Louisiana Books

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This is a highly entertaining, yet very scholarly biography of Colonel George St. Ledger Grenfell-- a colorful British soldier of fortune and member of General Morgan's staff.

Grenfell's life is exciting and very unusual. It was filled with danger, adventure, high excitement, and risk after risk.

The author is widely reknowned for his superb history of the Union cavalry in the Civil War. Grenfell is one of those cavalier Confederate heroes that makes the Civil War so fascinating. He's a man that feels most at home in battle very much like Stonewall Jackson, Patrick Cleburne, or Jeb Stuart.

Grenfell had the misfortune after he left Morgan's staff (under a cloud) to get involved in Confederate Secret Service plans which, after a lengthy show trial, got him imprisoned in the very harsh prison of the Dry Tortugas off the coast of Florida. He, as noted by Starr, fully understood that Morgan's flashy raids often involving thievery and petty crime on the part of the soldiers, were far less helpful to the Confederate war effort than popular southern journalists of the time had characterized. Grenfell properly understood that Morgan was the flashy facade and General Basil Duke was actually the brains of Morgan's cavalry.

Being the adventurer and risk-taker that he was, Grenfell attempted to escape from the Dry Tortugas. He was never heard from again.

Starr is an excellent writer and brings this otherwise mythic character of Grenfell very much to life. While a minor player in the drama that was the Civil War, his association with Morgan and with Duke makes the study of him a fascinating backdoor entre to the world of Morgan's Raiders. I recommend this biography to any fan of interesting characters. The book is well-documented and finely written. This is a very exciting biography and certainly illustrates that any historian who makes an exciting personage boring has utterly failed.

Much in the same way that the death of John Adams in David McCullough's superb biography saddened me, the death/disappearance of Grenfell at the end of this biography was a sad moment for me. Part scoundrel, part scallowag, part world-traveling adventurer, and completely a complex multi-faceted character, George St. Ledger Grenfell rightfully deserves the attention given him in this excellent biography.

A beautiful and compelling portraiture of sorrow and loss, and the ravages of time frozen, captured in a memory.

Part of the "Voices of the South" series published by Louisiana State University, "Come Back Lolly Ray" is an elegantly-crafted psychological exploration of the secrets, hopes, failures and sterility of small-town Southern life in the 1950s. The author, Beverly Lowry, writes with extraordinary precision and care; she creates both mental and physical landscapes so precisely etched and meticulously envisioned that the reader often will take pause to reflect on the numerous possibilities engendered by these emotional and environmental landscapes. This novel deserves a very wide audience.

Darwing on several established literary traditions, Ms. Lowry uses a central character (Lolly Ray Lasswell) to permit us to examine the texture of life in the ironically-named small town of Eunola. Reminiscent of Sherwood Anderson's "Winesburg, Ohio" and of William Faulkner's Southern charcterizations, "Come Back Lolly Ray" mercilessly dissects the lives of the citizens of this emotionally barren city. Lolly Ray, virginal and untouchable, comes to represent, unwillingly and unknowingly, the ultimate symbol of white Southern purity. Her "abandonment" of an unspoken compact with the town propels the plot of the novel. Her parents, Frank and Lucille, symbolize the terrible tensions and unresolved conflicts not only particular to the white South in the 1950s but to unfulfilling marriages regardless of time or place. Other characters, whether they be the town abortionist or the village idiot, the elegant-gone-to-seed cotton aristocrat or the slightly-touched matriarch living in isolation with happy abandon, are sketched with evocative detail and unusual empathy.

Above all else, however, "Come Back Lolly Ray" is a writer's novel. Now a professor at George Mason University, Beverly Lowry demonstraters, on every page, a profound respect for the written word. Lush with visual and emotional imagery, her novel requires patience. For those who can afford a provocative and disturbing view of small-town life and who do not feel the need to rush through a novel whose themes have been explored countless times in our national literature, "Come Back Lolly Ray" will remain in their memories long after having read the book.

The new Amazon format forces the reviewer against his will to assign the numerical evaluation.

"Carpetbaggers", as generally understood, is a term of opprobrium applied to civilian Yankees who invaded the South after the Civil War in search of political and economic opportunity.

There was another class of migrant not as well known; men and women who moved North to create new lives and careers among their former enemies. Some failed, but many remained to succeed brilliantly, enriching the entire nation and serving as ambassadors of reconciliation.

Professor Sutherland's graceful prose style lends itself admirably to their story.

Photos, bibliography, appendices, index.

An easy to read book with a tremendous amount of detail not only about Daniel Pratt and his business but about the town of Prattville that was named for him and the inhabitants of that town during the time period from 1835 until the 1870s. Exhaustively researched, footnoted and indexed this book is a treasure for all who want to see a view of the South contrary to the popular agarian stereotype. Historians as well as genealogists will find this a wonderful resource.

When I lived in New Orleans I met the women that wrote this cookbook, and let me tell you - this is true "Nawlins" cooking. It has the best and easiest recipes for gumbo, jambalaya, crawfish etouffe and more. Yummy food, with great little stories and comments accompanying each recipe. You can't go wrong buying this - but don't expect any leftovers!!!)

This book is simply stunning. The first poem alone is worth the price of purchase.

Loved the cookbook. Recipes are creative and delicious. I highly recommend this book for people who like their food slightly spicy to super hot. Dave also has a great writing style and sense of humor, which make this cookbook fun to read.

Outstanding!!!

CREATING THE BIG EASY: NEW ORLEANS AND THE EMERGENCE OF MODERN TOURISM, 1918-45 is especially important today as the city struggles to rebuild and redefine itself. It's a survey of tourism-based development and the cultural and economic forces that transformed New Orleans from a port to a national tourist destination. Urban development, historic preservation and taxes along with the city's efforts to promote its cultural heritage to outsiders makes for an in-depth survey on how visitors are enticed by an image of an urban area's past and present. A 'must' for any who would understand the roots of modern New Orleans' development and the task at hand for rebuilding it.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch