Mississippi Books

Start with book one of this series and don't stop till you finish the last word of book #3

I was so disappointed after I read the first book in the trilogy and my library didn't have the second one. I finally got a hold of it and couldn't put it down. I love watching the growth of the characters in such difficult time. I love the romance too. Not too gushy. Now to get my hands on book number three.

This book, a continuation from a previous book, is a slow, sweet romance. I must confess I was a little bored with the whole paralization of Link, and the inevitable outcome of the story was very predictable. But when all is said and done, the cliffhanger at the end of the book makes reading the next book a pleasant necessity.

This book is a powerful combination of faith and trials that people go through to survive the emotionally exhausting times. The characters are real-to-life, each one seems to represent a different characteristic of the human persona. I felt that I could closely relate to the characters, and the main plot of the story had me reading the book in 2 days. It is a powerfully gripping novel, much as the first was, that tells us that the true secret to life is to live...and let God handle the rest.

I loved this book -- read it in about 2 days. This was definitely the best of the three -- I enjoyed the story between Link & Libba and between Rae & Drew the best. Stokes is a masterful storyteller.

Faulkner's literary reputation and legacy was cemented by the time this sequeal to The Hamlet appeared. He had also written all of his important works and was loosing his "touch", writing sequels to his more famous works and light weight nostalgic pieces (i.e. The Reivers). All in all this is still an important examination of the south, filled with the humor and horror that was Faulkner's trademark. Anyone interested in his body of work will have to read it at least once.

This is the middle book of the Snopes trilogy, and it seems like Faulkner has significantly changed his perception of the Snopeses. The Town and the Mansion were written much later than the Hamlet, and it's clear that they're written by a more complex person. It seems that the Jefferson of The Hamlet has an idealized honor that is being stolen away by the invasion of the amoral Snopeses. However, by the Town, the honor held by the locals is shown to be largely in their own opinion. We do see something slipping away, but it's not altogether clear that it's worth preserving. The shift makes for a much more interesting book.

Additionally, there's the maturation of Eula Varner, something beautiful in the South if not altogether pristine, and she is lost in this middle section of the trilogy. Her suicide says something about the South's willfull destruction, the outgrowth of a deal with the devil, but it takes some further mulling to fully absorb her.

There are three first person narrators guiding the reader through the news of The Town. Unfortunately, one of them, Charles Mallison, is an enormous yawn. Faulkner is usually fantastic with the first person children (Sound and the Fury, The Unvanquished), but his heart isn't in this one. Fortunately, the others are much more interesting and make the novel fly. Gavin Stevens is similar to father Compson in Sound and the Fury, and I believe one of the mouthpieces for Faulkner himself.

The Snopes trilogy is interesting in that it shows the maturation of a writer and the deepening complexity of his views. This trilogy didn't end up in the vein in which it was started, and that's a very good thing. Not my favorite Faulkner, but ambitious as hell, and that's the real reason to read him in the first place. When he pulls it off, there's nobody better. If you're already hooked on him, the trilogy is worth doing, unlike Sanctuary and Pylon, which are just downright miserable (regardless of what Sartre had to say about them, the putz).

'the town" is the second book in a trilogy written by faulkner on the snopes family. the 1st and second books were written almost 25 years apart. it is strongly suggested that you read the 1st in the series, "the hamlet", first.

in this book faulkner brings the infamous flem snopes from frenchmen's bend to the city of jefferson and traces his steps up the social ladder from superintendent to president of the local bank. The story is told thru the eyes of three characters ranging in age from a child to an older adult. the story deals with the thwarted lover of eula snopes, gavin stevens who attempts to free eula's daughter from the shadow of snopes name.

as usual, Faulkner finds ways to make the story telling interesting. He does so by having the tale told by two "observers" and one participant. The youngest, charles mallison, tells what he sees and what he hears occurred before he was born as told top him by his cousin gowan. He is given the task of speaking for the town and his perspective is objective and not tainted by personal feelings. Gavin stevens and v k Ratliff on the other hand speak only from their personal perspective. Faulkner takes the opportunity to use each of their differing points of view to leave open a debate as to what motivates flem. As usual, we never see into flem and can only speculate like stevens and Ratliff on why he does what he does.

What we do see is flem ridding the town of the baser elements of his own family while he attemps to raise his own moral and social standing. He uses and destroys everyone around him to get what he wants. At the end, he is all alone.

County Attorney Gavin Stevens and his relationships with Eula and Linda Snopes provide the centerpiece for this rambling, reconstructed narrative of the rise of the ignoble Snopes clan in the Town of Jefferson, Mississippi. The narration comes through the viewpoints of Stevens, his younger nephew Charles Mallison, and sewing machine salesman and all-round busybody V.K. Ratliffe. Stevens' rivalry with Mayor De Spain dominates the first section of the book, and shows how irrationally an educated man can behave when he is blinded by desire; any reader with an ounce of sensitivity will surely squirm at Faulkner's skill in combining drama and farce here. Later Stevens turns his attention to "saving" Eula's daughter Linda from a life of "Snopesdom" and continues making a fool of himself in the process. All the while, the inscrutable Flem Snopes continues on the acquisitive path he established in the first volume, The Hamlet, now setting his sights firmly on De Spain's bank. Can the sympathetic lawyer save Linda, or even himself?

Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County novels are among the best that American literature has to offer, and the Snopes trilogy is certainly no exception. Jefferson is populated with unforgettable characters, including (besides the above-mentioned) the many additions to the vermin-like Snopes clan - Eck, Montgomery Ward, I.O., and Wallstreet Panic Snopes. Some of these characters will turn up in other Faulkner novels as well, and collectively the books enrich each other, building up a depth of shared experience. Although Faulkner's focus is on men, and his women are often either absent or troublesome, this volume's focus on obsessive relationships makes this a fine selection for women readers as well - much more so than the horse-trading of The Hamlet, for example. And while this isn't the Master's very best work, it still easily rates 5 stars.

The Town is the second volume of Faulkner's Snopes trilogy, picking up the story from the moment of Flem Snopes's arrival in Jefferson, Mississippi. With the foundation firmly laid in The Hamlet, Faulkner is free to delve deep into the character of Flem, the volatile Snopes-Varner dynamic, and the fascinating interaction between Eula, Gavin Stevens, and Linda Snopes, the pawn in her father's plan to take over Jefferson. Not surprisingly, another host of Snopes parade onto the scene; but it is Flem and his underhanded, diabolical shenanigans that make this novel a joy to read. The ending is both humorous and seriously disturbing, paving the way for the Fall of the House of Snopes in The Mansion. One note: while the book jacket claims The Town may be read on its own, I would highly discourage it; trek through The Hamlet first before launching into it--it is well worth your time.

I realize that this series is about the Brannon family. However Vicksburg was the turning point of the Civil War. On July 4, 1863 Grant takes Vicksburg and on the same day Lee is forced to withdraw from Gettysburg. I truly think that a little more time could have been given to the end of the Siege of Vicksburg. Cory's concern of not making it in time for the wedding is not more important. By Ruth Thompson author of "The Blue Grass Dream" and "Natchez Above The River"

Writing as a Small BusinessQualifying Laps: A Brewster County NovelSins of the Fathers: A Brewster County NovelTravelersThe Bluegrass Dream: A Wilderness Adventure of Early SettlersNatchez Above The River: A Family's Survival In The Civil War

In Vicksburg, despite the courageous efforts of Cory Brannon and his companions to bring supplies to the embattled city, the Union noose continues to tighten, as the Yankees are determined to seize the last obstacle to Northern control of the Mississippi River.

Cory and his now-fiancee, Lucille Farrel, face multiple perils of their own, as they plan for a wedding. Circumstances will conspire to interfere with those plans, as Cory, despite his best intentions, finds himself on yet another dangerous mission for the Confederacy.

Once again, VICKSBURG had me looking forward to the next volume in The Civil War Battle Series. James Reasoner writes characters who the reader truly cares about, even a Yankee such as myself. And, as always, his books are meticulously researched. These are not the books for a Civil War buff interested only in the minute details of each battle of the war, but for anyone interested in lively historical fiction, all the books in this series are highly recommended.

This 5th in the series is WONDERFUL as are the first 4. I read this one in about 2 nights 'cause I couldn't put it down! My only complaint is that Mr. Reasoner doesn't get the sequels published quick enough - please hurry with the others. These are books that rank right up there with others that I own that I could easily read over and over.

Keep up the good work!!!

Mr. Reasoner has done it again! His books are an easy read and provide a unique view of the "War of Northern Aggression" from a fictional standpoint. Many of the "friendships" between the Brannon boys and the famous men of the South (e.g. Forrest, Jackson, Stuart, etc.) are a little stretched but it is a good way to introduce their personalities into the series without compromising historical accuracy. Looking for the next one!

