My grandfather was born in 1888 in the town of St. Martinville, LA and turned the century with the rest of Mr. Capuder's cast of characters. Even with that connection, in reading this book I still learned things about my ancestors that I didn't know. It is amazing how real these folks still are on the pages of Le Petit Paris, as if they'd just closed their storefront or doused their lantern for the night, not the century. I am the author of a book of Cajun poetry, Porch People, that tells the stories of these same people two generations later and it is with great respect and pleasure that I add Mr. Capuder's vast information to my own.

The book takes you back in time. The author makes you think the people are still here with us today. And he makes you feel like you're living in the past. The book is very informative, interesting, beautifully detailed with pictures, and sectioned. It's our own heritage and the way they lived. It has cross references which makes it even more interesting. But most of all it leaves you hunger for more.

This book is a small treasure of riches from the past for rural southwest Louisiana. The turn of two centuries finds us viewing our ancestors as if they still worked this land and shopped these store fronts. I learned things about my own great-grandfather that our family oral history had not documented. Mr. Capuder has done a wonderful job condensing such a vast history into such elemental beginnings.

This book corrects the many lies that racist white Louisianians and their Creole of color sympathizers have been telling about the origins of all things Louisiana for decades. It reclaims Louisiana for the Africans, who were brought there as chattle property to build the buildings, cultivate the land, blacksmith the iron and ultimately create the culture.

As a descendant of Colonial Louisiana Africans, this book was the first to tell me that I am a descendant of the Bamana of Mali. It is one of the only books I have come across to describe in detail, the battles of Louisiana maroon leader Saint Juan Malo. It is one of the first to tell it like it is concerning the true relationship of the French and Africans of this bastard french colony & address the underlying factors of why it became an Afro-creole colony more so than anything else. Basically this book tells the unadulterated truth backed by facts. It doesn't, like so many other books about Louisiana, get caught up in the romance of the Creoles of color and there obsession with their white fathers. Instead it tells the story of their Senegambian mothers. And shows how the culture of these Africans is the foundation of what is now considered Louisiana Creole culture.

This book is a breath of fresh air to some one like myself who loathes the hundreds of books written about Louisiana that describes it as " a mixture of French, Spanish, and Indian cultures". Always omitting the fact of African influence due to the legacy of white supremacy inherent in the telling of US history. In most other books on the subject, Africans are merely slaves. In this book we are shown for what we are, the foundation of the culture. It will most definitely be a textbook in any course I teach on the subject.

Check out the front page article in the July 30 Sunday New York Times, headlined "Anonymous Louisiana Slaves Regain Identity," to fully appreciate the significance of the historical research embodied in this book.

I had to read this book for a seminar class and was fascinated by it. It documents in much detail the history of colonial Louisiana putting West Africans squarely in the middle of that development. Midlo Hall uses sources from three countries, France, Spain and colonial Britain to document the African presence in Louisiana. She spends some time on the fact that most of the Africans brought to Louisiana were from the Senegambia region of West Africa. Consequently, the Africans brought with them their way of life and were able to exercise much of it in Louisiana. She notes the difference in French/Spanish colonization and the contribution of African language, food and cultural practices in Louisiana. It is well worth reading for it is a history book quite well written that would appeal to the general public. It is entertaining as well as informative.

This edition of The Awakening is a beautifully compiled work. I found it incredibly insightful as I used it for research papers in high school and college. The essays and criticism from Chopin's era are priceless. It was so helpful to have those along with the text, they really gave insight one could not find elsewhere. The Awakening continues to be my favorite book, this my favorite edition. If you are going to write a paper on this book or Chopin there is no other book that will help you more.

Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" is the classic novel about women that "Madame Bovary" purports to be but isn't. It's not just a "woman's" novel, though, it perfectly (and poetically) captures the inner life of a solitary person who is forced to live for the sake of others. And while this has been a distinctly female position for a large part of Western history, it is a position that can be identified with by just about anyone in our current age of employee internet-use monitoring. This is a twentieth-century tale of discomfort with and reaction to antagonistic surroundings. For those of us who don't feel the need to procreate in an overpopulated world, Edna's (and presumably Chopin's) discomfort with children will make sense. For those of us who may not always know exactly what we want out of life, this story will strike a chord.

