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 that emerged just after slavery ended should make for one of the country's most enriching narratives.
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 'do of humorous and insightful sounds, usages, commands and complaints.
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 daydream about baking bread and finding freedom from 9-to-5 jobs and cable television bills.
‘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 nice, well-to-do white ladies who fueled segregation with a straight face.
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 would use distortions of information to manipulate the public.
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 the development of acoustic country blues from the 1920s onward, showing how the music adapted itself to new fashions, recording techniques and audiences.
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 during the year before Hurricane Katrina, the book attempts to capture the racial, sexual and class tensions that define the city.
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 a plot that winds its way around the question: "What is the power of a story?"
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 an English instructorMcInnis has accomplished some of the same achievements as the writers he idolized as a child.
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 America.
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. You could buy everything you need to make one at a dollar store.
‘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 its subtitle: "How Democrats Can Win Without the South.
'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).
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 during the months following Hurricane Katrina.
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 by your favorite fiction writer.