Mississippi Books

I was interested to know whether the Guadalcanal combat was dominated by shelling and bombing. Lt.Col. Lane, Ret. writes from the perspective of a sergeant in the first wave of marines who landed. He describes deployment of troops, support, leadership, joint operations, and detailed weaponry. He led several missions and described the danger of developing a "bunker" mentality in extreme combat situations. This was a comprehensive look at combat and the Guadalcanal turning point of the Pacific campaign. Lt. Col Lane was awarded a silver star for heroism in the subsequent campaign in New Britain. He does not make any pretenses about his own valor or superiority and always puts his experience in a larger perspective. The manner in which he carried out his duties is truly inspirational.

The Vicksburg guide moved this series from a single battle to a campaign encompassing several battles and a full siege. This is a larger book and somewhat less detailed than the single battlefield guidebooks. The title of the book reflects this saying it is a guide to the Vicksburg Campaign not the battle of Vicksburg. The tour of the siege lines is within the National Park BUT much of the other battlefields are privately owned and this is reflected in the book. Until more money for battlefield preservation is available, many of these important fields are at risk. The park driving tour will not cover what is in this book and professional guides may not be willing to drive the miles needed to cover the campaign. Once again, this is not a detailed history but an excellent guidebook. The best history is Timothy B. Smith's book on the battle of Champion Hill.
The series format is directions to a point on the field, orientation, a general lesson on what happened in your view, followed by first person accounts of the action. These guides are designed using the general staff training concept of a Staff Ride. This is when a class is taken to a historic location, discuss what happened and see how the terrain influences the event. Staff Rides are designed to be intensive "on the ground" training coupled with physical observation in the hopes students will gain experience for later use.
I am not saying this to frighten you away from this guide but to tell you this is not a walk about and look at the monuments type of guide. This guide will have several pages devoted to the action at this point. It may contain a critique of the local commander's actions with possible alternates.
My experience is that reading the book prior to my visit works best. This allows me more time observing the field and less time reading the book. Of the tour options, a professional guide is usually the best but most expensive choice. The park driving tour is the best choice for a quick trip through the field to get the kids passport stamp. This book is the best choice for a serious student of the battle looking for a detailed explanation.

I've been reading books and magazines about the guitar for over 40 years. At this stage I thought I knew it all. NOT TRUE! Doctor Jeffrey Noonan's new book 'The Guitar in America: Victorian Era to Jazz Age' plows lots of new ground. Noonan analyzed Banjo Mandolin and Guitar magazines from the 19th century up to the 1930's. Dr. Noonan not only reveals great musicians I have never heard of, but how the American Guitar and guitar technique developed. A chapter on William Foden and Vahdah Olcott-Bickford are included. Noonan makes the reader understand how Sor, Mertz and others were played in America long before Segovia made his 1928 debut. This book is a must read for any serious student of the history of Guitar, Banjo, Mandolin, or American music in General. The pictures in the book are way-cool! I recommend this book without reservation or qualification. 5 stars out of 5!

Ahh, the Gulf Gourmet...when I saw that this gem of a cookbook had not been reviewed, I simply could not resist. This cookbook is a sentimental favorite of mine, since it was my very first cookbook when I was growing up in Mississippi. I made my first Shrimp Gumbo from a recipe in this book. But sentimentality aside, don't let the name of the book fool you - in addition to the many seafood recipes contained within, it is also jam packed with recipes in the following categoreis: Appetizers, Soups, Salads, Vegetables, Poultry, Game, Meats, Desserts, Cakes, and Pies. There is something to please everyone in this book. I am thrilled that it is still in print! So please, do not hesitate to add this to your collection. From the Banana Milkshake to the Cheesy Tuna Bunwiches, to the Shrimp Gumbo and Mississippi Mud Cake, you are sure to find something to delight the palate in classic Southern style!

An excellent intro to Faulkner. Beautifully written and one of his most accessible works. See the "Long Hot Summer" with Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward which is a filmisation of a novella of the same name in 'The Hamlet'. Great stuff!

Hank Williams said very little about his life outside of his haunting lyrics. Since he left so few interviews behind, there were plenty of people who were willing to fill in the gaps with their own self-serving myths. Bill Koon slices through all of these myths to find the truth of Hank Williams' life. Hank has been portrayed as a saint and a sinner, but Koon shows that Williams was somewhere in between. Overall, he was a troubled man with natural talent, and this well-written book clearly shows that. Hank Williams, So Lonesome, is a triumph, and Bill Koon should be applauded for doing such a fine job. I highly recommend it.

"A Hard Rain Fell" was hard to find. But I was finally able to borrow a copy from a distant library. It's an expensive book. I don't often plunk down $40 for a book. But after reading the library version, I had to have one to mark up in pencil. This one is worth the 40 bucks.

Until I began reading about SDS this year, I didn't realize its roots were in the civil rights movement - that many in SDS were committed to continuing the civil rights work - to abolish racism in the U.S. A worthy goal - but a dance that white organizers tried to master, yet ended up stumbling all over their own clunky privileged walking shoes.

Not only does "A Hard Rain Fell" chart the trajectory of SDS' destruction, the book's analysis of how white and male privilege interfered with the best intentions of 60s and 70s activists illuminates a still persistent problem. White privilege continues to blind white folks to the support position we must assume in throwing off the chains of oppression to achieve widespread liberation.


