders are relegated to minor positions when exchanged.

This small book covers the actions of both sides as they struggle for control of a critical position on the Mississippi River. Island No. 10 is the tenth island south of the Ohio River and a key defensive position in stopping the northern advance from Cairo. Generals Polk, AS Johnston and Beauregard all had other things on their mind and the island was never a primary position. We are given an excellent but concise understand of the "bigger issues" caused this to happen. When Union General Pope took New Madrid, he cut the position off from most river traffic. Flag Officer Andrew Foote with ironclads and mortar ships launched a prolonged bombardment. Each side builds and abandons positions on the river, conducts raids and endures the boredom of siege operations. The reader gets a good understand of the move counter move of constant action. The book's maps keep the positions clear, while photos and illustrations give us the feel of history unfolding. The infighting between the armies and navies is a piece of ACW history seldom seen. The Confederate commander would not risk his ships wanting to save his ships for use in defending New Orleans. The Union commander was convinced his ironclads were all that stopped Confederate control of the Mississippi. The Confederate ships fled as Pope tightens control below the island and Foote faced with increasing pressure and near mutiny allowed a couple of ironclads to run past the defenses.

The Union City series ironclads, weak by later standards, were the decisive weapon in 1862. We see that here, as they are able to defeat anything the CSA can throw at them. Reading this book, helps us to understand the CSA's withdrawal to Corinth and the thinking behind the attack at Shiloh.

Larry J. Daniel is one of our better authors and Lynn Bock complements his style producing a readable informative book that is fun to read.

"James B. Eads: The Civil War Ironclads and His Mississippi" by Rex T. Jackson has a long title but is a short biography, 116 pages, of an interesting and impressive engineer who greatly affected naval warfare. Eads is best known for his triple-arch steel bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Louis (1874), but another project provided a year-round navigation channel for New Orleans by means of jetties (1879). He made a fortune at an early age inventing a diving bell to salvage steamboat wrecks from the bottoms of rivers. His knowledge of the Mississippi prompted the U.S. government to contract him and build an inland navy fleet of ironclad gunboats during the Civil War, which captured Fort Henry a month before the famous duel of the Merrimac and the Monitor. This little book, with lots of illustrative photos, is a great way to learn lots about a great Missourian who ranks with Samuel L. Clemens and Harry Truman in importance to our state history. ?Fred Pfister, editor "The Ozarks Mountaineer"

Jackson does not just recount historical facts and dates; he presents them in a way where they are interesting and vivid. In an almost poetic style Jackson describes the accomplishments of America's most brilliant engineer and the process that took with it many little known American heroes.

If you advocate a strong free market, you will admire James Eads uncanny ability to secure resources and money for his private masterpieces. If you are a believer in the virtues of common people, you will cherish how a boy who quit school to sell apples to provide for his family, could divine such structural wonders. If you enjoy an amazing and true story and agree with me, you won't let this one go without reeling it in.

I just read this book. I wish I could tell the author how much I appreciated it.

Jocelyn Chadwick-Joshua's slim volume packs a lot of power. As an African-American rhetorician and Twain scholar, she eloquently makes the case for book's continued study. Using the lexicon of classical rhetoric, she carefully examines the role of Jim in Twain's book to show that he is elevated to a place of prominence and importance in conveying Twain's message of humanity. She examines closely Jim's words, his dialogues with Huck, and the language of slavery used by the society in the novel as a way of exposing Twain's methods.

If one carefully reads Twain's masterpiece and then thoughtfully reads Chadwick-Joshua's book, s/he must surely see that _Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ needs to remain an important element in the American landscape of literature. Without Twain's honest look at race in the 19th century, an important part of the American experience would be lost. We need this book, black and white alike. __The Jim Dilemma_ helps us to appreciate Huck and Jim's journey to freedom all the more.

AND THEY SAID IN IT THAT THE MANSION THAT HE (JONATHAN CARVER) USED TO OWN WAS HAUNTED BY HIS GHOST - THEY SAID THAT A FAMILY HAD BOUGHT THE OLD PLACE CALLED 'SUMMERWIND' THAT HAD SINCE BURNED DOWN BY LIGHTNING BUT THEY MENTIONED THAT THE MALES FATHER HAD HAD A REGRESSION WHERE HE WENT RIGHT TO THE PLACE IN THE BASEMENT THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE HELD THE DEED TO THE SUMMERWIND ESTATE AND THAT IT WAS IN A SMALL BOX BEHIND A WALL IN THE BASEMENT BUT WHEN HE WENT TO THE EXACT PLACE WHILE THE HOUSE WAS STILL STANDING HE STUCK HIS HAND INSIDE THE HOLE AND FOUND NOTHING BUT A BLANK SPACE.

== For those interested in the early explorations of what is now the Midwest, this is an outstanding and interesting read.
From its initial publication in London in the late 1760's Carver's travels thrilled readers both in the colonies and in Europe.
== It is not exactly an action-adventure book, but for those who enjoy accounts of Louis and Clark this would be an excellent addition to a library.

The photographer does an excellent job of using his subject to tell his thoughts. By keeping some photographs on a long exposure, he also shows the fleeting nature of these somewhat depressed settings. Also a strong use of color to illustrate the cultural setting and importance despite the deprived economic environment. Of high importance for anyone interested in the deep south and the heritage of the mississippi delta.

Birney Imes has done us all a favor by revealing, with stunning photos, a slice of Southern life not normally exposed. The fifty-eight images show the interiors of several colored drinking establishments and what amazed me was the incredible ramshackle nature of these rooms. Everything looks so temporary, walls with exposed brickwork, ceilings that obviously wouldn't support a second floor, doors, tables, seats and bars made from whatever wood was available. The decor and many of the signs seem mostly to be home produced which contrast with the slickly produced commercial work for beer and cigarettes.

Despite the very temporary nature of these joints that the photos reveal I felt they showed something else though, an earthiness and honesty for the customers that is perhaps missing from the typical white bar with its respectable decor and artificial facade. I can just imagine the various bars in Juke Joint coming alive with the sound of raucous blues and relaxing good times, plate thirty-eight shows a hand-made sign in Juicy's Place, Marcella, saying 'BE NICE OR LEAVE'.

Juke Joint is well produced with a large photo per page and generous margins and my only criticism would be that there are not enough exterior photos of these amazing joints. Apart from that I thought this was a fascinating book.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

The author gracefully narrates his past as a black man living during civil rights movements, race riots, unequal oportunities, war, the Kennedy assination, and urban sprawl. It was at this time in history that Clifton Taulbert, the author, migrated from the agrigarian community of Greenville, MS to the industrial St. Louis, only to fulfill his destiny.

It's very interesting how much he accomplished in 5 to 6 years during the 60's, and despite the odds against him and black people in general, he triumphed in many ways. This autobiographical recount conveys a warm message of hope and family tradition. Read it to believe it.

This is a great book to sit down with on a cold weekend. Just grab a quilt and let yourself be taken to the South where the author writes about his life. Not one of them boring autobiographies but a good story.

This book has marvelous images of just some of the fine works that George Ohr created. The summaries of his life are correct to some extent but it failed to provide any deatails of his offspring or how they may have carried on the innate artist abilities, this is why I only give it four stars.

this man was a a head of his time. i have never seen anythig that has come out of the 1800's that looked any thing like this.The photography is great and the biography is good , but the pottery is the best i have ever seen he had great form and great glaze you could not ask any more from a potter

Peter Cozzens and Robert Girardi provided an excellent service to Civil War scholars by assembling the collected newspaper essays that General John Pope wrote in way of reflecting on his Civil War career. Best known for his stunning defeat at Second Bull Run and his bravado, a very different Pope emerges here. Often witty, Pope left excellent sketches of President Lincoln (an old friend of the family), Edwin Stanton, as well as numerous commanders of both the North and the South. Pope is excellent in capturing the chaos and incompetence of John Fremont's command in Missouri in the first days of the war. His scathing attack on Henry Halleck's torturously slow move towards Corinth reveals the extent of this wasted opportunity. But Pope is best known for two battles: Island Number 10 and Second Bull Run. His account of Island Number 10 is a bit rushed though certainly through. While Pope does an excellent job of describing the layout of his forces at the start of the Bull Run campaign, he relies on official records a bit too much and seems willing to let the matter slide. That is understandable, after all Pope was humiliated by Lee at Second Bull Run. The problem is that the Second Bull Run campaign was Pope's moment in the sun and he has little to say on it. With the large exceptions of George McClellan and Fitz John Porter, who Pope believed deliberately undermined his command, there is little bitterness. Even Nathaniel Banks, who picked a fight at Cedar Mountain against Pope's orders and was mauled by Stonewall Jackson, comes off relatively unscathed. It seems as if all of Pope's fire was being saved for McClellan and Porter, as can be seen in the memoirs as well as in a correspondence with the Comte de Paris which is included in an appendix. The memoirs reveal Pope to be much more intelligent and witty than his traditional blowhard persona would indicate though the bile is still there certainly in the cases of Porter and McClellan. One can see from these memoirs why so many men, including Grant and Sherman, seemed to like and respect Pope and while others had no use for the man. All in all, an interesting and revealing memoir to some long neglected parts of the war though be warned the main course, Second Bull Run, remains a bit bland.

Peter Cozzens rightly compares General John Pope's memoires with those of U.S. Grant and W.T. Sherman. This is a highly readable account from one of the participants in some of the least-understood episodes of the Civil War.

Of course, Pope's writings are not "new." As Cozzens relates, the entries which make up this book appeared in the National Tribune and other Reconstruction-era publications. However, they have spent the last century forgotten by the general public. Cozzens and his colleague, Gerardi, have done a great service both to Civil War scholars and to the casual Civil War buff by bringing Pope's reminiscences and analyses to life.

What is most surprising is the humor, candor and generosity of a man who has gone down in history as a narrow, bitter mediocrity. For example, devotees of General Lee, whose comments largely consigned Pope to history almost as a barbarian, will be surprised to read Pope's poetic evocation of the beauty of Virginia and the nobility of its citizens.

In a similar vein, readers will benefit from a "fresh" take on a wide range of issues -- such as the relationships between Lincoln, Stanton, Halleck and McClellan -- from a player very much in the know, but whose views have gone largely unremarked.

My only cautionary note would be that an appreciation of this volume depends upon a basic understanding of the events of the war, and perhaps also upon an introductory familiarity with the post-war debates on those events.

Minty alley is one of the first books C.L.R. James wrote, before he found his niche as a historian and cricket writer. But This isn't because of any lack of talent in fiction writing. The characters of Minty Alley are real and rounded and tell us something about ourselves as well as the people of Trinidad. The vast class differences in colonial societies even among the colonised peoples is thrown into stark relief by James's caricatures. You might be shocked at the poverty or amused by the dialogue,

An important book in the litarary history of the Caribbean. The journey of a middle class voyer into the everyday world of a working class family. The class politics and the internal revelations of the main character drive the story and the relationships he has with the other characters. On the whole this is a book with a relatively simple language and implicitly complex themes.