Jackson

This is a great read. I started reading the book thinking it was going to be about a mother being taking out of the Jackson mental hospital in Louisiana. She was indeed taken from the hospital and had some major mental problems but the book was about a mother and her daughters in Jackson, Mississippi during the school desegregation.

Jody Luther is a 15 years old. She is in high school, has a job, takes care of her younger sister and deals with her mentally ill mother. If that is not enough it was happening during the civil rights movement in 1970.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author in exchange for a honest review.

A Home-Concealed Woman: The Diaries of Magnolia Wynn Le Guin, 1901-1913

“A Home-Concealed Woman” The Diaries of Magnolia Wynn LeGuin by Charles A. LeGuin is set in Georgia. This was my cousin Molly’s Grandmother Liggin’s aunt and happened in early 1900’s. You might find it interesting because it’s an account of day-to-day life; raising children, taking care of elderly parents in her home, having visitors to cook for and stay over-night, trials and tribulations of a wife/mother/daughter trying to do what is expected of her but wishing she could change some things. (She had a baby every two years and suffered from some kind of female health problem which made childbirth torture)……she did have a few more advantages than the poorest of the poor. She had one of the first telephones and her husband was employed at his mill.

This happened in the early 1900’s.

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The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman

Olive Oatman was a 14 year old (some say 13) traveling west in 1851 when Southwest Indians attacked her family’s wagon train in Arizona (then Mexico), capturing Olive and her seven-year-old sister Mary Ann. The rest of the Oatman family except her brother, Lorenze, was killed in the massacre. He was left for dead near Gila Bend and managed to return to the remainder of the party the Oatmans had left behind in Maricopa Wells.

The girls lived with their captors for a year, then were traded to the Mohave, who raised them. Mary Ann died, and Olive was ransomed back to the whites in 1856, wearing a blue chin tattoo. She became a celebrity in her day, embarking on a lecture tour promoting a book that Re. Royal R. Stratton wrote about her ordeal, The Captivity of the Oatman Girls. Newly published, The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman, is the first scholarly biography of Olive Oatman. It debunks a number of myths that have circulated about her over the past century and a half.

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South of Little Rock

This novel by the historian and biographer George Rollie Adams plays out in a small town that lies across the border of two states in the era of the segregationist Arkansas governor, Orval Faubus, and Huey Long’s Louisiana. South of Little Rock describes a moment in time and paints an authentic picture of a place in crisis. The plot develops across two cultures, white and black, that overlap but that, crucially, only partly interlace. The mystery at its center can only clear when these two societies coordinate to sew together disparate sensibilities and scattered pieces of evidence. Readers will note the novel’s crisp prose. They will also find it easy to admire the skill with which Adams renders the cadences of speech and the accents that tug both toward Greater Appalachia and in the direction of the Deep South. All in all, this novel makes for a rewarding read.

The Bernice Library wants this book (in hardback). Unfortunately they do not have the funds to buy a copy. If you would like to donate the book contact Shiloh to Canaan for the address. Thank You.

Greetings from Ruston: A Post Card History of Ruston, Louisiana

Take a trip to the history of the Ruston, Louisiana, home of Louisiana Tech. The story is told through the images of 100 years of post cards. The book combines post card images with interesting anecdotes to tell the story of Ruston from its earliest days in the 1900s, through World War II, and up to the present day. Post cards include early businesses and homes, churches, schools, and advertising.

Neither Fear Nor Favor: Deputy United States Marshal John Tom Sisemore

This is a true story about Deputy U.S. Marshal John Tom Sismore in the Western District of Louisiana. He was considered one of the best deputies during the 1890’s. The author did a great in researching the deputy from old newspapers and court documents. He also interviewed descendants of Sismore.

This is a very good written book about a very interesting man. The author did a great job writing this book.

Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation

More than the Trail of Tears this is a very well written history of a crucial span of almost 100 years of the Cherokee and other tribe of the southeast. Their social life, the differing political current and their experiences with the ‘whites’ and more. Very comprehensive. The author is intentionally emotive or expressive at times but done very well. He also includes lots of original source material.

 

Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History

 

This latest book in the Killing series will be released on October 9. This is about the men and women who tracked down the SS fugitives and brought them to justice.

 

 

We Pointed Them North: Recollections of a Cowpuncher

A unique book about life as a cowboy by someone who lived it. It covers the time of roughly 1871-1889. Everything is here: trail drives, roundups, horse thieves, cattle rustlers, saloons and women. This is a book for anyone who’s a fan of the American West and the true cowboy era. Much different from the movies and fictionalized versions we’ve come to know as the Old West.

White Rose, Black Forest

 

This is a story about an American spy and a Germany nurse who’s paths cross during the WWII.

A German girl who was formerly part of the White Rose movement and disillusioned with the Nazi regime finds an American spy who had parachuted into the country and, unfortunately, had broke both of  his legs. The story is about building trust. They both need each other in order to survive.