Mississippi Books

This book is a fine addition to the history of the phonograph and other forms of recording technology. Erika Brady begins with a consideration of early recordings, focusing her analysis on relationships between perception and audio technology. She then winds her way through implications of how this relationship is relevant to developing ethnographic descriptions of folklore and other forms of expressive culture. The book will be useful to anyone interested in phenomenology, social history, intellectual history, and ethnographic description. Much of her work provides a strong basis for more nuanced readings of ways in which new forms of technology affect--and are affected by-- ethnographically-grounded research. Brady is an insightful writer and a fine stylist. Her subtle wit enfolds sharp commentary that reveals hidden nuances of history, and her arguments are always cogent, clear, and intriguing. The book is written from Brady's experience of working with hundreds of old recordings, and her practical experience of handling and listening to the recordings is clearly evident in her writing. The book is illustrated with historical and contemporary photographs that are well-chosen and provide rich context for the study.

For readers interested in how recording technology has influenced the way that history and culture is represented, this book is essential reading. Brady has personally handled thousands of hundred-year old recordings of stories, folktales, traditional music, and other performances. She writes from a great familiarity with both the early recording technology and the material on the records, and she insightfully uses a range of research techniques and academic insights to demonstrate convincingly that the ability to make audio recordings has significantly changed the practice of folkloristic and anthropological fieldwork. Among the big changes that she documents are greater emphasis on listening to indigenous voices and a concomitant sense of increased ethical responsibility to the societies whose cultural traditions are documented.

This is the only book I have been able to find on Black Hawk and the Spiritual Churches of New Orleans. The author takes you on a journey into the heart of New Orleans both with text and color photographs. The author really seems to know his stuff. I have enjoyed reading this book several times, each time learning something new. The author gives details of the spiritual church movement in New Orleans and throughout the African community. We read about the incorporation of Black Hawk, a powerful Inidan warrior is venerated and worked for the benefit of all, including usual shrines to the Black Hawk spirit. Highly reccomended!

This book portrays the Indian spirit Black Hawk as known to the Spiritualist Churches in New Orleans. Black Hawk is a 19th century Midwestern Indian warrior especially dear to the heart of African-American spiritual faith in the deep South. Black Hawk's following first blossomed in New Orleans sometime around the 1920s through the work of the spiritualist Leafy Anderson. The book has biographical material about both Black Hawk and Leafy Anderson and includes interesting material about several of the spiritualists who came after her and who still keep the tradition alive. The book tells of the way Black Hawk benefits the lives of those who call on him - "He'll fight your battles." - Jason Berry is a fine, sensitive writer. The photos are great, expecially the one of Big Chief Jolly of the Wild Tchoupitoulas taken at the time of Mardi Gras in 1979.

This fourth volume of Dr.Ekberg's series of books on Colonial Ste. Genevieve, the oldest settlement on the west bank of the Mississippi, is full of surprises. Indian slavery is not a topic with which many readers are familiar but Indian women slaves loomed large in pioneer Ste. Genevieve. They ranged from housekeepers to concubines and wives of colonists. Moreover, some Indian women slaves, either widows of French mates or free in their own right, had the same civil right as white women.
Another surprise is the amount of intercourse between the west bank and the east bank of the Mississippi recently occupied by the British victors of the French-Indian war. This is accented by Dr. Eckberg's assertion that "the preferred venue for a good debauch was on the east side of the Mississippi, the British side." Hence would be revelers from the French village braved the currents of the river by means of pirogues to reach the English settlement. Such a hedonistic venture led to the dramatic events of March, 1773, to which a large portion of Ecberg's book is devoted. What the author terms "the Celedon Affair" is sufficiently theatrical to provide a movie script. It involves kidnapping of an Indian slave woman from the British colony by a half-breed French woodsman, her subsequent death either by murder or accident, the futile search for the suspected killer, and climaxed by the fugitive's successful kidnapping of a second Indian woman slave. Amid all ths exciting narrative the author scores keen insights into the wide scope of French frontier culture and the easy social relations between classes and races, free and slave, officials and residents. This volume is based upon sound research of archival documents on two continents and backed by the author's record as a prize-winning historian. This opus more than lives up to its subtitle by covering the history of Indian slavery under French and Spanish regimes. Thanks to Ekberg;s supple style the book provides an unusual and interesting view of Colonian history and a good read.

"Stealing Indian Women" is a remarkable piece of academic work. I didn't realize initially how strongly I felt about the book until after I began reading Shirley Christian's "Before Lewis and Clark: The Story of the Chouteaus". Though Christian's book is well documented, it has been nothing but a slog. And despite the detail with which she has written about Auguste and others, I don't feel any particular attachment to their characters, nor do I feel like I understand their motivations. Which is entirely unlike the experience I had reading "Stealing Indian Women". Once I started it, I could hardly put it down. And the pictures of the community was so well composed, and enthusiastically presented, that I have to say that I was left caring about the people I was introduced to -- something that doesn't often happen with an academic book.

