Mississippi Books

A must read for anyone who lives with or works with someone with depression. I have read dozens of books on the subject and this is by far the best for gaining insight into the problems. I wished that every teacher and employer (and supervisor) were required to know this information.

Have you ever suffered from depression? Or do you have a friend who is depressed? Surely you want to know how to help. Now you have the chance to read a book that is a solid resource for those who suffer from depression personally, and for those who want to understand and help them. People have always been thinking that depression is simply a transient feeling of moodiness. In her book Understanding Depression, Patricia Ainsworth examines depression from a different perspective. According to Ainsworth, depression is more than a mental illness. It is a total body illness, affecting both the cognitive ability of the human brain and the functioning of the body. Furthermore, when people are depressed, they suffer from alterations in behaviour, appetite, and sexuality (10). Many of those people cannot help themselves. The only relief is death. In order to prevent this cruel end, Ainsworth explains the nature and symptoms of depression in the different groups, children and elderly. By looking at the symptoms of depression, the question that arises is what are the causes for this illness. Exploring different theories for the causes of depression, Ainsworth begins from the ancient Greek philosophies and reaches to the ideas of the 20th century. Through this process, people get acquainted with different theories about depression, such as Freud's way of seeing mental illnesses as the cause of depression or the theory of the behaviorists who believe that depression is a result of a failure of the humans to deal with, adapt to, and react to the environment (51). By giving numerous examples and explanations like these, Ainsworth successfully proves that depression involves alterations in the brain and has to be treated aggressively. If not, the illness worsens, thus aggravating the person's mounting sense of being overwhelmed. The result could be suicide, mainly because of the inability of this human being to handle depression alone. One of the most important steps of treating depression, according to Ainsworth, is how the depressed people are perceived by the others. Often, people think of depression as something that comes and goes. On the contrary of the common misconception, Ainsworth claims that once it appears, depression brings not only alterations in behavior, but also changes in the chemical structures of the human cells which cannot disappear without external medication and professional psychological treatment. In this way Understanding Depression teaches us how to treat depression, either through the an approach as a physician and psychologist, or simply as a friend who wants to help the person beside him or her. Despite the misconception that depression is simply a transient feeling, there are other misconceptions which Ainsworth calls the "myths of depression"(105). The most popular myth is that depression is a sign of a weakness of character. Unfortunately, myths like this can only contribute the risk associated with the potentially lethal illness. Ainsworth argues against the common misconception that women, as the "weaker" part of humanity, are more likely to fall victims to depression than are men. On the contrary, she proves that everyone has an "equal opportunity" to suffer this disorder inspite of the sex, age, or religion. Ainsworth agrees that there is a difference in experiencing depression. When men are depressed, they tend to look outside themselves in order to master their environment. Depressed women, on the other hand, are prone to search within themselves for the source of their unhappiness(28). Despite the fact that depression can be suffered in a different way by men and women, an equal opportunity for both sexes exists. Depression do exempts no one and the potential outcome, suicide, is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Every 17.3 minutes someone commits suicide in the United States. According to National Institute of Mental Health Statistics, suicide is the ninth leading cause of death in Americans and accounts for more than 30000 deaths every year (11). In order to prevent death, Ainsworth gives answers to questions such as how can I help myself, or how can I help someone who is depressed. While the cure could be different, the first step for treating depression is the same for all people. This step is understanding depression. It is the only way of treating the illness effectively, or as Ainsworth writes: "One of the keys of regaining control of your life and your emotions is to gain a factual understanding of what has happened to you and to your body. Once you understand the beast, you have a much better chance of outmanoeuvring it"(116). Ainsworth's book is a part of the successful struggle against the beast called depression. This is a book concerning a large audience, appealing to the humanity as a whole and to the problems that could happen to all of us despite the fact that we are men or women, children or adults, black or white. Understanding Depression is one of the best ways of exploring the tragedy of depression. It is a tragedy because it has taken away the lives of millions young people and will continue to annihilate the existence of many more if not stopped. Ainsworth's book is an unique source for depression to be destroyed and extricated from one's life because of the author's use of examples from reality and personal touch with depression. These examples are explained in understandable terms appealing to the whole humanity that does not want to give up its humanness to depression. All people are obliged to do something to stop this nightmare that ruins the lives of nearly 15 to 30 percent of the depressed people every day (115). Ainsworth's Understanding Depression is an excellent step to know the enemy, in order to sever its roots and help new lives be built, without the moodiness, hopelessness and emptiness that have darkened our human existence victimized by the beast called depression.

