Read any GOOD BOOKS lately?
ADD THESE MISSISSIPPI-CENTRIC BOOKS TO YOUR CHRISTMAS LIST
TEXT BY REBA J. MCMELLON
“THE STATE OF JONES,”
BY SALLY JENKINS AND
JOHN STAUFFER,
$27.50, DOUBLEDAY.
“The State of Jones”
is based in Jones County
during the Civil War. You
can’t have grown up in or lived around
Mississippi long without hearing some-
one refer to Jones County as “The Free
State of Jones.” It’s a great subject
and a great idea for a book.
The story enfolds Newton Knight, an
antislavery farmer from Jones County.
Knight deserted the Confederate Army
and led an insurrection against the
Confederacy from 1863 to 1865.
We’ve often heard that the Civil War
was a plantation owner’s war fought by
planters. Known as strong independent
Irishmen, the citizens of Jones County
decided against it.
Though meticulously researched, the
book is a little rigid in style and lacks
an easy Southern flow. The authors
weave in a personalized story using
Southern slang that comes off a little
condescending. Knight sounds more like
a hillbilly than a man from Ellisville.
The authors included a lot of extempo-
raneous war information, erring on the
side of an academic history book with
unnecessary words such as conscripted
and detritus and pestilential.
Sally Jenkins lives in New York City.
John Stauffer is chair and professor at
Harvard University and lives in
Cambridge, Mass.
“IN THE SANCTUARY OF
OUTCASTS,” BY NEIL
WHITE, $25.99,
WILLIAM MORROW.
As the former publish-
er of New Orleans maga-
zine, Coast magazine
and Coast Business Journal, Neil White
has arguably left his mark from one end
of Mississippi to the other, and not
always in a good way.
“In the Sanctuary of Outcasts” is a
memoir of White’s time in federal
prison for check kiting. The author
makes a stab at adding new meaning to
white color crime.
The strength of the book is less
about White and more about the last
leper colony in mainland America,
located in Carville, La., on the same
grounds as the federal prison. That part
is incredible.
This book describes people and cir-
cumstances most of us blindly miss. The
reader will find grace and the extraor-
dinary where it’s least expected and
will come away with a reminder of lov-
ing your neighbor but not always trust-
ing them.
Neil White lives in Oxford.
“HIGHWAY 51:
MISSISSIPPI HILL
COUNTRY,” PHOTO-
GRAPHS BY GLORIA
NORRIS, INTRODUCTION
BY RICK BASS, $40, UNIVERSITY PRESS
OF MISSISSIPPI.
What do Nesbit, Tillatoba, Duck Hill,
Winona, Pickens, Batesville and Canton
have in common? Highway 51. From
Memphis to Jackson, Highway 51 runs
through small town Mississippi. The 90
photographs that make up this large,
color book are simple yet profound.
No text is necessary; the photos
speak for themselves.
Gloria Norris was born in Holcomb in
1937, and graduated magna cum laude
from the University of Southern
Mississippi. She moved to New York City
and entered the literary world and has
never lost her love for Mississippi.
“Highway 51; Mississippi Hill County”
deserves a prominent place on the cof-
fee table of all who appreciate genuine
rural life.
“HISTORIC PHOTOS
MISSISSIPPI,” TEXT AND
CAPTIONS BY ANNE B.
MCKEE, $39.95, TURNER
PUBLISHING.
Authentic, historic and
captivating, this book of
photography and text is an enjoyable
pictorial history of Mississippi in
chronological order. It begins in the
1860s and ends in 1976 when Gerald
Ford campaigned in Mississippi.
“Historic Photos of Mississippi”
includes interesting and fascinating
facts that will both entertain and
inform.
Included are the great flood of the
1920s, Johnny Carson as a student at
Millsaps College and an underground
nuclear explosion in Lamar County in
1964. This coffee table book is a must
for Mississippi libraries.
Anne B. McKee lives in Meridian.
“GREEDY BONES,” BY
CAROLYN HAINES,
$24.99, ST. MARTIN’S
PRESS.
Just when you think
your brain’s about to
explode, here comes a
new installment of Carolyn Haines’
Bone series. Always a breath of fresh
air, protagonist Sarah Booth Delaney
brings mystery and mischief to the
Mississippi Delta in “Greedy Bones.”
Whether you’re already a fan or
newcomer, you’re sure to enjoy this
work of fiction. It’s hard to tell who
would be more entertaining, Sarah
Booth Delaney, P.I./actress or
Mississippi author Carolyn Haines.
You can’t go wrong with either.
Carolyn Haines is from Lucedale,
and has slid just across the state
line to Semmes, Ala. She teaches
writing at the University of South
Alabama.
a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 41