Eclipsing Slave History
America's economy was built largely on the backs of slaves, and the South's "peculiar institution" affected America's cultural development for decades. So, the story of the generation of black Americans …
Sesquipedalian Delight
In "Alphabet Juice" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008, $25), Roy Blount Jr. combs through the English language from its roots to its modern tips, and sweeps it into an up …
Veering Out of the Fast Lane
It's a crazy dream that many people have: Sell everything you own and move out to a farm in the middle of nowhere. Most of us are content to just …
‘Well-to-Do' Discrimination
"The Help" (Putnam, 2009, $24.95) is Kathryn Stockett's fictional exposé of racial discrimination in Jackson's white upper-middle class in the 1960s. Stockett, a white Jackson native, zeroes in on the …
Proposing a New Model
The Internet provides a plethora of information, making it easier to find sources of unprejudiced information about any number of subjects, and sometimes making it more difficult for those who …
Cataloguing the Blues
Ted Gioia's "Delta Blues" (W.W. Norton, 2008, $27.95) rambles from Mississippi to Memphis, from Chicago to New York and across Europe, just like the musicians it documents. The book traces …
Class Definition
Like the New Orleans parade that lends its name to the title of Amanda Boyden's novel, "Babylon Rolling" (Random House, 2008, $23.95) overflows with people. Set in an Uptown neighborhood …
The Bumbling Arsonist
In "Arsonists' Guide to Writers' Homes in New England" (Algonquin, re-release 2008, $23.95), Brock Clarke delivers a hybrid memoir/mystery with a bumbling everyman narrator, a cast of preposterous characters, and …
Art
C. Liegh McInnis: Jackson's Renaissance Man
As a child growing up in the Delta, Clarksdale native C. Liegh McInnis began reading to counter the small-town blues. Since leaving to attend Jackson State Universitywhere he is now …
Imperfect Storm
Hurricane Katrina made landfall in southern Louisiana and Mississippi Aug. 29, 2005. The subsequent flooding of New Orleans was a tragedy on a scale that is still unimaginable in modern …
Books
Freaky and Bloody
Kaleidoscopes are usually made from simple, cheap and seemingly random ingredients: a cardboard tube or two, colored pebbles or painted rice grains and a few cut-rate mirrors. That's it, really. …
Books
‘Blue Dixie': Anecdotes and Assertions
A couple of years ago, Thomas Schaller wrote a book, "Whistling Past Dixie," that got a lot of people up in arms. The book's thesis was nicely summed up by …
'One Foot In the Grave'
Florida-based author Charles Martin has continued his run of heart string-tugging stories with his new novel, "Where the River Ends" (Broadway Books, 2008, $19.95).
Books
Spirit of a City
"A Season of the Night: New Orleans Life After Katrina" is a tribute of a New Orleans transplant to his adopted home. McNulty writes a heart-felt description of his life …
Books
Disaster: A Growth Industry
"The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" (Picador USA, 2008, $16), is so well written and researched that you will find it as difficult to put down as anything …
