Another terrific Mickey Knight adventure. I enjoyed the plot of "Jocasta" a bit better, but this was still a full, satisfying read. That is what makes the books so good - they have a meaty plot and substance. Too many 'tec stories rely a bit much on coincidence and thin plots.

J. M. Redmann pulls you right in with her intensity. She handles difficult subjects, with grace, and sometimes painful honesty. I'm waiting not so patiently for the next Mickey Knight mystery!!

Micky Knight is one of the best new characters around in the hard-boiled mystery genre. This book was a great read, with a cast of characters that truly come to life. Once you read it, you'll be waiting for the next Micky Knight adventure to begin.

The Last of the Ofos gives us a man whose resourcefulness and sense of adventure takes him across much of the 20th Century of the United States. Thomas Darko is innocent and worldly simultaneously, and brings a fresh but honest look at much human foolishness as he runs rum with integrity, searches for the woman who abandons him without sentiment, shows us the best and worst of those who idealize Native American culture and always returns to the life of simple self-sufficiency that gives him more satisfaction than all his adventures.

I loved the book and the dignity and truthfulness of the story. I stumbled across it in the University of Oklahoma bookstore and my curiosity was generously rewarded.

This is an illuminating and thoroughly enjoyable read. Compassionate, sympathetically written, by times heart rending. A tribute to the almost forgotten Mosopelea tribe. Professor Hobson touched all of my emotions with this. I look forward to his next title.

The Last of the Ofos is elegantly written and historically informed. Poignant and touching, but not cloying, this is a must-read. A wonderful book!

This book is a must have if you're unfamiliar with the Louisiana area. The book allowed us to better plan our trip and make the most of our time to get in all the site we read about.

We used several guidebooks to plan a long weekend in southern Louisiana in connection with a family wedding in Lafayette. This was one of the most useful of the books.

The author gives a short 1 or 2-page pithy description of each excursion along with good directions.

Slightly more useful (to us) as a guidebook was Cajun Country Guide by Macon Fry and Julie Posner. I say this because that book also covers lodging (we were traveling overnight).

Two final notes: Neither guidebook covers the city of New Orleans itself; and every guidebook we read had the wrong area codes for many telephone numbers (Louisiana has 2 brand-new area codes -- 225 and 337)

I was able to use the information to customize an entire 1 week vacation for my family. If you like "out of the way" places and "different" things to see and do, this is the book for you. There should be a book like this for each major city in the United States.

Rick Koster's Louisiana Music is the first and only guide to the variety of musicians in this southern American state: others have focused on specific styles (Creole, Cajun, Zydeco) but Louisiana Music considers the past and present of jazz, rock, gospel and other styles of both urban and lesser-known areas, including the Mardi Gras Indian tribes. Louisiana Music is a 'must' for avid fans of Louisiana music.

Just finished this book. It is another great effort on the part of this very talented writer. This will make for a wonderful addition to my music collection as a fantastic reference book. This work is HIGHLY recommended! Rick Koster -- keep writing!

This book contains a plethora of very valuable histories
of many well known and (more importantly) lesser known Louisiana bands and artists. Mr. Koster, although from neighboring Texas, has really done his homework on this project. You can also find Mr. Koster's dry humor come into play throughout.

If you like this book, you will also enjoy Mr. Koster's book on the history of Texas music called, you guessed it, "Texas Music".

This is a great book for anyone who is interested in plantation homes. It has over 80 wonderful photographs, and tells the story of each home shown. There are even two or three victorian style homes, built in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Very interesting and informative. I would recommend this book to anyone, wether your buying it for the information or the photographs!

the book has lovely photos and briefly tells about each home. It would have been nice if there were more photos of the interior of homes. But the book has beautiful photography and is overall: GREAT!

This book is hands-down one of the most beautiful picture books on Louisiana's remaining plantation homes. While most are in exquisite condition, there are a very few which aren't. The short story of each plantation home is interesting and the photographs are gorgeous! It makes one want to go out, find a plantation home, buy it and restore it! The reader will be amazed at the wealth these planters accumulated, manifested in these awesome homes. Not all of the homes are huge antebelllum mansions, though. I personally found the Creole plantations wonderful examples of a simple albeit beautiful home. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves old homes, Southern architecture or photography in general.

A beautifully written, heartbreakingly photographed book that will haunt your dreams. The majesty of the swamp and the dignity of the people will move you to tears. Julia Sims is an amazing photographer with an eagle's eye and a full heart. Manchac swamp and it's people won't easily be forgotten by anyone who opens this book. It is the book, that once given, the giver gives it to another, who gives it to another...and so on. You want to pass it on.

Susan Bryan, Memphis Tennessee svmarsh@yahoo.com

My husband and I are natives of the area Julia Sims photographs! We've been gone 34 years! This book lets us relive the beautiful wilderness we grew up in and also to hopefully, preserve it! We have never seen such gorgeous photographs of the Manchac Swamp, except maybe in her gallery in Ponchatoula, LA. ANY nature lover will enjoy this book, even if not from LA!