It may seem that there are fewer people available now to do the work that was left unfinished in the 60s and 70s, but if we take Stokely Carmichael's challenge to organize against racism in white communities first -- we will build the movement that must grow and thrive if we are ever to see real change. As book author David Barber paraphrases Anne Braeden, "you could not organize white people without placing racism at the center of the agenda 'from the very beginning.'"


And now, here we are, in an election year that thrusts so much unacknowledged racism out into the open. Here's yet another opportunity to take the best from "A Hard Rain Fell," and use it to make a difference. It may not involve demonstrations or takeovers of buildings. It may not be the kind of movement that makes heroes of those who do the work or allows you to project your own unacknowledged racism onto someone else and call him or her wrong (ah, that satisfaction that comes from confronting worse people than yourself! -- Later for that kind of breast-beating, friends). Trying to be or provide the vehicle that dawns awareness on someone new or strengthens new awareness in ourselves and in those around us is the consciousness most of us have yet to attain (and nurture).


David Barber has given us a glimpse of how we can move forward from here. I highly recommend "A Hard Rain Fell" by David Barber.

This was required reading for a graduate course in American history.

In this book Charles C. Bolton explores Mississippi's efforts to equalize its segregated schools in order to buttress their argument that these schools are separate but equal. Prior to 1950, efforts to equalize schools concentrated on equalizing spending on the schools. In the post-war period until the 1954 Brown decision, the southern states began to focus on other tangibles of school equalization such as facilities, school consolidation allowing for larger, graded schools and teacher salaries.

The book cites a plethora of evidence of how far the state had to go to bridge the huge crevice between Black and White schools and the many statistics that showed how they failed in this effort. Mr. Bolton notes that the state did not have the resources to bridge the gap and did not want to use federal funding for fear of losing control of their Jim Crow policies. The gap was further exacerbated by funding a great deal of school consolidations for white schools from 1910 until 1944 and allowing 97% of black schools to remain unconsolidated. However, the 1938 Supreme Court decision on Gaines vs. Canada, which held that Missouri's lack of a black law school failed the separate but equal test and post-war calls for better educational opportunities for returning veterans, urged on a redoubling of efforts towards the equalization program.

Interestingly, the White leadership looked for support from Black leaders to maintain Jim Crow education before they were willing to commit millions of dollars toward an equalization program. Recognizing the need for a consolidation in Black schools, the leadership of these schools held private funding campaigns such as fish fries in order to raise the money. The Black leadership also knew that, although they were on their own, by doing so, they did not have to hand over any management functions to White authorities.

A good example explaining why the states equalization efforts were such an abysmal failure occurred in 1946. In that year three million dollars was approved to fund construction improvements in Black schools. However, no mechanism for assuring that counties spent the money on Black school equalization was created. Consequently, only thirty-five percent of this funding was used for the Equalization Program. A similar program to improve salaries for Black schools also failed because of the lack of an enforcement mechanism.

It was not until 1950 that state funding was found to get allocated to Black schools as the state legislature had approved. "By 1953 the total state funds that had been spent on school construction since 1946 were almost evenly divided between black and white projects". 1953 improvements in Black teacher salaries did not have such a positive outcome. Of $2.24 million dispersed to the counties only about half of the funding was spent on improvements in teacher salaries. Furthermore, no money was earmarked for consolidating Black schools away from the one-room schools, a key component of any equalization argument.

In concluding the book, Bolton argues that the state's Equalization Program failures " exacerbated black discontent with the Jim Crow schools." The movement of Black schools to make way for new construction of White schools in spite of lip service to equalization further angered Blacks and resulted in Court action. This anger and the sympathy of a wary national public, whose collective consciousness knew equal educational opportunities were critical to a functional Democracy, led to a public demand for change. This public demand and the consequent Court action, laid down the precedent needed for change.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in American history, civil rights history.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat. I couldn't put it down. One of my experiences was detailed in one of the chapters, but all of the stories are great. I highly recommend it if you are interested at all in the supernatural.

The maturation of the American society was a complex and idealistic endeavor that was accentuated by many different transitional phases. Hell Gate of the Mississippi marks one of these major transitions that occurred during the growth, which was emphasized by its' `Manifest Destiny'. The transition that the author, Larry A. Riney, transcribes in this journey presents nineteenth century America, and the great characters in these events utilized it as a major point of experience in their lives.
Hell Gate of the Mississippi presents a dichotomy that existed throughout history, the struggle between progress and the established norm. In this instance the established norm, the steamboat trade, and the desire to establish a progressive national railroad. The establishment of the national railroad meant that steamboats became more of an archaic endeavor. The railroads are presented to Americans as the cheaper, faster mode of transit for their businesses and social uses. However, even when the railroads were presented as an obstruction to the already established steamboat companies, the power of the purse prevailed. The railroads used the courts as their pulpit, presenting the American people with a high powered legal team, and the growth of the rail towns to accentuate a puppet courtroom. The legal team used savvy and their prestige, presenting individuals such of Abraham Lincoln, to push their case over the top, leaving the steam boaters cause with little more than a hope and a prayer.
The author presents to the reader a technical view on the maritime precedents that were established during this trial. This was a scholarly written piece of non-fiction that established most of what it sought out to accomplish. The most important presentation was to ascertain that the influential players involved in this event were not entirely essential to the outcome of the trial.

William Klotz