Louisiana Books

I discovered this book in the library at least 10 years ago and have reread it several times. Each Cajun family and the unique environment they live in is described in such rich and exact detail that I feel as though I'm right there beside them. The author does an equally good job in explaining how erosion is threatening their way of life and the health of this valuable and irreplaceable ecosystem. Out of concern for these people and the bayou, I've tried, unsuccessfully so far, to find a follow up to this book. It's a great read - personal but written with respect to the Cajuns and the bayou.

The best performance poet ever. Bob Holman, way back when, told Michael Vecchio East of Eden is the best he heard of poetry and music bands, and they have still not been topped. Hedwig Gorski said in a video interview that decades of sharing a bed with her composer husband, D'Jalma Garnier, helped them to be so in sync with each other in the difficult task of performing spoken vocals and specially composed music for the poems. Band members used to play games with the poet by speeding up or improvising in parts to see if she had "big ears." Adds to the fun. Most if not all of the recordings on this CD are Live done on radio broadcasts. Sometimes I think the voice intonation will go off the deep end. I read a review where they called her voice on "There's Always Something That Can Make You Happy" eerie. Well, okay, that's one way to describe it, I guess. It gets close, but never does off. Very exciting. The musicians save it, usually Garnier on guitar, or Gorski pulls out of a potential spoken vocal tailspin. Hedwig Gorski and East of Eden started it all and set the standard. Allen Ginsberg recorded alot with musicians, but he read poems written for print publication, so not performance poetry by definition. John Giorno wrote for oral performance, but his rant-like delivery was sans music. The Beats did elevate their readings to performance, but always wrote poems for the print page. Ann Waldman wrote list poems akin to chanting and delivered them with performance skills, but still wrote for printing in books. Hedwig Gorski wrote only for audio recordings and made up the term "performance poetry" to label what she did so that people would understand her shows would not be merely poetry readings. Poetry readings are an entirely different animal. Of course, radio DJs picked up on it worldwide, especially on spoken word shows. Gorski's non-singing with East of Eden was more alternative than the contemporary alternative music recorded. You will not be disappointed if you want to hear something new that is still new and unique, more than anything out there. Not slickly produced, just Live and Great! They are the best.

I have loved this book since I was a child. A family moves to a New Orleans plantation and is virtually secluded. The plantation is old, ricketey and full of mystery. The children are trying to figure out a curious set of problems that eventually turn into the pieces of a murder plot. Like any good book, some parts will make your heart race, especially because the main characters (a brother and sister) are pre-teen age. The children are soon in danger because of what they know, and as the reader you are taken with them as they figure out how to expose the evil while saving themselves. This is not a teeny bopper book, it is a well written, creativity inspiring, nailbiting who-done-it with thought provoking characters and a plot that keeps you guessing. I read it over and over as a kid and plan on reading it to my children, too. It has been at least 15 years since I last read the book but I would love to get my hands on it and read it again. Highly recommended by me: a mom, former teacher, and kid at heart!

The reprint of this classic cookbook shouldn't be missed: The Picayune's Creole Cook Book reproduces the second, 1901 edition in its entirety, returning to print a classic which preserved traditional creole cooking upon the brink of its extinction. Introductions explain history and recipes alike. No photos, but those interested in Creole history and culture won't miss them.

The Creole Band has been controversial for almost a century. Was it the first jazz band to bring New Orleans music to a nationwide public? Was it a jazz band at all, as we would now understand the label? The direct way of answering the second question, by listening to recordings, is unavailable, since the group never commited its sound to wax. Lawrence Gushee has spent half a century gathering material relevant to both questions, and now he has put it all together in a wonderfully illustrated work of astounding scholarship and lively writing, a book that tells at the same time the long-lost story of the Creole Band's short career (1914-18) and, in the background, the story of Gushee's own efforts to reconstruct the story from long-buried evidence.

Gushee follows the band from its prehistory in New Orleans and Algiers, Louisiana, through its formation by sparkplug bassist/banjoist Bill Johnson and four seasons on the vaudeville and musical comedy stages, to its demise and the later history of its members. In the process, he treats us to generous glimpses of African American life and show business in New Orleans, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and intermediate points. On the basis of the descriptions of the band's contemporaries and later recordings by the musicians involved, he even ventures a guess as to how the group might have sounded. And on the basis of the guess (as well as the testimony of authorities like Jelly Roll Morton), he answers yes to both the questions at the beginning of this review.

Anyone interested in the history of jazz should read this book. Anyone. It is a major addition to scholarly work in the faintly lit area of jazz's early years and a necessary antidote to the very numerous books on early jazz that rely on legend and personal opinion more than on genuine research. And the pictures are great!

Lucille Morris told us "the most important thing in life is not getting what you want but knowing what you want". Even though you are not a person from New Orleans and in the 1930's-40's, you will get a hint to find out a place where you belong to in a transition to new century through her life.