As a first time viewer of wildlife/landscape photography, I expected this book to be little more than a book of pretty pictures. However, Julia Sims managed, with vertiginous purity, to bring the swamps of Louisiana to my very living room over a thousand miles away. Her lyrical use of brilliant colors and vivid backdrops enabled me, and many others with whom I have shared this book, to feel the majestic and natural beauty of Manchac Swamp. Nearly ever picture tells a story that enables the reader to feel a part of this American treasure. Mr. Kemp's ability to illuminate the personalities of those who call the swamp home is equally impressive. These "guardians of the swamp" have coexisted beautifully for decades with this as their wallpaper and any reader of this book will understand their fortune for having been able to do so. This is more than just a coffee table book to be shared during polite conversation; these 144 pages are a visual love letter to the flora, fauna and wildlife of a dying swamp. Ms. Sims and Mr. Kemp will be thanked for many years to come. Manchac Swamp: Louisiana's Undiscovered Wilderness is a true work of art and a source of inspiration.

This is my favorite story of all time. Even though Melitte is uneducated, she shows a greater knowledge of love, bravary, and loyality than of those who are educated. Marie is a strong character, who doesn't judge people by race, wealth, sex, beliefs, or social status, but by what's inside. Fatima Shaik paints a vivid picture of the psychological effects of slavery on the enslaved, slavers, and bystanderds of this dreadful, disgusting period of time. This story is very well researched. And I hope it will be more present on all library shelves everywhere in the furture.

Since she was six, Melitte doesn't remember ever having a loving touch, only physical and mental abuse, rags for clothes, scraps of food, and labor that is beyond her capabilty. She realizes that she is "owned" by Monsieur and Madame Duroux, an unsusessful farmer and his mean, selfish wife. When Madame has a baby, Melitte is forced to care for the child as well as cook, clean, farm, and work in the fields with Monsieur. But Melitte and Marie love each other as equals, sisters; Melitte has finally found love. Only several years apart in age, Melitte teaches Marie a coding system that is sewn into her clothing. When the cabin burns, the family moves to the Preval plantation where Monsieur works as a share-cropper, at 13, Melitte questions her enslavement, an unappreciated orphan, and her fate as being unloved and decides to secretly sew clothes for Madame Preval for money for her freedom. Monsieur becomes become increasingly callous toward the girl, stealing the money she earned to purchase her freedom. Marie helps Melitte escape to a camp of runaways. They will remember each other by heart and memory forever.
This is my favorite story of all time. Even though Melitte is uneducated, she shows a greater knowledge of love, bravary, and loyality than of those who are educated. Marie is a strong character, who doesn't judge people by race, wealth, sex, beliefs, or social status, but by what's inside. Fatima Shaik paints a vivid picture of the psychological effects of slavery on the enslaved, slavers, and bystanderds of this dreadful, disgusting period of time. This story is very well researched. And I hope it will be more present on all library shelves everywhere in the furture.

Melitte is a slave girl. For as long as she can remember, she has been mistreated by a poor Frenchman and his wife on a failing farm in the Louisina backwoods. It is all she remembers, all she knows. Her mother is dead; she has never know love. Then Marie is born. Melitte should despsise her owners' daughter, but Marie treats Melitte as an equal, and they pledge to be "sisters and friends forever." Until Melitte learns some shocking truths: Melitte's owner is her father. Melitte wonders how her father can do this to her, to hold her in bondage all these years and now sell her. Marie risks losing her parents' love by helping Melitte escape slavery. But when they reach a remote Indian village, the Indians will only lead Melitte on, because they fear the white men will plot revenge on them for stealing a white child. Melitte faces a difficult choice: go back with Marie, or go on alone. In Melitte, Fatima Shaik captures the cruelty and horror of slavery through the eyes of a child.

I hosted a Mardi Gras party and lucked-out finding this absolutly wonderful book. The recipes are easy to follow and everything that I have made (at least a dozen or so)has turned out great. I am constantly being asked for these recipes so now I am buying several copies to give to those close family and friends who have mentioned that they would like to buy it. The best of the best: Shrimp in mustard sauce, Sun-dried tomato pesto, Jezebel sauce, Cajun-Country bread pudding w/rum sauce and Chantilly cream, and on and on.

I have prepared many of the dishes in the new book. All were excelent. The recipes were easy to follow. The Authentic dishes take more time to prepare than the quickie recipes from other books but WOW! what a difference in flavor. This book is a must for anyone wanting to entertain guests with Cajun-Creole flavors.

All of the recipes that I have tried in this book, from the staples to the exotic, are wonderful. Some of them (such as the Red Beans & Rice or the Artichoke-Heart Casserole) have become favorites to be prepared whenever I want to impress or just enjoy good eating.

Recipes include background information about how dishes came about, when they should be served and with what. They range from simple, everyday dishes to elaborate, impressive feasts.

If you buy only one Cajun cookbook, buy this one. Its the one to have. I'm buying another one because I wore mine out.