Structurally the book falls into two sections. The first lays out the background for the development of French relations with the Indian tribes of the Upper Louisiana Territory -- commonly called the Illinois Country. These discussions cover personal relationships, such as the many forms of 'marriage' that existed between French men and Indian women, as well as general politics. And there is also quite a bit of interesting material that pertains directly to the Indian notion of slavery and how the Indians worked over time to pressure and finagle the French to bend and accept the practice.

The second half of the book focuses on what the author calls "The Celadon Affair". Leaving behind all general discussions of the Illinois Country, Dr. Ekberg plunges the reader into the midst of one of Ste. Genevieve's few serious crimes. The story begins when a party of young people, some of whom are free and some of whom are slaves, cross the river to get drunk with some friends on the British side of the Mississippi. Celadon is amongst them. A metis, he's somewhat of a bold character, and one prone to thumb his nose at authority. In any case, at some point, he and and a young female slave get separated from the rest of their party, and somehow in a botched effort to escape with Celadon, or else return home, she is shot.

The question is was it accidental or deliberate? In most cases the historian would be left with only scanty evidence on which to surmise. But the records of Ste. Genevieve are hardly sparse and Dr. Ekberg is able to fit together a scenario based on the numerous depositions that were taken at that time.

Besides being entertaining, Ekberg deftly handles this material and uses it to draw together all the previous threads of discussion --slavery, gender relations, politics -- so that you are left with a vivid sense of how these factors affected the lives of ordinary people on the frontier.

SUMMARY :::
I had a marvelous time reading this book. Dr. Ekberg certainly turned quite a few of my historical notions on their head. It was absolutely fascinating to read about how the Indians worked to modifying French politics, as well how Indian/French slavery was very much different than that practiced in the American South.

For those who have read Ekberg's "Colonial Ste. Genevieve" and wonder what this new book has to offer, I would say that it provides a refinement on Ekberg's previous research. One thing that I noticed, for example, was that his population figures have been tweaked.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone with a serious interest in the earliest European settlements/settlers along the Mississippi, especially if you are interested in a different sort of cultural interface between Europeans and Indians.

Pam T.

This book compellingly captures the life of a young woman, Charlee, who grows up in the 1960's and 1970's as the daughter of an alcoholic father. The key point to understand about this book is that Gay Walley's technique is not nearly as realistic as it might seem. It achieves its own psychological register by experiments in linguistic style and phrasing (i.e. unusually direct interior monologue, the narrative being alternately in first and third-person mode, also devices such as never referring to the father, Gerald, by name outside spoken dialogue). The novel can be appreciated more if it is seen in this frame and not in a social-realist one, nor as a diagnostic book about the problems of alcoholics, although it is not without relevance in this area. The story is told on two temporal levels: in the past, the father careens across the US-Canadian border and all around New England and Québec aimlessly in search of dreary pleasures; in the present, the daughter seeks to shrug off her father's legacy in relationships with men which end up only perpetuating childhood patterns. STRINGS ATTACHED is not a plot-centered book, but one about how people's states of mind are inhibited by the burden of the past.

Gay Walley's novel Strings Attached is driven by a narrative voice that draws us in and mesmerizes us with her tale of a young woman holding onto the best love she ever received while coming to terms with the damage it has done to her capacity for happiness. I was fascinated by the character of the father, Gerald, who, while horrifying me with his disfunctional parenting, captivated me with his charm. The sad story of his daughter Charlee develops gracefully from the scenes of her childhood with Gerald, in a way that feels inevitable and true. Her muted but significant triumphs -- giving up drinking and dealing with her father's death -- help sustain the overall triumph of the book, which is the author's ability to capture a difficult relationship in beautiful and evocative prose.

This is a good book because it covers the subject of "Southwest Louisiana Pop" music in great detail. Lots of names and quotes of the people who shaped the sound. The author did his homework and the reader gets a lot of info - a LOT. I have read this book several times because it is a great refresher course on the musicians, promoters, the night clubs, and what all.

Louisiana musicians have always gone their own way, fusing elements of various styles to create music of stunning beauty. One of the most creative and finely crafted forms is Swamp Pop, a fusion of Cajun, R & B, country, and pop styles. Shane Bernard has written a definative history of Swamp Pop based on extensive interviews with the makers of the sound. He discusses the diverse background of the music and its interracial origins. This book is essential for any collection of American music.

Super read. Thorough and acurate. I followed my great,great grandfather's foot steps in 1862. Awesome expirence! Great study of a MS Battalion in our Civil War.