Peter Feibleman is a fascinating and mysterious writer. Once you read one of his books, you cannot stop yourself reading all of them. -Kayo-

Plain Folk of the South provides interesting and thought-provoking insights into the yeomen of the Old South. Each essay attacks a different subject with fresh zeal and uncovers new findings. Although one may not agree with the writer's conclusions, one cannot put read this book without learning something new. This collection of essays is a "must-read" for scholars of the Old South.

I've studied with Conrad Hilberry, hacked at poems with him (his, mine, and other people's) and eaten strawberries with him after dark. I'm kind of familiar with his work. This new book reminds me of Hilberry's "The Moon Seen as a Slice of Pineapple" in the way it mixes the humane with the macabre, the familiar with the surreal. Once again Hilberry is all over the terrain he knows so well: intellectual and cultural history, dreamscapes, slices of life (or of imagination) from a vacation in a foreign land, the weird marvels of technology, those quiet and strange everyday moments. The virtuosity here is all strength and no flash, all the more effective because of how it sneaks up on you. This is Hilberry in command.

It seems from reading this book that Poe spent as much time writing on how to write than he did writing. Alot of this book is hard to understand,especially when Poe descends to personal attacks where he seems pedantic.Other times he is crystal clear as when he compares poems to music,"they must appeal both to sound and image to be truly great".As you read this you can't help but notice the 2 Poe's,one the sensitive accomodating philosopher at peace with the universe and the other,shall we say,Mr. Hyde,and another, the Poet who could envision scenes of beauty using phrases and metaphors as fragrant as a bouquet of flowers.And, as lost as a fall from a precipice,all boxed in a crimson velvet coffin.Could alot of Poe's nastier pieces not be the result of a swift deadline for a book critique mixed with a night(or 2 or day and night)of carousing and indiscretion?Maybe a shot of Bourbon mixed,with a bad mood,and an injurious slight to the ego by a perceived underling?That could set anyone off.Fortunately for Mr. Poe,he could back up his criticisms with works of his own while the writings of most of those he criticized,well,I can't recognize any of the names Dr. Jacobs cites as victims of Poe's wrath.Except the "God ,love them" New England transcendentalists.Sooner or later, one way or another, everyone comes "out of the woods"then a person would still have to take a good look at themselves and they may find a dark corner or two(or three)alluded to by Poe.You will laugh as you read this book at some of Poe's critiques,but others will throw you back in astonishment,like the bite of a heavy caliber slug.But most of his critiques were positive although there is truth that Poe at times indulged in literary revenge if slighted.There is also a recognizable attempt at honesty and professionalism in his critiques.Then you might also find it mildly amusing,but no doubt not amusing to Mr. Poe as he apologises to the offended in order to keep his job on the journalists' staff.Right now i can go and rethink my review and tommorrow change it and delete items that might compromise me,that's the advantage of electronics. Poe didn't have that,imagine how many times he wished he could have toned down his articles,but how can one stop a printing press that's spitting out 200 copies per minute.that's why daily's will never be literature. and indiscretions encourage alcoholism to try and forget.In the forefront of his thoughts no doubt, the concern for providing for his family and not wishing to impose his discomforts,due to his avowed vocation,on them.He must have felt like hop-frog numerous times only hop-frog did what Poe could only do in his imagination.But it must be realized from this book that Poe was a serious critic, offering his theory on how to write effective short stories and poems and then putting his theories into action with such works as the Raven and The house of Usher. At times though his theories seem so hard to understand that a read of one of his short stories is alot better than one of his theories.Plato and Byron ,mixed with the Marqui de Sade,what an interesting combo,there's one a person won't see again. Thanks for dr. Jacobs for pointing this out.The book is also filled with memorable quotes like,"to coin one's brain into silver upon demand,is a task in which no one would envy" this quote is in regard to working at a periodical and having to produce on a daily basis "words" that someone will buy.Poe offers his theories on the short story and predicted that it will if not replace the novel,it will at least be equal in importance.He also disects alot of novels showing how some of them are nothing more than a short story,projected into infinity ad nauseum.Mr. Poe,considered Dickens a genius but even Charles doesn't escape Poe's disections.This would be a good book to read if a person wanted to write and avoid some of the more glaring errors involved.But it's main importance is it puts a microscope on Poe's work instead of on Poe and explains Poe's genius.Poe often seems to contradict himself in his discourses on aesthetics,and one does want to be careful,when criticizing anothers art,and Poe is too often brutal.

Dante Germino makes an invaluable contribution to a sustainable notion of the open society, demonstrating connections as Raghavan Iyer did in Parapolitics and very few others have done, between contemporary sacred or even agnostic humanism and classical notions of politics. Dante Germino draws at once upon his close reading of Eric Voegelin's work in political philosophy and explores new ground in reconceiving the notion of an open society that is not historically idiosyncratic to the modern era as was Karl Popper's notion, but stated in terms of the human spirit that are universalizable to any human epoch. Strongly recommended as an intellectual resource for challenges likely to be with us throughout the 21st century.