"Vicksburg," Book 5 in James Reasoner's Civil War Battle Series continues the Soap Opera saga about the Brannon Family, this time around focusing on wandering son Cory and the Western Theater of the war. Most of the action happens concurrently with some of the events covered in the previous volume, "Chancellorsville" and I assume the next book will be "Gettysburg" and provide some overlap as well. Of course, Vickburg is more of a siege than a battle, and my biggest complaint is that we do not really get a sense of that siege. The last couple of months fly bye quite quickly and suddenly the city is being surrendered to Grant's Union forces. But the driving force of the narrative is not the attempt to take the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River but whether Cory will live long enough to marry his beloved Lucille Farrell. Even though he is still a civilian, Cory manages to become involved in all sorts of escapades that put him in the right place at the right time to be around during the key fighting in this campaign.

The centerpiece of the novel is when Cory joins Nathan Bedford Forrest on his famous raid behind Union lines, but it is hard to focus on the military engagements when our hero is paying attention the calendar and trying to figure out if he can make it back to Vicksburg in time for his planned wedding. At other times Reasoner reduces major military operations to a few concise paragraphs so we can get back to our young lovers. However, I must say that that just when it seemed like Lucille was going to carry out an act of vulgar stupidity in the name of love, she actually did the smart thing. But ultimately things move too quickly to really give us a sense of how long and hard of a struggle the siege of Vicksburg was for those trapped in the city.

All of these books are perfect for a day at the beach or wherever you head for vacation this summer. As with the rest of the series, "Vicksburg" is more of a Soap Opera than a military history, and devote Civil War buffs are going to note every opportunity passed over to make this lengthy tale more authentic. Readers of the series know full well that the particular "battle" that serves for the title of each book is only going to pop up at the end, so the series title remains something of a misnomer. However, we know the Brannon family is not going to make it through this war unscathed and it will be interesting to see which of the clan is left standing at the end.

Thanks to Myrlie for her selfless sharing of her experiences. She inspired me to take risks heretofore postponed. It is truly inspirational and moving.

I thought I knew who Myrlie Evers-Williams was. She is much more than "the widow of." She worked her way to the top of the private sector, government and one of the country's oldest and most well known organizations, the NAACP. She did all of this while raising 3 children alone after the death of her husband.

This book is a guide and an inspiration to all women. It is ironic that while I was reading this book her husband's murderer, Byron DeLaBeckwith, died. I did not know how long she worked to bring his killer to justice and how much more grief she had to bear in doing so.

Myrlie Evers-Williams is an amazing woman. Anyone interested in the history of the civil right's movement, women's issues, or modern American history will enjoy this book.

I found in Myrlie Evers-Williams, every woman. The various stages which were necessary for her to experience inorder for her to evolve to where she is at this stage proved to be challenging, growth producing, relentless, endless and represent the light at the end of the tunnel. I found myself visualizing and feeling the pain, the depth of darkness and the state of bewilderment. She has become a woman to be honored and deservant of noteworthy praise. To have to watch the struggles of the two men in her life, their relationship within this context and their unltimate deaths, phew! that within itself leaves you in limbo. Then to make the moves to new regions with her children in search for a better life and more opportunity and a chance to find herself takes a great deal of courage. I applaud her and take pleasure in having read the story behind the stories. An astounding woman!

A friend who knows that I will be traveling to Mississippi in the summer presented this book to me. She gave it to me to help me understand what I was getting into, but the book provided me with courage and knowledge that pertains to life outside of Mississippi. This is a book that everyone should read, young and old. I can't tell you how much it has touched me personally or how it stirred something that was hidden deep inside of me. Through Ms. Evers-Williams' wisdom, personal reflections, anecdotes, and trials she weaves a story of despair and triumph. This book has something in it for everyone, and regardless of color, age, gender, ethnicity, or political party (everything that could possibly divide you and I) this book will change thinking and express feelings that cannot be articulated. I learned about relationships and coping under intense pressure. She clarified so many things for me that I began highlighting the book, studying it as if she was going to test me on the material. But she won't test me, life will! Watch Me Fly is nothing less then a gift to the world, and it would be a great misfortune if this resource were not taken advantage of. I strongly encourage you to read it, immediately!!!