Works Cited Ainsworth, Patricia. Understanding Depression. Jackson, University Press of Mississippi. 2000. ISBN 1-57806-169-5.

The book starts out with a quote: "I treated depression throughout my career and never really understood what it was I was treating until I suffered from depression myself."... by a psychiatrist.

I've battled severe depression for years and from experience, I've learned that talking about it to others can backfire because many see it as a mere weakness. Words like, "snap out of it" can be extremely painful. Isolation becomes inevitable which just makes the sufferer worse. Well, Patricia Ainsworth does understand this disease and reading her book was comforting...something we desperately need.

Additionally, she informs the reader on updated information from the causes of depression, to what's happening in the brain. Treatment is also discussed and all of the writing is reader-friendly. Included is a Glossary, Index, and two Appendices which lists further resources (web sites/books) and a section on medication which are extremely helpful. I recommend this book to anyone who is depressed with unanswered questions and ESPECIALLY for those who have a loved one with this painful disease. I thank you, Patricia.

This is a very comprehensive listing of steamboats, where they were built, their size, who was Captain if known, etc. It also includes some, but not a lot, very nice photographs of steamboats. The only drawback is that the index is not comprehensive. My gg grandfather had only two listings in the index by his name, but he was actually mentioned in one additional listing for a total of three. So a bit of due diligence is required.

I believe this to be the best riverboat/steamboat reference I have ever come upon. It is the most complete I have ever seen although it is not totally complete. This is a book you cannot be without if interested in river travel history. I will never sell mine.

Way's is an almost staggering achievement. Mr. Way (now deceased) spent approx. 80 years of his life collecting this information. There isn't any other source that comes close to Way's if you need to know about steamboats on the Western Waters (Pittsburgh westwards).

This book gives an excellent account of what life was like in the South during the fight for Civil Rights. I was familiar with the case of the Freedom Summer Civil Rights Activist being murdered in Mississippi. This book goes into great detail about that case and other things that were taking place in the Civil Rights Movement at the time. I think this is book is a must read for anyone interested in the Civil Rights Struggle. I felt as if I were there watching the events as the unfolded. They really did their homework for this. It's a great tribute the Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman and all the others who worked along side them to change ideology of the Deep South during this time.

Every so often we need to refresh our memory of the bad things that happened in our lifetime. That is why I read books about the Holocaust. It is also why I read this book, telling of what Mississippi was like for black people in the early 1960s. The murder of Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney on June 21, 1964, is a defining event in the struggle to bring Mississippi to greater respect for the basic liberties guaranteed to Americans. This book tells the story in some detail, and also covers other events leading up to the murders. And there are some pages telling what has happened since (up to 1988, when the book was published). Very worthwhile and carefully done.

Even if you already know the story of Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney, this book is very detailed and interestingly put together. The background information on the freedom summer project and other activists is insightful, and this book reads like a story, and not just as boring facts. I recommend this book to everyone.

Crone's portrayal of the South in mid-twentieth century is an authentic, gripping view of dysfunction and perceived reality. Claire's understanding of her parents' world grows as she grows. The use of multiple narrators through time to tell the story draws the reader in, even though the individual stories can stand on their own, complete with power, narrative shape, and characters you care about. Like Larry Watson's view of Montana in his novels, Crone makes no real judgment, simply recites the events from vantage points that bring the reader to her own conclusions. Worth reading and re-reading.

These haunting short stories cover about 50 years in a North Carolina town...each story can stand on its own, but since many of the characters weave in and out of all of them, the book is really more like a novel (similar to Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio). The narrators include some of the main characters, so the style of each tale varies; moreover, the people aren't freaks, as many of Sherwood Anderson's characters are----so what happens over the years in this small town is moving and meaningful to the reader in the way that the best literature becomes part of our lives.