Kate Chopin's writing is deliberate but not labored. She is particularly successful at depicting ambiguity in a way which is highly descriptive and communicative. This is a skill which I can't praise highly enough, and it culminates in an ending which is absolutely perfect. While criticism could be raised against "The Awakening" as another apology for the suicidal artist, Edna's literal and symbolic escape is less pretentious than Harry's in "Steppenwolfe," nor as indecipherable as that of any of Joyce's creations. Kate Chopin's novel is truly a classic in the sense that it should be a part of any survey of American literature. The Norton Critical edition is the best way to go, too, with helpful biographical information and literary criticism. If you want a more enriching experience with this novel, I'd highly recommend this version.

I read this book when I accepted a challenge to be more aware of the authors I chose to read -- i.e., deliberately read more books by women, by minority authors, and by third-world authors.

A friend recommended five books by women, all of which I loved. "The Awakening" is a fascinating look at women's place in society at a point in time when things are beginning to change. The female characters in this novel are not two-dimensional, moving about in silent submission to oppressive patriarchal authority; rather, they are presented as individuals with thoughts, desires, feelings, etc. of their own. While by today's standards this is not a revolutionary idea, at the time Chopin was writing, it was rather novel.

This book, then, served as a fascinating glimpse into a world that is past -- a world that was on the brink of change. Even if this were not a gripping story in its own right (which, by all means, it is), "The Awakening" would be worth reading simply for this social-historical vision.

When my grandmother died she took her recipes to the grave with her. This book is the closest I've come to recreating her food. I've used recipes for birthday's, Christmas, and family reunions and I've never failed yet following the instructions. Big Mama is folklore, it's a family history and it's divine food.

One of my grandmother's died 15 years ago at age 75 and another just a year ago at age 97. There are recipes in this book almost identical to those they used during their cooking days. This book is wonderful because it actually contains the recipes that they never got around to writing down or had jotted down on a notecard and put in a bible. The recipes may have different names but they have the same rich flavor. I throw out the diet and delight my family with recipes from The Black Pot at every gathering. My dad loves it because it reminds him when...

I love this cookbook! The recipes are just like grandma and great-grandma used. Being from the south I could really relate to this. It's the best southern country cookbook I have found yet! Signed, Mississippi

I am from southwest Louisiana and this is one of the best Cajun cookbooks I have ever bought! Most of the recipes are what my family has always prepared and still serve now. I recommend this book to everyone in Cajun country and to all of you that want to cook Cajun. A great gift for anyone that loves to cook. Ms. Fontenot has done an excellent job!

Nicole Denee Fontenot spent two years interviewing Cajun women who grew up in the first half of the 20th century, and presents her research in Cooking With Cajun Women, a simply terrific blend of cookbook and anecdotes of older times when all food was homemade. Memories appear as highlighted sidebars to accompany dishes such as Fig Jam and Berry and Seafood Gumbo Cajun-Style.

What a wonderful way to introduce everyone to Cajun food and the interesting people who live in this area! Nicole shares with her readers not only tried and true Cajun recipes but special moments in the lives of the authors of the recipes. Life has not always been easy for the Cajun people, especially the women who married young, mothered many children - some their own and other times those who happened by and ended up staying- worked along side her husband in the field, and went to church, always. Their stories represent their enduring faith, respect for Cajun traditions, strong family ties, and some of the best Cajun recipes that you will ever want to try. All of this is part of the Cooking with Cajun Women cookbook. I highly recommend it! You can try the recipes and while waiting for them to cook ( and enjoying the delicious aroma that will soon fill the room), sit back (with a large cup of strong, hot Cajun coffee, if available) and read about the Cajun ladies who have shared their stories with Nicole. Oh yes, do I have a favorite recipe? I certainly do. Try the blackberry pie with the sweet dough crust - it is gooooooood!