But not only did Watch Me Fly basically change my perspective on life and past situations, it also prepared me for the future. As Ms. Evers-Williams goes through life, sometimes winning and sometimes facing stumbling blocks, all of her lessons learned readied me for upcoming situations in my own life. Her triumphs are glorious; I found myself cheering out loud for her. Her successes and failures inspired me to take my first steps into the real world without fear, and I have a new confidence that cannot be broken. Her faith and perseverance nurtured my strengths, which resulted in a better outlook on life and Mississippi this summer. If Ms. Evers-Williams ever reads this, I want to tell her how much I appreciate her effort, it has really, really meant a lot to me.

This book is a heart-wrenching autobiography of a timid, young southern girl raised and influenced by two strong African American women, her grandmother and aunt, who prepared Myrlie to face a lifetime of struggle and survival. Myrlie Evers-Williams is a formidable personality and role-model.

I especially enjoyed the book's focus on Myrlie's personal life as opposed to the Civil Rights Movement, and the way I could relate to many of the childhood traditions she was raised by. Her suffering brought tears to my eyes as I read, as well as, a feeling of validation and peace in the direction of my life. At one juncture, Myrlie referred to her tendency to repress an observation until it was grammatically structured in her mind to perfection, thus running the risk of another more confident individual expressing her very idea. I must say I laughted at this self-editing process as it has been a personal fault of mine all my life-waiting for perfection before speaking and thereby missing the opportunity.

This book has also fueled my fire in questioning and remembering who I am and from whence I came. How far can I go back in my family tree, what are the family names, what are and were their personalities and how much of them do I bring to my life?

WATCH ME FLY should be read by all single mothers so they can see how a strong woman like Myrlie Evers-Williams once struggled and wrestled with the same types of obstacles they face everyday. Yet, Myrlie Evers-Williams not only survived but became successful in her own right.

This is a good book and many of the interviews are excellent but to be honest I was expecting more. There isn't much commentary on the interviews themselves they are just presented as they are.

This collection is very well edited and well conceived. It fills the gap between Sculpting in Time and books about the director by various authors. I would consider this and Tarkovsky's own book as the two essential texts. Also, a few very funny, antagonistic answers to interview questions make for great reading. You're unlikely to finish this book and still wonder why some crew members found it difficult to work with him.

This book of interviews with the master is a must for all who love great film, and especially fans of Russian Cinema (and of course Tarkovsky). Thanks Mr. Gianvito!

This book is an absolutely fascinating read for any Tarkovsky fan. It gives a real insight into the individual films but more significantly it also helps you understand much better where Tarkovsky himself was coming from. It will also be of interest to people interested in modern cinema, but it is probably best to have seen most of Tarkovsky's films first (there are only about 7 of them). One amusing aspect of the book is seeing different interviewers ask the same, often stupid, questions over a twenty-year period. However, there is plenty of rich material in the book so the repeated questions do not really detract from it, indeed, it is amusing to watch how Tarkovsky deals with them in different times and different contexts.

As one writer on Amazon pointed out, ever since Kurt Vonnegut stopped writing novels in 1997 (or 1991, depending on whom you ask), there has been a huge hole in the literary world that can never be filled. Anyone who has ever experienced the brilliance of Vonnegut for the first time wants to immediately embark upon consuming the rest of his quite large canon. None of his books are long, and one can go through the entirety of them in a fairly short time (though they could also spend a lifetime exploring the ideas contained therein.) No doubt, anyone who has done so is joyfully grateful at having had the opportunity to enrich their lives with the humor and wisdom of Vonnegut -- but also can't help but envy the reader who is coming to the master for the first time. If you have read everything that the author ever wrote, or just about, and are looking for something to quench your appetite for Vonnegut, Conversations With Kurt Vonnegut is probably the best place to start. Authors, in general, tend to be rather reclusive and not very public figures; consequently, they often give few interviews. Vonnegut, thankfully, has not followed this trend and has given many interviews, though they started to come much less frequently after 1980. This is a great treat for both fans and scholars of the author. As an interviewee, Vonnegut is just as witty and wise, and nearly as funny, as he is in his writings. True to himself, he, as always, pulls no punches and calls things as he sees them, no matter whom it may offend (my favorite moment in the book is when he explains why Schindler's List is "sugar-coated.") It is great fun to read his interviews -- very entertaining, and a real learning experience, as well. All of the major interviews that Vonnegut has given throughout his career are included here, as well as a representative sampling of shorter pieces. Most of these will be unfamilar, and, therefore, a real treat, to even the biggest Vonnegut fan, with the exception of the monumental Playboy interview which appeared in Wampeters, Foma, and Granfalloons; this is a classic Vonnegut interview, however, and you will be rewarded by reading it again. The interviews are arranged in chronological order, ranging from 1969 through 1999, if you have the new edition, 1987 if you do not. Some of the best pieces included the aforementioned Playboy interview, Robert Scholes's 1974 interview, and the 1987 and 1999 interviews conducted with Vonnegut by the editor William Rodney Allen and Paul Smith, which focus on Vonnegut's more recent work. Another interesting piece is the 1974 Greg Mitchell feature written from the point of view of Kilgore Trout, Vonnegut's hapless protagonist, which re-enacts many of the scenes from Vonnegut's novels and incorporates real quotes from the author. Thankfully, Vonnegut has not been subjected to as many dumb and thoughtless interviewers as many have -- perhaps that's why he gave so many -- although, in reading through this book, one will probably become tired of hearing certain questions over and over again, e.g., "Are you a black humorist?" Most of these interviews, though, are great, several of them, particulary the Scholes and Allen/Smith interviews, take a role more akin to a real conversation than a mere interview. These are a joy to read. Vonnegut's most famous books, Cat's Cradle and, especially, Slaughterhouse-Five are covered extensively, as are such issues as his oft-forgotten play (Happy Birthday, Wanda June), his (first) insistence of never wanting to write again (in 1969!), and, a special treat for Vonnegut fans, his views on other authors and works of literature, namely Mark Twain and Joseph Heller, among others. These interviews show a different side of Vonnegut the man, and also give fascinating glimpses into his private life, including such details as his homes, everyday life, and family. An absolute must-read for Vonnegut fans!