Fayton, N.C., is a small town in Moira Crone's imagination, but it will strike a truthful chord with anyone who has experienced small-town life, with all its claustrophobic joys and troubles. The South is familiar territory to this New Orleanian, who teaches at Louisiana State University. In "What Gets Into Us," a story collection that also works as a fragmented novel with varying points of view, Crone depicts the tangled lives of Southern families -- the secrets of the neighbor next door, the waves of change that came with the civil rights movement and feminism and greedy development. Springing out into the world or slouching homeward, Crone's characters are as real as real can be.

In "The Ice Garden," winner of the Faulkner/Wisdom Prize, Crone tells a story of Claire McKenzie, one of the most engaging characters in this collection. Daughter of a troubled mother and a father in denial, Claire has more than her share of difficulties to face, but she does, and head-on, as is often the way with Crone's female characters.

Crone knows the tangled ties of mothers and daughters: "After a while I had the thought that my mother was very brave, compared to other people," Claire says. "Because it was so hard for her to live, knowing all she knew, feeling all she felt, as disappointed as she was, as confused and jealous. My mother needed beauty to keep her going. There was just no other way for her. She could never get enough. I must be just like her, I thought, then I thought, no."

As with Ellen Gilchrist's beloved Traceleen, Crone's African-American domestic workers often provide the most telling perspectives. Sidney Byrd returns to town for her friend Pauline's funeral and has tea with a grown-up Lily Stark, whom Pauline once rescued from a terrible situation. "At the sight of her serving me, I think, well, the time has finally come when Lily and I can talk as if there had been one life in that town in those days, and not two, the one at the front door and the one at the back. But soon I learn."

Crone has a gift for the telling phrase that conjures a time, a shared perception. Remember those parties, 'the kind where there was a huge dance band, white tablecloths, rum and Coke, and dinner"? Or the days when "There were big state hospitals then, with nice grounds, which were peaceful, some of them -- people lived in such places for years, their whole adult lives. Families could take a person there and drop them off." Or consider this description of a desperate woman: "She is old now, but she can still throw herself at strangers." Or "Being a lady is all about ignoring things." Entire eras, types of people, states of mind are summoned in Crone's gorgeous, memorable sentences.

As time works on Fayton and exacts its inevitable toll on human life and spirit, Crone's families -- the Senders, the Starks, the McKenzies, the Cobbs -- experience loss and change, abuse and betrayal and sometimes redemption. The drug of place -- sometimes intoxicating, sometimes poisonous -- gets into the town's inhabitants with its changing architecture, its difficult, sometimes blinding, sometimes obscuring, light. Crone wholly imagines the lives of these people, who might be you or me, in the house next door in any Southern town, with all the lights on and everybody home, dark secrets in every corner.


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Book editor Susan Larson can be reached at slarson@timespicayune.com or at (504) 826-3457.

if there was ever a book about the great Willie Morris, then Jack Bales has "done it". Jack Bales has put forth a labor of what must be a love, in order to render a result that leaves us all with the greatest Willie Morris book. I will commit in writing that after just a day with Mr. Bales' book, "Willie Morris" I felt the wont to re-read "North Towards Home" and drive up from Jackson, Mississippi along that great black top highway 49 to YAZOO CITY.

I love everything about it. Practically inhaled the narrative going home on the bus last night. Love the pictures, love the way it is put together. And most of all, just as the author intended, re-love Willie's dear heart. Jack Bales has done a magnificent job on this detailed chronicle of the works of Willie Morris.

One of the quotes from a letter to Willie from Bill Clinton, reminded me why Willie's writing is cherished by many Mississippi expatriates. To find that someone so intelligent and articulate could unashamedly announce to the world that it's OK to love poor, conflicted Mississippi, in fact, is even inescapable if you have childhood ties there, not only excuses our chronic homesickness, it validates it, and lets us know we are in great company! Whenever I would see Willie's name appear as the author, my heart would do a little dance, because I knew something wonderful was in store for the reader. Jack Bales has honored him SO well. Beautiful, beautiful book.

This book reflects a phenomenal amount of research into this legendary southern author. It is a must have for anyone who collects Willie Morris, or for any library's reference section (or biography section). My knowledge of the author's life was expanded with the biography. The first night's reading I could not put the book down. The biography itself could have been a book standalone. The biography is scattered with rich pictures from Willie's youth which I had never seen before.