Creole provides an invaluable history of Louisiana's Creole people, examining the ethnic roots of the Creoles and their mixed descent, analyzing their history and contributions, and helping define their ethnic heritage. From the use of Creole in language and literature to popular individuals of color, this provides a fine coverage.

This book of essays is absolutely the best resource on the Creole heritage of Louisiana. The history is priceless and my hat goes off to Dr. Kein for compiling such a group of scholars and historians who have covered every aspect of the subject. I have many books and have done much research since the late eighties as part of my research on African American history. This book has been a long time in coming. I thank Anthony Barthelemy for his essay "Light, Bright, Damn Near White" which answered my questions of the infamous Susie Guillory case, the woman who "discovered" she was considered "Colored" when she went to get a passport in the 80s. I always wondered what they true story was and now I know. I enjoued learning about Marcus Chritian through violet Harrington Byan's essay exposing his research on Creoles. All of the essays are worth reading and referring to again and again. Composers of color of Nineteenth-Century New Orleans was an eye-opener. I had heard about them but found very little information until this. The essay by Joan Martin on placage answered alot of questions for me of why and will be helpful for my friend who is writing a thesis on Creole women and the institution of placage. Oh, and Sybil Kein's "The Use of Louisiana Creole in Southern Literature" was worth the whole book. This essay brought home full circle of my studies of some of the writers who have written about literature, race, and passing. I could go on and on. Creole Poets, their professions and trades, the food connection. It is all wonderful. I count this book as one of my best investments for 2000 with the wealth of knowledge in it. This should be in the library of every American historian, black, white, or other.

I am delighted to find that my academic peers of creole decent have endeavored to put together our past in such a marvelous way. I have spent many hours in the New Orleans Public Library and have visited the Armistead Center but have never had the time to sit down and put all the information together so that I could start to compare the fact to the stories that were passed on to me about my ancestors. Being light skinned black with a french maiden name, I am often questioned as to my family background. My grandmother and mother's stories and my own experiences often amaze people as to how rich my background is. Now I have a book to pass on to my children as well as stories of my past. In an age of reams of wirtings about the diversity of America, I now have a book to pass on to them about my own diverse past - my creole legacy. Thank you Sybil Kein and company!

I came across this old volume while cleaning out a crowded book shelf yesterday. Intrigued by the first line ("Southern political personalities, like sweet corn, travel badly."), I ambled on ahead for a few pages - and couldn't stop reading until the very last line on the last page ("As I send this manuscript to the publisher, the grass-eaters and the nuts have taken over the streets of New Orleans.") In between first and last lines are some of the most colorful, cold-blooded, hot-tempered, loud-mouthed Southern politicians you'd ever want to meet - described first-hand in 1959 by one of the wryest, dryest, most sardonic Yankee writers you'd ever want to read.

On the cover is a picture of Earl Long - governor of Louisiana in the 'fifties and brother of the legendary Huey ("Share the Wealth") Long who was assassinated at the State Capitol during the 1930s. Earl started out underrated ("wouldn't make a patch on Huey's pants") but grew in political power to the enrichment of his cronies - and ironically, to the benefit of the state's colored people. Earl Long - as governor - was able to hold off the most vicious attacks on African-Americans in Louisiana - which for a time was less oppressive than sister strongholds of racism like Mississippi.

On the back of my book - in shirt sleeves with a glass in hand - is a black-and-white photo of the chubby, bald A. J. Liebling who started covering the 1959 campaign just after the ranting Gov. Long was steered off the floor of the state legislature and physically forced into a car and driven to a Texas insane asylum, where he was signed in as mentally unsound by his own wife, Blanche. That event drew Liebling's attention - and inspired this wild, true tale of political double-dealing, deal-making, and cynical race-baiting. Liebling came to Louisiana curious about Earl Long - and left a grudging admirer of a man who could attack the rich while thinning out their wallets, condemn black people while giving them more state jobs, and rave like a lunatic while practicing shrewd, realistic political artistry.