This compilation of interviews with Kurt Vonnegut covers 1969 through 1987. Vonnegut fans may recognize some of the conversations from amongst the known corpous (i.e. the Playboy interview from Foma, Wampeters, and Granfalloons) but by and large these come from quirky sources out of the main stream. The wonderfully casual Robert Scholes interview from 1973 is a delight. Also of interest is the 1974 Greg Mitchell piece written in the manner of Kilgore Trout. By all mean secure yourself a copy of this work. One flaw needs to be noted: With Vonnegut married to the skillful photographer Jill Kremetz, why put a pedestrian AP photo on the cover? Chris Huber

I read only the part where one person interviewed Kirk in the persona of Kilgore Trout. This made a great addition to this book.

The book does give great interviews and words of Vonnegut, but there is no substantial whole. It is poorly laid out, and makes no concrete assertions or comments on Vonnegut's words.

An exhaustive (and exhausting) cross between a fan-rave and a dissertation examining the history and pop-ological intricacies of the brief but very influential rod-and-custom period in America.

Although it is chock full of details and insights into the subject one wonders who exactly it was written for. It often seems much too highbrow and academic for the average kid or gear-head, and I'm sure most academes wouldn't be seen reading anything with so many "purdy pichures". You're left with the impression that it in fact began as a scholarly defense (always check who the publisher is) which, once it appeared to have legs, was tricked out with some chrome and kandy kolors to help find it's way onto American coffee tables.

Still it is well worth having to glean ( for practiced speed readers ) ever more minutia about an era that always spawns endless nostalgia for fans, and eventually, a true sociological and anthropological exegesis for 22 century rustmites.

I really like this book, although I would like to see a lot more photos of cars in a book that focuses on the aesthetic qualities of custom cars. The author successfully argues that kustoms are an art form and then proceeds to analyze various styles of custom cars in relationship to various styles of high art. Good stuff! As for the photos, the most refreshing thing about them is that they are not the same dozen famous kustoms that you've already seen in every other book about custom cars.

Just want to let everybody know that Jerry Weesner of Streetrodder (June 2002) picked Cool Cars, High Art as a Hall of Fame selection with only three other books on the art of customizing.

This handsome book is an unusual treatment of its subject for sure. There is a bevy of color photographs to satisfy the aficionado--and to make it an ideal gift for any car-crazy friend. But what I find most striking is the author¹s truly unique take on the car as an art object. Obviously comfortable with the demands of current theoretical discourse, he seems purposefully to prove that the obscurantism that bedevils so much academic prose today is merely self-indulgent. He has helped me grasp much more than just the beauty of the customized car. Readers (and especially teachers in a number of disciplines) will appreciate Prof. DeWitt¹s cunning explications of a Williams poem, a Picasso collage, a Futurist sculpture, and a surprising number of movies and TV shows to support his insights into our car culture.

"I always wanted to put together a book to be called 'Country Churchyards,' composed of the pictures I took in cemeteries."

So explains Eudora Welty to Hunter cole in 1999, only a couple years before her death. So it seems strangely appropriate that one of this great author's last works was a photographic record of various churches, graveyards and tombstones that she saw over her long lifetime. And "Country Churchyards" only proves Welty to be as brilliant and insightful a photographer as she was a writer.

Elizabeth Spencer spins out an essay about Welty and her attraction to churchyards, the Souther attitude to graves, as well as the transience of these monuments. It's a lovely piece of prose, especially since Spencer has quite a way with words (".... a quiet spot surrounded by an iron fence, entered by an ornamental wrought-iron gate, dripping grey with Spanish moss, m may be knowing in its silence that it is not forgotten any more than it forgot...").

But the stars of this book are indisputably Welty's photographs. The first few are striking but not terribly accomplished pictures of churches, as well as a lone statue of a tiara-wearing angel with one arm held up. It looks like it's waving.

But the pictures become more striking and more polished as the book goes on, and Welty's focus shifts to the more unusual churchyards -- ornate monuments, mossy stones surrounded by willows, striking churches veiled by fences and forests, statues of women weeping and drowsing, worried-looking saints, a life-sized Jesus carrying a cross, bas-reliefs of fallen trees, sleeping babies, and wrought-iron gates.

Not to mention the angels -- lots and lots of them, and only a couple are drippy child-cherubs. More often they are beautiful strong androgynes who are pointing at the horizon and watching over the graves. And the beauty of the graveyards themselves are brought to light occasionally, such as the misty sunlit pictures of vast leafy trees, flowers and tangled grasses, with a few tombstones among them.

Everybody loves a beautiful old graveyard, and I used to live near one of the loveliest ones you can imagine, crammed between a library and a busy side-street. Despite this, the exquisite old stones and elaborate Catholic statuary gave the whole area a feeling of peace.

So it's unsurprising that Eudora Welty, who spent a lifetime sketching eloquent, bittersweet, warm stories and novels about the South she grew up in, is able to convey all that beauty and history to her readers. And her photography is no less effective than her writing -- once she overcame the initial amateurish problems, Welty was able to infuse a lot of feeling into what she photographed.

The photos are all black-and-white, and most of them have a misty sunlit feeling. And Welty successfully gives many of her photographs a wistful, poignant feeling -- especially when she focuses on the little sleeping stone babies, or a stone dog waiting patiently on its master's grave. Then again, there are graves where you wonder what the designers were thinking -- for example, what is with all the SHEEP? Were some of these people unusually attached to their woolly bovines?

Additionally, the photos are also taken from a variety of angles, which is especially important when photographing the gorgeous old churches, or special shots like the angel watching the graveyard (who is photographed from behind). Accasionally you get the feeling that somebody has wandered into the photo -- such as one man who appears on horseback near a church, and seems surprised to see Welty's camera.

"Country Churchyards" is exactly what it sounds like, but in Eudora Welty's hands it became a sweet, melancholy chronicle of where the dead lie. A sweet little photographic record.

Did I say I love this book enough? Eudora Welty, the great Mississippi writer took these photographs many years ago. They cover churches and cemeteries around the Jackson area. Some of these places I know and have in my own collection of photos. Haunting places. There is much to be said of Welty's work with the camera. She has a great eye for detail, for light, and for mood. She has captured a period that is long gone. She loves angels. There are few commentaries because this is a book, not about words, but about churches, tombstones, and their lasting message. A great addition to both collectors of tombstone art and Eudora Welty's work. A classic. Buy it while you can. It will be a collectible one day.

I obviously am coming late to this book. I've been a fan of Miss Welty's writing since growing up in the sixties. I actually wrote her a fan letter and got a reply and like a stupid child, didn't keep it.

I also own Miss Welty's other photo books. As a photo bug of forty years, I enjoyed her other work during the Depression, though it certainly was not special in itself. It is worth more as a historical record.

Upon buying this book I was surprised that it made it to publication. I have shot hundreds of the same type of photos traveling through small towns myself. These photos remain as did her earlier photographic work--snapshots of a time and a place. There's nothing wrong with snapshots, but I them for what they are: a historical record. Others have done much better work on cemeteries and gravestones.

I'm confident that, without Miss Welty's name, this book would never have reached publication.