The annotated bibliography shows years of research by Mr. Bales, and is impressive in both content and complexity. I doubt anyone ever knew the amount of work by and about Willie Morris before Mr. Bales took on this quest. This book will become a tool for my collecting obsession similar to Polk's "bible" on the works of Eudora Welty.

This is a quick and thoroughly enjoyable collection of interviews with 15 different artists that worked with Walt Disney at the Studios. Mr. Peri states in the Acknowledgements that he was prompted by Didier Ghez (editor of the Walt's People series) to finally collect the interviews and publish them. Thanks both to Don and Didier! Most of the interviews were conducted in the late 1970's with artists that spent most of their career working at the Disney Studios. What surprised me at first was how the artists were all enchanted with Walt Disney; after reading a multitude of Disney biographies, you do get the sense that Walt was a benevolent dictator--but a dictator nonetheless. A majority of the artists interviewed stuck with Walt during the Animator's Strike of 1941. If you study any work on Disney and animation, the Animator's Strike is often seen as a watershed in the history of the Studio, prompting the mentality that Walt lost a lot of faith in his employees. With the interviews presented by Peri, you get a sense that Walt did favor the artists that stuck by him. I finished Walt's People Volume 1 (Ed. by Ghez) shortly after this title. There are some similarities in the scope of the two books, but they are both valuable resources on their own. The interviews presented by Peri were done at a time when there was not a lot being written about the artists that worked directly with Walt Disney. After reading the interviews, you come away with a sense of what it was like to work with Walt Disney and to work at the Studios. I feel like I have a better understanding of how Walt worked during the early years of the Studios. The artists included animators, designers and voice actors:

* Ken Anderson
* Les Clark
* Larry Clemmons
* Jack Cutting
* Don Duckwall
* Marcellite Garner
* Harper Goff
* Floyd Gottfredson
* Dick Huemer
* Wilfred Jackson
* Eric Larson
* Clarence Nash
* Ken O'Connor
* Herb Ryman
* Ben Sharpsteen

The stories and anecdotes that each artist shares are humorous, wistful and passionate. These artists truly loved their jobs and working with Walt Disney.

"...he didn't think of himself as Walt Disney. He thought of Walt Disney as an entity, an organization, and he spoke of Walt Disney as an organization, for which everybody worked and not the personal part of the name. A lot of people put Walt down because they didn't get along with him or they got canned or they were chewed out by him, and naturally they probably make more or less severe remarks about him and understandably so. He had a great ego, and because of this ego he could overcome a lot of difficulties and obstacles because he believed in himself. He believed what other people didn't believe, and he was proven right time after time after time, even with the bankers. Snow White was called "Disney's Folly," because what--an animated cartoon to run for over an hour? It's Impossible! Nobody will sit through a cartoon that long. Well that was Snow White and the Seven Dwarves."

--Les Clark (p. 123, Working With Walt)

Bottom Line: This is a wonderful resource to have at hand. It is not for everyone--you really need to have an interest in animation, the studios or what working with Walt Disney was like in order to fully realize the necessity of a title like this. I give it a high Geek Factor rating because of its focus, even though the book is extremely accessible and easy to read. But if you are interested in learning a lot about the artists, the studio and Walt Disney, this is a great place to start or to add to your collection. This book will foster a greater appreciation for the animated films and shorts. It is also one of the few places you can read the actual words of the artists that never received a lot of acclaim outside the arena of animation fans.

As a dedicated Waltphile, I believe there can't be too many books about Walt Disney. Don Peri's excellent collection of interviews with many rarely heard from Disney Legends helps to make that case.

Working with Walt offers these artists their own day in the sun at long last and more fully rounds out the portraits of Walt painted by biographers and authors like Bob Thomas (Walt Disney: An American Original), Howard and Amy Green (Remembering Walt), and Pat Williams (How to Be Like Walt).

In the late 1970s, Don Peri was a young man who happened to be in the right place at the right time to capture so many of these voices, now gone from us forever. He has done a more than admirable job in offering us these priceless interviews. In the book, he hinted that more had been conducted than are in this volume. Hoping that means we can expect a Working with Walt, Volume 2!