Darlene Fife's new book "Portraits from Memory: New Orleans in the Sixties" in a Memoir in the finest sense of the word. It is refreshing to read someone who is so self-deprecatingly honest about her own feelings and thoughts during the time she was Editor of one of the most important "underground newspapers" in America. This is not a "history" book filled with data, facts and figures striving to make a past time more understandable. The book is a series of connected written snapshots of a Time and Place, highlighting some of the people that the author grew and evolved with. It does not matter if you think that the people portrayed in this book are multi-manically insane, depraved drug addicts, dangerous political operatives, or sainted hipsters. The strongly held beliefs and political passions of all of the characters shines through the writing. There were "cells" like Darlene's operating all over during the sixties, one wonders how candidly other writers would deal with theirs.

The alarm sounded by babes just learning about life - The continued energy that was necessary to actually protest our involvement in Vietnam in a way that helped make the American people aware of what we were really doing while at the same time living, loving, searching, finding. This is life in the trenches comittment and FUN -The pictures - that's how it was -The cartoons - A brisk slap that says question question question -Honoring the lode stone within Bob's what's interesting - important to me now and in that there's a lesson for us all- The clearest moves come spontaneous for those with the courage to honor their way of thinking instead of buying the - this is the way it is - farm It's a little history that paints a clearer picture than most. It belongs on a lot of shelves.

What a wonderful surprise to find this beautiful book while searching the internet for information on New Orleans during the period I lived there, 1970-72. I am writing a memoir about the Sixties, and this book is a real gem. Of course, I knew Darlene Fife, the author of "Portraits from Memory," and Robert Head as publishers of the notorious "NOLA Express" bimonthly, but I was a political radical and kept my distance from the counterculture. Reading Darlene's memoir, I realized how truly radical she and the paper were, and also remembered how supportive they were to me, however unappreciative I was at the time. I recommend the book to anyone who cares about literature, free speech, the sixties and the undereground press, early environmentalism, New Orleans, the nuts and bolts of community organizing, and anyone who appreciates a beautifully produced book from a small regional press that deserves support.

this book allowed for one of the nicest vacations i have ever taken. more than bourbon street indeed; if you're into historical along with fun, good food, and the infamous celebratory attitude then this is the book you're looking for! it covers everything you can imagine plus the historical information with the descriptions that follow the maps for the various tours is priceless. we didn't take one tour save the plantation *oak alley* tour; didn't need to! the maps along with the additional information is all you need to create your own walking tours, driving excursions and much much more. i would also allow that personally i did read another book: Fabulous New Orleans by Lyle Saxon. the combination of the two really compliment one another. just my opinion. again, great book; i sincerely can't say enough.

Having visited NO before and having read three other "Guides" I was suprised by how different this book was from the others and how everything I personally wanted to know about was adressed in detail. Walking the Faubourgs is the best way to appreciate the very unique city behind the tourist hype and Mr. Delahanty tells you how. Other guide books are collections of data gathered from many sources, but this is a story told by someone who knows and loves his subject. Our morning walks through the Bayou St. John neighborhood for coffee on Esplanade Ave. were greatly enhanced by the information in the "Esplanade Ridge" section. The history is so much more amazing than the garishness of Bourbon St. My daughter, a six year resident of NO, is planning her wedding there and has found this an invaluable resource. There is an address and telephone number for everything. I am recommending this book to all of her wedding guests and buying a second copy for myself, having given mine to her. If you plan a trip to New Orleans, read this book before you go and carry it with you while you are there.

New Orleans' unique food, music, architecture, and people have been justly celebrated and explained to out of towners and locals alike in many, many books. Why one more?

Randolph Delehanty's answer to that question would be, I suppose (I have never spoken with him), that most guidebooks miss the essence of our city: the varied streets - from the carriage-wide alleyways of the Vieux Carre to the grand boulevards of St. Charles and Esplanade Avenues - which tie together our rich architectural heritage and cultural history.

At once public and private, street walking is an old tradion in New Orleans and this book introduces novice and old pro alike to the tricks of the trade.

Delehanty, director of the University of New Orleans' Ogden Museum of Southern Art and author of nine books, including the definitive coffee table book of New Orleans'interiors and patios, New Orleans: Elegance and Decadence, takes readers inside New Orleans buildings and gardens on over a dozen walking, transit, and (when necessary) car tours of the city and its River Road environs. Neighborhood by fauborg, he explains the special points of history that make this a city of towns, unlike most Southern cities. While your eyes are drawn to the architecture, he points out the lives of the inhabitants of these old homes, shops, and mansions - often writers and musicians. A few pages on "New Orleans House Design and Sociability: Stoops, Balconies, Galleries, and Porches" explain how climate, architecture, and sociability were intimately intertwined before the age of air-conditioning, cars, and television reduced urban life to a fraction of its potential for gracious living.

This walker's "ultimate guide" to New Orlean's architecture and culture is a must for locals who hope to become "New Orleans know it alls" and an inspired choice for those out of towners who hope to live like a native, if only for a few days.

Excellent and detailed maps, extensive cross-references, and select listings of all the basic tourist needs (restaurants, music clubs, bars, etc.) round out an excellent guide: the best of its kind (in the opinion of this City of New Orleans' licensed walking tour guide and life long resident of the Big Easy).