Those who cherish Eudora Welty's earlier collection of photographs (_One Time, One Place_) need no urging from me to sample this new jewel box of images from a Mississippi past. Like the earlier collection, these black-and-white photographs document the rural South of the 1930's and 1940's when Welty worked as a photographer for the WPA. As its title suggests, this book offers a tighter focus: on the burying-places of the rich and poor, the black and the white. Here be angels of all sorts, urns and chapels, sheep and dogs, children who seem but to sleep in masks of marble. Those who know Welty's keen gift for description will see how her eye for detail, setting and atmosphere was trained up in her early photographic work. Each image seems surrounded by the rich and generous spirit through which Welty sees the world and those who toil in it.

The photographs are preceded by an account of a conversation with Miss Welty (as we Southern men and women of letters have learned to always refer to her) and interspersed with excerpts from the novels. Also a joy is the introduction by fellow Mississipian Elizabeth Spencer, who places these images in the landscape of Welty's fiction, as expressions of "Eudora Welty's vision of death as a part of life." Spencer continues, "It must find its ceremony within family and community, and its symbols, beautifully displayed here, arise out of the beliefs and feelings of shared love."

To spend time with this book is to walk among the mossy trees, rest among the cool white monuments, and feel the pull of that greater community which surrounds us. It gives further evidence why Miss Welty is one of our great national treasures. But I leave the last word to her, in this excerpt from _The Optimist's Daughter_: "The top of the hill ahead was crowded with winged angels and life-sized effigies of bygone citizens in old-fashioned dress, standing as if by count among the columns and shafts and conifers like a familiar set of passengers collected on deck of a ship, on which they all knew each other -- bona-fide members of a small local excursion, embarked on a voyage that is always returning in dreams."

What an fascinating nugget of US History. The soldiers got their just day with your vivid and detailed account. Fact truly is stranger than fiction. I felt like I truly got a naval education, didn't know much about ships/boats before this read.
BTW, this is Patrick.

I was very impressed with this book. It was obviously well researched and includes numerous quotes from survivors. Historical documents enhance the first hand accounts.

The details of the boat trip including the explosion are vividly written. This is the best book I've read about the Sultana Tragedy.

The sinking of the steamboat Sultana was the deadliest maritime disaster in U.S. History. Strangely, even though it occurred at the end of the Civil War and most of the dead were returning Union POWs, it is an almost forgotten event. Author Salecker recalls the bureaucratic bungling and corruption that helped lead to the diaster as well as a harrowing account from the survivors. This is a good history book that sheds light on the memories of the dead and the survivors.

Very well researched and composed. One feels as if they are right there with the soldiers and civilians as they struggle for survival not only from the flames that are engulfing them, but from the mass of humanity that is in the frigid waters of the swollen Mississippi.

Very vivid accounts of suffering with physical and mental challanges in a time when the soldiers should be almost at their happiest moment - going home.

I wrote the 1st review of this book. There are 3 typo's in the second paragraph. It should read "Shearwater POTTERY not potter, (2) struggled not strugged, and (3) their ART not air. Thanks for letting me make these corrections.

This is a great book telling a wonderful story of art in America. This is what American art is all about and how this little pottery enterprise made its mark on the art world. You will enjoy this book very much.

It is my privilege to be the first person to review DREAMING IN CLAY. I'm sure many others will find it a great book to read and review.

This wonderful book presents the life of a master potter, Peter Anderson, his work, his immediate and extended family, and the evolution of Shearwater Potter in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. It is a book about transformation and affirmation of a family who has strugged and triumphed and the interconnections of the Anderson family, their air, and their love of nature and simplicity.

The book is thoughtful and contains information, facts, and anecdotes that inspire one to travel to this small southern town on the Mississippi Gulf Coast to experience the magical feeling of Shearwater Pottery.

The authors were clearly diligent in their research and fluid in their writing. The book is filled with fascinating materials that clearly describe the life of this master potter, his talented children, brothers, family, and their reception in the world of art. The authors have written in a manner that makes this unique family come alive to the reader.

The book is also unique in the fact that it not only speaks of the great work of Peter and his brothers, Walter and Mac, but also, it is the story of the strong Anderson women who are there to support their art and life dedications.

It is a fantastic book. The memoir left me with the sense of "tell me more". It is a must read!

THE STORY OF A FAMILY'S DEDICATION TO EACH OTHER AND THEIR ART

By Lynna Williams.