Nice job, Don. I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about what made Walt's studio and career so singularly remarkable, as told by those who lived the legend.

How to Be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life (How to Be Like) WALT DISNEY: AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL Remembering Walt

What a wonderful collection of interviews Disney historian Don Peri has assembled in his book Working With Walt: Interviews With Disney Artists. Many of the Disney artists featured in this book are relatively unknown, but highly influential in the development of the incomparable art of Disney animation and entertainment.

Through interviews with the artists who worked directly with Walt Disney, some from the very early days before Mickey Mouse even started talking, this book opens a window into what it was like to work and create with the genius Walt Disney. Fifteen animators, directors, art designers, and voice actors tell their stories of how they first started working for Disney, what it was like to meet the legendary man himself, their (usually) fond memories of Walt, and the joy of creating during the golden age of animation in the 1930s. The artists vivid details of life at the Disney studio, poignantly recalled, bring the reader back in time and place to where the magic happened - Mickey found his voice, Snow White went from a dream to life, and a magic kingdom was built. The darker times are recalled too, the constant financial strains of the early days, the strike that almost ended the studio (and did end many friendships), the strain of working 20 hours a day to create the perfect animation, and Walt's last few weeks.

The author's admiration for Walt Disney and the Disney artists shines through each interview, with his adept interviewing skills used to draw out deep memories and emotions from the Disney artists, many of whom rarely granted interviews, but all of whom spoke candidly about the complexity of Walt Disney, who could be full of praise one moment, and in the next, express disappointment like a "wounded bear" over animation that didn't meet his exacting standards of perfection.

We are granted insights worth many an "E-Ticket" from the voice of Donald Duck, the voice of Minnie Mouse, the great animators from almost the very beginning, the creative story artists, the designers of Disneyland, and even the man who drew the daily Mickey Mouse comic strip for decades. I had never heard of any of these Disney artists before reading this book, but they are all unsung heroes in the Disney phenomenon. This book is sure to be part of every Disney fan's library, and I highly recommend it.

The past three years I have studied Scruggs banjo exclusively a few hours a day. That will keep your fingers up to speed when picking up the guitar from time to time. After thirty five years of playing old time banjo and guitar I decided to learn Scruggs style bluegrass banjo before it's too late!
Now I have returned to more guitar after buying a Taylor six string. With so much great teaching DVD's on banjo, I was expecting to find good fingerstyle blues as well. There is much material out there however the better well known authors and artists were past my musical technique. I need material to incorporate into my own style, not how to master a blues idiom.
I don't have the time to spare like when young. All this to say that the books and cd's I have studied by Larry McCabe are authentic to the style and very useful to the advancing musician. There is at least two years of material to work thru for even the advanced player. Whatever your goals, you will find Larry's many books geared to your personal playing.

I wish I'd had this book 30 years ago. Larry McCabe's 101 Mississippi Delta Blues Cotton Picking Guitar Licks is my favorite book in my entire collection of tablature. I've always fingerpicked guitar, and I consider myself somewhat proficient at it. But I never really made much progress trying to teach myself to fingerpick the Delta Blues, mostly because I am entirely self-taught from listening to records. The licks on those old records are pretty difficult to decipher by ear, if you know what I mean. I am currently working my way thru this book, and - so far - it has: 1) taught me alot of great licks that I can apply in numerous situations; 2) broken a few old, bad habitual ways of picking and thinking about picking; and - most importantly - 3) given me fresh ideas for developing my own licks. Highly recommended.

Well, for once, the editorial description is dead on. If you are a lead blues guitar player, but are getting a little bored by what you are doing, this book can really help you. When you first listen to the accompanying CD, you may think that the licks are a little basic. Not so. They only seem that way because the are played at a moderate pace. Pick a lick out, get it down, and then pick up the pace. Mix it with the single note lines you normally play. Not only will it really spice up your solo, but makes you go places you might not go without the lick.
Now, if you are a flat picker, try the Nashville thing of using your flatpick and two fingers. That takes a little practice, but the technique will carry over into every thing you play. If you already use your fingers, this will be not all that difficult. Either way you will set yourself apart from the crowd. Besides, it's fun.