The raw jokes, the Southern speech-patterns, the rural metaphors, the genuine ignorance and the feined ignorance, the rich cuisine, the heat - ever the blanketing heat - are captured quickly and perfectly. This book is for you if you like politics, H. L. Mencken, brilliant stump oratory, or American history. Obviously, I enjoyed it as much as - well, to steal a phrase from Uncle Earl - as much as a hog loves slop.

A.J. Liebling has insights into politics like very few other journalists -- and all of his keen observations are on parade in this landmark book. "The Earl of Louisiana," which was originally written as a series of dispatches for The New Yorker, is, first and foremost, a rollicking story. In addition to Governor Earl K. Long, Liebling paints wonderfully colorful portraits of a number of Louisiana's political denizens, including New Orleans Mayor Maurice Delessups, singing cowboy candidate Jimmie Davis and white supremacist scoundrel Willie Rainach. Liebling wades through the bizarre political culture of Louisiana, setting his penetrating eye on all manner of rallies, dinners and barroom jaunts where politics are discussed and dissected. Particularly entertaining is Liebling's voyage into the domain of the Old Regulars, a stalwart race-fixing organization, based in New Orleans. Over the course of his long career, Liebling produced some utterly remarkable journalism. Indeed, his writings on horse-race fixer Col. John R. Stingo in "The Honest Rainmaker," or French cuisine in "Between Meals," or on the vibrancy of Chicago in "Second City" are all classic works in the field of journalism. "The Earl of Louisiana" is at least the equal of any of those, and in many ways surpasses them.

Liebling covers the Louisiana gubernatorial campaign of 1959. Reporting on what turned out to be Earl Long's final run for governor, Liebling journeys from the taverns and restaurants of New Orleans to the small, rural parishes of Louisiana, providing hysterical anecdotes about Long and relatively unpatronizing local color. A brief book, but very amusing and highly reccomended.

Am a regular reader of mysteries. How I'd missed Sallis I don't know. I am pleased to "discover" him and his wonderful characters. He has a fine feel for my favorite city to visit: New Orleans, and gives a sound psychological sense to his characters. Even the minor characters stand out as people I would be interested to know. I took several quotes from the book and introduced them to a class I was teaching on Human Identity. The words just fit right into the context of the class. Now I've read Black Hornet and am waiting for more.

New Orleans, old demons and a continuing search for the missing David. How could you go wrong? Lew Griffin is many things but never predictable. Everytime I read another Lew Griffin book I'm left wanting more....

Now that he is in his fifties, African American Lew Griffin would prefer to just quit fighting the tide and go with the flow. Instead, Lew finds himself investigating the cases of several missing children, including the half-brother of a friend, the son of another friend, and his own son, David. To perform his search of New Orleans, Lew must enter the crummiest neighborhood areas where it's known that a teenager could drop out and turn on.

EYES OF THE CRICKET is the serpentine (try flow charting the plot) twisted fourth entry of Lew Griffin. As with its three predecessors, this novel is well written and filled with numerous twists and turns. Lew is an extremely lovable chap, whose new philosophy of "I Quit" clashes with his reality. Jim Sallis has written a book that will please most mystery afficiandos, except perhaps those who prefer a linear story line.

Harriet Klausner

If you enjoy reading about Louisiana history- this book is great. The stories lead you through a Louisiana that you might never know if you didn't read this book.

When I was a child, a trip to the local library always meant a romp through the "Local Interest" section. I have always been enamored of the area that I grew up in. From hearing the stories of "loup garous" (werewolves) in the swamp to the tales of Jean Lafitte's pirate bands running amok in the swamps from my grandparents and great-grandparents, I came to appreciate the rich and diverse cultural history of the area. Gumbo Ya-Ya was always the book that fascinated me the most. The copy in our local Carnegie library was a first printing, replete with photos and art enough that you could simply look at the pictures and appreciate it (which is actually what I did the first few times). Once I started reading, however, the stories that unfolded before me only made my fascination and appreciation go thru the roof. To be able to walk the streets of New Orleans with my many friends not from the area and enlighten them on the various landmarks and stories is a delight in itself. Although I now reside in Mobile, Al, a trip to the city of my birth always brings a childish gleem to my eye. I love nothing more than to pass on the historical facts and fictions (or are they?) of what I consider to be the most unique city in the US (and I've been to MANY). Even if you've never been to New Orleans, this book makes for entertaining and fascinating reading.

