Louisiana Books

Incredibly relevant at this time. Being from Louisiana, I felt it was important for me to read this. And I recommend this as essential reading for anyone affected by Hurricane Katrina. The chapter specifically about New Orleans was so creepy that I re-read it once I was done. The book is written very matter-of-factly and uses so many agency names and acronyms that it sometimes gets bogged down in itself. But it still reads well, and is so well researched, that this is more than compensation. Would love to read a follow-up.

Humphrey's book is remarkable -- a tour de force on any number of levels. The story is brilliantly evocative of East Texas in the 1950s; the writing is masterful throughout; but more than anything "Home From the Hill" is a beautiful and shattering story about a young man and his father. A book-jacket note compares William Humphrey to William Faulkner; read this novel and you will understand that the comparison is not hyperbole.

Beatrice is growing up on a Louisiana sugar plantation in the time of slavery and enjoys the protection of a great-aunt who can communicate with the spirits. While their favored position keeps them from contact with those who consider them witches, Beatrice can find no refuge against her own blossoming powers - and her master is taking a special interest in her. Is she sole heir to a power that really will change her life? Honey Bea is a warm story of slave days evolves with a fine personal touch and supernatural twist.

Plain, pickled, or in hot sauces, three-quarters of the world's population like peppers and like them hot. Tennessee reporter Richard Schweid has followed the American use of hot peppers to their source, New Iberia, Louisiana, where the capsicum thrive on the oily salty soil as nowhere else. Besides being home to the hot pepper sauces of McIlhenny and B.J. Trappey, New Iberia is also Cajun country, where the soft lilt of the language can be heard sung over the music of a zydeco band, co-existing with the combines of agribusiness and the boom (and bust) of offshore "oil patches." Keeping his journalist's eye on the pepper, Schweid follows it to New England herbalists, Columbus, and its uses by the Aztecs and the Mayans. With recipes like Okra Shrimp Gumbo from the New Oreans School of Cooking compiled exclusively for this edition, HOT PEPPERS is a treat for all the senses.
--- from book's back cover

Hi, I have an old edition,published by the Ten Speed Press of Berkeley,CA of this book. I was curious to see if it was still in print and was happy to see that it has been re-published by UNC.
It is a great book about my favorite food additive,the one,the only,
McIlhenny Co. Tabasco Sauce. I don't know how I could eat food without Tab'! That plus even hotter sauces like Blair's Jersey Death Sauce and the other standby Tapatio.(Trappey's is also featured in this book.)
Yum!
The book also has lots of info about New Iberia and S. Louisiana/Acadiana and the Cajun culture that I never knew about.
Up here in the Pacific NW,about the only Cajun we get is Zydeco music and Cajun-styled food. I did not know hardly any of the history of Acadiana and it's people. After reading the book,Acadiana is on my list to visit.
Even though it has changed a lot from the good ol' days of genuine Cajun living. I hope there are still echoes of that detectable to a visitor.
Anyone who loves chilis and their history and Capsicum Frutescens (Tabasco pepper) in particular and want to learn about the Cajun way of life would be happy with this book.

This is a valuable book (resource) for budding entrepreneurs. It seems to try to cover all the bases for starting a small business, but it can't do them all well in the space available between its covers. The book is only 288 pages long. If you are in the planning stages of starting a small business, then I highly recommend you get a copy of this book. Read it, study it, and outline it. There are helpful checklists to help you grasp the subjects. You will come up with a plethora of keywords and terms that you will want to google to find Web pages giving more detailed (and maybe more current) information.

I am a SCORE counselor (Senior Corps of Retired Executives) who typically does face-to-face counseling sessions three nights a month. It would really be neat if my clients would read this book BEFORE they came to their session with me because they would pretty much be "educated customers" ready to ask educated questions. Our sessions would be so much more beneficial.

My favorite chapters were:

1. Initial business concerns
2. Your business' structure
3. Business start-up details
5. Sources of business assistance (SCORE is mentioned here)
7. Your smart business plan (and a good sample plan is included)
8. Obtaining the financing you need

The book is weak when it comes to how the Internet can be used in corresponding, hiring, and marketing. But this is just one example of how googling keywords and concepts found in the book will make the book more complete. Don't treat the book as authoritative on the law. It isn't. Nor was it ever intended to be. It is light on tax information as it relates to small business.

I was particularly impressed with the material presented in Chapter 2: Choice of Legal Entity. That subject is sorely ignored in most small business books, and it is critically important. It is a subject I regularly must spend a great deal of time discussing at my SCORE sessions. This book does a pretty good job on the topic.

Chapters 4 and 9 through 12 are easy to find fault with. The topic of each could fill a book. But having these topics covered definitely will help a budding entrepreneur know some of the issues they raise.

I would have liked the book more if Chapter 6 (marketing) had been less superficial. When I read it I got the impression that the author was more a public relations expert than a marketing expert. I generally categorize public relations as a subset of marketing. Marketing includes advertising, public relations, and a whole host of other promotion techniques. I did not get this message when I read the book. I also would have liked the book better if the Internet, email, and Web sites had been discussed more. But there are many books on those subjects. Therefore, I can't complain too much about the limited discussion of computers.

When you read this book it may feel a little like it was produced on an assembly line. Maybe it was? There are 51 versions of this book sold; one for each state and the District of Columbia. Content is king, and this book has it. 5 stars!

Received my order in a very fast amount of time. It was in perfect condition.
Thanks

Well written and very easy reading. Although a fictional account, reading between the lines, one could find some truth in this story. What a story!

This is a wonderful story. A must read for a true and accurate account of what really happened to the forgotten heros of the storm.

This collection of essays provides a good slice of life for those who crave New Orleans.