Louisiana Books

Joutel's Journal, as printed here, is an abridgement of the original by the Sieur de Mitchel. Mitchel's preface, together with other explanatory remarks, a map, and a copy of Louis XIV's instructions of 1712 for the government of Louisiana, are included in this edition. Marion A. Habig, "The Franciscan Pere Marquette," Franciscan Studies (June, 1934), No. 13, pp270-271 provides additional information about the Journal.

The Great Chefs series has long been a friend of mine. The more I read other cook books, the more I appreciate the fabulous recipes that just keep comming. Nearly every recipe fights for your memory's attention. For those who love to cook, this is the reason why you bother. The chefs who supplied the recipes have packed this book with some of the best recipes I have ever made from cover to cover. You will never find yourself bored with the recipes as variety was a main ingredient. At this price, there is no way you can go wrong. There is no better value that can be obtained--BAR NONE!

The cypress swamps of the southern United States were badly treated for years and decimated in many instances. However, their role in the ecology of the South became more appreciated as people became aware of the rare creatures and plants these forests and lakes held, and when they also became aware of their economic utility in such areas as purifying water, etc.

This book brings out these facets of cypress forests as well as clearly and excellently discussing the flora and fauna found in them. The discussion on these marvelous trees, themselves, is worth the book price. Excellent photos abet this effort very well.

The major swamps are covered on a chapter-by-chapter basis. The reader gains an appreciation of the unique nuances of each. I found the chapters on the Great Dismal Swamp and the discussion of the mysterious Carolina Bays most enjoyable.

Being a Michigander, the cypress swamp is not an item with which I became familiar until I was an adult, and even then, I had a great lack of understanding of how this eco-system works and why it is important to preserve it. This book greatly filled those voids in my knowledge.

Additionally, the book is a good vacation guide for anyone planning a trip to the South. These swamps, or at least one of them, are worth seeing. You will have a far better time, and understanding, of what you are seeing, if you read this book first. I recommend it very highly. It is one of the better regional ecology books in my library, and a real keeper. Certainly, anyone who teaches geography or biological sciences should own it.

I own this book. My Louisiana cousin gave this to me after a visit to their home 10 years ago. It was a little Lagniappe - something extra - for me to remember my visit by. I put off trying the recipes for a while, but once I started making them I couldn't stop. They are authentic, wonderful and easy to make. Everything I've tried from main dishes to desserts has turned out great. Estelles crawfish casserole and chicken jambalaya were the first I made. Both were supremely easy and frozen crawfish are super easy to find even at Walmart. I'm not a left-overs eater traditionally, but I gobbled these down up to two days later. In fact they even tasted better the next day. Five stars for both. The Southern Lemon Chess Pie - which is in the book, but not listed in the index is a true old fashioned standout. I highly recommend this little gem of a cookbook. Who would've guessed it would be so good!

Crist for the Mill explores the origin, development and leadership of the Louisiana State Rice Milling Company and its successor Riviana Foods over eighty-eight year period. In the context of a single business enterprise; it answers the basic question: What in the American past gave businessmen opportunity or created need for them to change what they were doing or the way they were doing it?
It examines not only the effects of changes upon the company itself but also the company's contributions to changes within the rice milling industry. Previous studies have focused primarily upon rice growers and their problems. To the extent that these works examined rice milling and marketing, they made broad generalizations due to lack of primary materials and of specific studies. This detailed scholarly study rests entirely upon primary sources and focuses on one major enterprise that grew from mill to multinational .

Avey Craven's Growth of Southern Nationalism covers the specific events of 1848-1861 that produce a sense of a southern nation. It is not light reading, weighing in at over 400pp. The Chapter breakdown is:
Publisher's Preface
Author's Preface
I. The Conscious section
II. Realignment of sections
III Prelude to Crisis
IV The first crisis--1850
V Compromise and the South
VI The Aftermath
VII Compromise on Trial
VIII The Center Shifts
IX Sowing the Wind
X the Harvest
XI Kansas, Douglas, and John Brown
XII The Campaign of 1860
XIII Secession
XIV Some Generalizations
Critical essay on authorities
Index

Taken in combination with the other published volumes of "A History of the South," Craven's work provides an essential piece of the Tapestry that is Southern History. I particularly enjoy this volume (and the series in general) because Craven often highlights important cultural and literary events that occur between 1848 and 1861, making the book useful not only to the scholar of history, but to all students of Southern history, literature, and culture.

We are blessed on Cape Cod with a disproportionate number of truly great artists, and Brendan Galvin is as good as it gets, even in such heady company as Robert Pinsky, Alan Dugan, Mary Olver, Mark Doty, Keith Althaus, Stanley Kunitz, Gail Mazur -- on and on it goes. All of them live on the Cape off and on during the year, and Galvin is a year rounder. As a naturalist poet, Galvin's observations always seem newly turned. No matter how many times you read verse about a dune, a coyote, or a gold sweep of marsh grass, Galvin makes it seem different. And his sense of humor is, at times, wildly funny. Perhaps it's something about the water in Truro because the late Alan Dugan had that sense of humor that would just stop you in your tracks. Galvin was a finalist for the National Book Award this year for "Habitat," and it's a wonderful retrospective of his work, along with his newest efforts. If you aren't familiar with Galvin's work, do yourself a favor and spring for the price of this book. It's almost as good as a trip to Cape Cod itself and, when you consider who your guide is, perhaps even better.

With the economy of a haiku and a magnanimity only the bravest can approach, Mary O'Reilley has thrown a rope ladder all the way down to the nethermost part of us that for so long we tried to pretend wasn't there. This gorgeous, prize-winning, indispensible collection features spare but generous trips into the natural and human world that offer means for our battered, humiliated spirit to catch a toe hold.

TAKE A LOOK AT THE OLD SOUTH FROM THE ANGLE OF THE COLLEGE MAN. AS A GRADUATE OF A COLLEGE IN THE DEEP SOUTH, I SAW SO MANY PARALLELS BETWEEN TODAY'S COLLEGE EXPERIENCE AND THE ONES I READ ABOUT IN HALLS OF HONOR. BY CONTRAST, THE VAST DIFFERENCES AND IDIOSYNCRACIES OF COLLEGE LIFE IN THE ANTEBELLUM ERA WERE FASCINATING. FOR ME, AS A STUDENT OF THE PRE-WAR DECADES, HALLS OF HONOR WAS A DELIGHT TO READ.

This is an absolutely fabulous book that should be in every library (just like all of Choate's books). Of course, I am the proud son of the lead author, so what do you expect me to say.