Maria Estrella Iglesias, a collector of American art pottery, was in an antiques mall near Nashville when she saw a pottery vase glazed "an extraordinary blue." Seeing it across the cluttered room "was like catching a glimpse of the ocean," and when she turned it over she found a name and mark unfamiliar to her. Iglesias couldn't know it then, but that chance introduction to Shearwater Pottery would open up an extraordinary world apart: the personal and public history of the Andersons of Ocean Springs, Miss.

Some readers may already be familiar with the brilliant work of painter, printmaker and muralist Walter Inglis Anderson without knowing the story of his role in the pottery, and the broader story of his family's passionate commitment to art as a way of life.

Four generations of Andersons have created Shearwater's art and, while cordially disliking the term "artist," have nurtured potters, painters, sculptors, poets and writers, from the Depression to the present. The story Iglesias and her husband, Vanderbilt professor Christopher Maurer, tell in "Dreaming in Clay on the Coast of Mississippi" has passion and torment sufficient for grand opera, all borne of a relentless dedication to the making of art. It would be a remarkable story in any time. In the America of the 21st Century, when art is so often viewed as extraneous in our daily lives, or as just another commodity to be consumed, it takes on a special, almost electric, resonance. Maurer and Iglesias' book, which starts with an account of their own "falling into" the Shearwater world, is a compelling account of lives in which art, for better and worse, is as basic a necessity of life as air and water.

It began with a marriage, 100 years ago. After a 12-year courtship, George Walter Anderson, a prosperous grain dealer, wed Annette McConnell, a lawyer's daughter educated at Newcomb College in New Orleans, a central force in the post-Civil War resurgence of arts and crafts in the South. By 1907 there were three sons: Peter, Walter Inglis and James McConnell.

From the beginning, their artistic mother wanted art to wash over them, to be fundamental to who they were. Their businessman father dreamed of "Anderson, Incorporated," the family functioning as a unit. "Dreaming in Clay" documents how both parents' wishes shaped their sons' lives, from their free spirits and work ethic, to their specialized educations, to their vocations, to their choice of wives for whom love and art were one, inextricably linked. As in fairy tales, both wishes-for art, for a family enterprise-came true, but not at all in simple, happily-ever-after fashion.

As an enterprise, Shearwater Pottery began after the family's move in 1918 from New Orleans to Ocean Springs, a place where the beauty and wildness of the natural world led inevitably to the making of art. Oldest son Peter was 22 or 23 when he built a kiln in the side of a hill. One of the pleasures of "Dreaming in Clay" is its careful record of what was involved in the making of modern pottery, and an artistic community, in a "sleepy coastal town that had never had more than a nodding acquaintance with art."

Slowly, amid Peter's ongoing education with established artists intrigued with the experiment at Ocean Springs, the family worked to perfect the technical aspects of producing pottery: the right kiln, the right glazes, the right touch with wheel and hand-thrown pots. The Andersons were getting a business on its feet, but artistic concerns were paramount from the beginning: More than 2,500 pots considered unacceptable -- sometimes entire kilnloads -- were intentionally destroyed before Shearwater opened to the public. The name for the pottery came from a book about birds but was used in tribute to Mississippi's black skimmers, which shear the surface of the water to scoop up small fish. The name reflects what has become Shearwater's enduring connection to the Mississippi landscape.

In writing "Dreaming in Clay," Maurer and Iglesias were given access to the family's archive, and it is in the letters of the day that the family's struggles and triumphs come most vividly alive. Nowhere is that more true than in the stories of the two oldest sons, Peter and Walter Inglis (called Bobby by his family), and the women they would marry, sisters Patricia and Agnes "Sissy" Grinstead. Pat was "transported" the moment she saw the handsome Peter Anderson, and was immediately adopted as a "true" member of the clan. Bob's courtship of Sissy was long and arduous, and drew him into producing decorative pottery and figurines at Shearwater as a livelihood, a way of showing that he, too, could support a wife. The two were married in 1933; four years later, Bob had a devastating mental breakdown. Not long after, Peter, too, was hospitalized, suffering from depression. Peter's illness was more easily treated; Bob's involved a more prolonged hospital stay, and the latest, and most extreme, of psychiatric treatments. When he returned home to Ocean Springs he would find his art again but never be a part of the family in the same way as before.

The book's account of Sissy and Pat Anderson is fascinating in its picture of women determined that both love and art would survive. The resolve of all the family to see each other through, no matter what, helps make "Dreaming in Clay" a highly readable and remarkable testament. We're able to appreciate the survival of Shearwater Pottery into the 21st Century in part because it is also the continuation of a family that has lived, and lived through, its passion for art.