Originally published as part of the WPA's Louisiana Writer's Program, this charming book of Louisiana Folk Tales was a favorite book in my home while growing up. (So much so, that as a young adult I searched high and low for a copy to call my own. Imagine my delight to find that Amazon Books carries it!)

While some in this age of "political correctness" might blanch at the phonetic rendering of the words of African-Americans in some of the stories; it should be remembered that this book attempts to replicate the actual speech patterns of the individuals interviewed. These same renderings are not generic and gives one the feel of actually being there, on a sultry Louisiana night, "rocking on the porch, ice-tea and fan in hand", being regaled by the stories of the "old-timers".

In this delightful book you will find everything from "Cajun colloquialisms" to "The Mysterious Axeman's (sic) Jazz".
Or re-visit the songs of the street criers and capture the feel of a long ago "Dixieland funeral".
Explore the legend of Marie Laveau as well as the story of the saintly "Mother Shannon". Looking for ghost tales? or maybe the words to some old-time "Spirituals"? Then search no more! This book lives and breathes and I promise you, you will not forget it!
This review is dedicated to the late Col. Thomas Frith Bienvenu, at who's knee I learned to love the rich tapestry which is Louisiana!

She writes with the love and forgiveness that became her trademark after suffering terrible things at the hands of the Nazi's during WWII. I never cease to be encouraged, uplifted, and inspired when reading anything that she writes-this book included. Very few could have forgiven their tormentors the way that Tante Corrie did. She did it by the grace of God and her life was all the better for it.

As someone who voraciously gobbles up the writings of Corrie ten Boom, I have to say that _In My Father's House_ is my favorite. Anyone who has read _The Hiding Place_ , _Tramp for the Lord_, _A Prison and Yet_, or other books relating to Corrie's Nazi concentration camp imprisonment and her resulting ministry should do themselves a favor and savor _In My Father's House_. I am so glad this book is back in print and can now reach a new audience. Corrie discusses how the twists and turns of her childhood, teen years, and pre-imprisonment adulthood all came together to prepare her for her WWII and postwar ministry. She shows the evidence of God moving in her life to prepare her for her upcoming adventures. If you don't think so already, _In My Father's House_ may be what convinces you that there's no such thing as coincidence. The simply written, very basic family story of this book holds some deep implications. It may startle you in a pleasant way.

I particularly recommend this book to parents, especially parents of young children. This book will show how God uses you to raise your child to fulfill God's purpose for his/her life. Corrie writes in a very touching way of how her parents, siblings, and extended family were so responsible for the extraordinary woman she became. This book is a beautiful testimony of how God uses families. It will inspire you to go pick up and cuddle your child while praying fervently. It will also remind you of your need to lean on God and rely on his guidance for this your most important job. _In My Father's House_ is a very powerful book.

I recommend that you buy a copy of this book rather than borrowing it or checking it out from the library. As your glance flits across your bookshelves, perhaps a slight smile will come to your face as you notice the familiar spine peeking out at you. I return to my copy frequently and have repeatedly drawn from it for Sunday School lessons and devotional topics. _In My Father's House_ would be a valuable addition to your book collection.

This book is simple and to the point and beautifully written. It gives the reader the insight of how human Corrie Ten Boom was and yet how much she relied on God for her direction. It is filled with humor and innocence as Corrie recounts her childhood memories, but always making it a point to let the reader know that the main focus is God. The delightful stories will stick in your memory bank. It was a very delightful book which I shall cherish and re-read in years to come.