What started off as a family history project, ended up being an extremely detailed and informative account of the 3rd Mississippi Battalion ("Hardcastle's Battalion"). Formed at the end of 1861, it was renamed the 45th Mississippi Regiment in December 1862 because another unit, commanded by D.W. Hurst, had the same identification. The book relates everything there is to know about the battalion/regiment, including minute explication of their battles and movements, who they faced on the field, what other actions were going on around them, and, through letters and diaries, the responses of the soldiers.

Initially with the Army of the Mississippi and then the Army of Tennessee, their first major engagement was at Shiloh; they also were at Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Atlanta, Franklin, Nashville, and, finally, Bentonville, NC. Included as an appendix is the prison diary of Lt. Samuel Asbury, who was wounded and captured at Murfreesboro, TN, and spent a good part of 1864 at the Union prison at Fort Delaware. His diary indicates he had a pretty good time of it ("have been treated very well, had plenty to eat, & etc."). Also included is a complete annotated roster of everyone who served in the battalion, a major achievement in itself.

The book is a tremendous research source and covers a lot of ground in great detail; it also is entertaining (if accounts of men in war can ever truly be that) as Williamson quotes frequently from soldiers' letters and diaries relating the human touch ("Warm. Came out to Jim's for dinner, go back directly. Rec'd 4 letters from my Sallie.") An excellent regimental history.

I own all three Mauskopf's books: A Time Not Here, Rodeo, and Dark Horses. If you like black&white documentary photography you should consider to buy them as well. The quality of photos in these books is comparable to those of Robert Frank, or Cartier-Bresson...

You will be astounded by Norman Mauskopf's beautiful images of the mississippi delta in his book "A Time Not Here." The images follow the local people of the region through the most important aspects of their lives; mostly surrounding religion and their extreme faith. Mauskopf followed the mississippi delta natives through church services, musical performances, weddings and funerals. These spectacular images are also accompanied by beautiful landscapes of the delta and a few intimate portraits of some residents there. The photographs are accompanied by a fabulous essay written by Randall Kenan. Through the outstanding images and essay, you will feel a conection with the people that Mauskoph photographs... he is able to capture their spirit as well as the spirit of the land and their home. He enables you to empathize with them in their happiness and in their pain. As a photographer myself, i was immediately influenced by the gorgeous work that i found in this book.

Previous critics have written about Toomer's biography, its interconnections with his art and the art of his contemporaries. However, no other critic to date have given so much prominence and meaningful prominence to the philosophical influence Gurdjieff had upon such black writers as Larsen, Schuyler, Thurman and Hurston. His interpretation is thoroughly grounded in firm intellectual work.

To Make a New Race is a must have book for all literary scholars and those interested in African American history. I received it this morning and haven't put it down since. Woodson does a fine job of decoding the influnce of Gurdijeff and Toomer on the writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance

Cathy and I looked through many guide books before attempting to write Traveling Tennessee. We found none covered the state in our easy helpful style (see Traveling the Trace and Traveling the Southern Highlands).

We followed the pioneers through the state from east to west giving you a brief history of the people and the area, and what you would find there today. Tennessee offers many pleasant surprises along its highways from scenic sites to activies you may participate in. For instance, you know of the Great Smoky Mountains but do you know the quite side of the Smokies? where Tennessee's first gold rush was? about a failed Utopia brought back to life? the courthouse stolen in the middle of the night? or where you can swim at the end of a scale model of the Misssissippi River?

We strove to give you information and details about interesting attractions all across Tennessee as well as B&Bs, dining, shopping, special events, camping, and where to get more information. More than 200 photos help tell the stories in this 316-page guide.

This guidebook never leaves my car! It always tells me something new to discover about Tennessee!

I suppose anyone who would make that trip would have to be intrepid, but he seemed really to be.

The thing I like the most about him is that he was such a civilized person. A gentle, intelligent, well educated, modest, and very friendly person.

The other review about his insights into what he was describing is, in my mind, quite correct also.

I may be a bit prejudiced and certainly am more interested because my middle name is Bradbury as a result of being a descendent of his.

One of the earliest, and very well written, accounts of life on the upper Missouri River. This is a classic of the fur trade era. Bradbury, a botanist, went up the Missouri with the famous Astorian overland expedition of William Price Hunt, Ramsay Crooks, Donald McKenzie, naturalist Thomas Nuttall and others in 1811. His descriptions of Indian life, geology, botany, geography and overall life as it was in 1811 being so far removed from civiliztion is incredible. He was a very articulate and keen observer of the world around him. Bradbury gives further insight into Manuel Lisa, John Colter, Henry Brackenridge, trading with the Indians, etc. The last chapter he devotes to the soon to be mass immigration into the western parts of the United States. His thoughts on this are ahead of his time. There is simply too much good to say about this timeless masterpiece. The book itself may be somewhat difficult to find, but it is worth looking for. A+