An Excellent Choice for the Early Intermediate Blues Guitarist

A turnaround is a lick played at the end of a section of music. A blues turnaround would be played in measures 11-12 of a 12-bar blues, or measures 7-8 of an eight-bar blues.

Electric urban blues turnarounds are fairly easy to play, and the difference from one to another is subtle. Having the ability to play a variety of turnarounds is an important skill in blues guitar playing. This is the best book I know of that addresses exclusively the subject of electric blues guitar turnarounds.

This a book for a VERY ambitious beginner, or an early intermediate guitarist who has an interest in Chicago blues in the classic style of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Reed, etc.

The licks are all arranged in the key of C. This is for ease of analysis and comparison. The user is encouraged to transpose the licks to other keys - a worthwhile project for exploring and learning the fingerboard. Very, very good practice for learning the art of blues phrasing.

Great book from one of our leading authors. My students (and myself) have consistently benefited from the interesting instruction contained here.

My students and I work from a several of Larry McCabe's guitar books and find that the books produce consistently high results.

This book, like the others, is exceptionally well crafted, specific in intent, and the guitar lines are accurately written exactly as they are heard on the CD. Larry McCabe books are the work of a dedicated teacher who has achieved a high level of respect nationally in the field of music education.

Larry asked me to write a review for this book, and I am happy to do so. The object of this book is to teach the art of playing blues guitar turnarounds to a guitarist who has some prior experience but is just beginning to explore electric blues.

If a student knows how to bend the strings and perhaps play slurs, slides, and hammers, blues turnarounds are not difficult to play. What is important is to play them authentically and with conviction. This book does a very good job in advancing those objectives.

A component of this book that is quite effective is that every phrase is written in the Key of C. The student should then transpose each lick to other keys, a desirable skill that encourages individual incentive and ability to solve arranging problems.

The turnarounds sound exactly like the ones played on classic blues recordings by the great artists from Chicago and other urban areas.

I know other teachers who swear by Larry's books, and I am one of them. Great book- effective in its aims, ambitious content, fun to work through, and a great value.

This book is an extremely valuable contribution to the history of American art. Kirschke carefully describes and explains the life of Aaron Douglas----from his childhood in Kansas, to the heights of the Harlem Renassaince, and to his teaching position at Fisk University in his twilight years. Kirschke captures the essense of both the Harlem Renassaince and the life of Aaron Douglas with superb research and excellent prose.

For those who have become interested in Douglas' art, this sets it and his life in a broader context. Very satisfying.

There's a lot written about war and, increasingly, about the lingering effects of war, fighting, and fear on the psyche. Battle trauma and post-traumatic stress syndrome have been increasingly well documented. It's not only male writers who've tackled the subject. Pat Barker's painfully luminous novels about the First World War come to mind, and Susan Griffin wrote an outstanding and unclassifiable book, A Chorus of Stones about public and private wars in her family. But Betsy Howell's brave and beautiful memoir of two important American wars through the eyes, words, and memories of her great-great-grandfather, a Union soldier in the Civil War, and her father, a paratrooper in Normandy in WWII, is something special. Not content to just read through her great-great-grandfather's war diary, she donned a uniform herself and became a Civil War re-enactor, toting a musket and even wearing a fake beard for a few battles. These passages of the memoir are hilarious at times; but the book ultimately has a deeply serious task--to come to terms with how war may have affected her father, James Howell, and contributed to his alcoholism. Howell's relationship with her delightful but damaged father as a child and as a young adult are touchingly told. I admired the research that went into backgrounding and shaping this story, and even more admired how Howell isn't afraid to mine her past for the truth about her family. She obviously loves the place she grew up--the Northwest--the Civil War, and her parents, and all that love and curiosity enriches and balances a story about soldiers and what happens to them and their loved ones. I really recommend it.

This is an amazing work of narrative non-fiction. I was riveted from the first page. Ms Howells' prose is elegant without being prosaic; tender without being sappy, and literary without talking above the reader. The most exciting thing about this work is the way she links three different time periods together so seemlessly that you are spirited into each world without hesitation. I have never read a book that captures the impact of war on men, on women and on families in such a personal way. It is a journey anyone who has been impacted by any war should take. Truly hearthbreaking while also breathing hope into the simple experience of memory. A joy on every level.