Archive for 2008
Ford, Jennifer W., ed. The Hour of Our Nation’s Agony: The Civil War Letters of Lt. William Cowper Nelson of Mississippi.
Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2007.
336 pp. $48.50 (hardcover)
In The Hour of Our Nation’s Agony: The Civil War Letters of Lt. William Cowper Nelson of Mississippi, Jennifer Ford, head of archives and special collections and assistant professor at University of Mississippi’s J.D. Williams Library, showcases a collection of documents and letters between William Cowper Nelson and family members. The result is a highly readable book that not only highlights this recent donation of Civil War era primary sources to the Williams Library, but also puts flesh on oneâs view of the War Between the States. This book is part of The Voices of the Civil War series from the University of Tennessee Press, a series of more than thirty volumes that publishes primary source documents from servicemen and civilians from both sides of the Civil War.
Focusing on the antebellum and war period letters of the collection, the book presents the letters chronologically, leaving punctuation, capitalization, and spelling as it was found in the originals. Ford divides these letters into five chapters, and her commentary introduces each chapter, helping the reader to understand the context of these letters within Civil War events and Nelsonâs maturity as a human being. Nearly every letter contains several endnotes that explain the individuals mentioned or the context of the situation discussed. A narrative epilogue sums up Nelsonâs post-war life. Also included are a number of relevant photographs and drawings, an extensive bibliography, and an index of names, terms, places, and battles mentioned in the letters and endnotes.
The commentaries trace Nelsonâs transition from a sheltered youth who believed in the glory of war to a battle-weary soldier who had seen enough of war and death. While Nelson apparently lived somewhat better than many soldiers, he also witnessed many significant battles, including Antietam/Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and the siege of Petersburg, among others, and had âslept on battlefields…with dead and dying Yankees.â? Nelson had feelings both of hatred toward the Northern soldiers invading his hometown of Holly Springs and compassion toward the Northern wounded, for whom he filled canteens with water after the Seven Days Battle. The editor concludes that Nelson was a complex individual, who neither fits fully into the notion of an alienated, disillusioned, battle-weary soldier, nor into that of a soldier whose ideals remained intact despite many a bloody battle. A person with a limited background in Civil War history should have no problem reading and understanding this well-researched work, and it is recommended for academic and large public libraries.
Rick Torgerson
Cataloger
Delta State University
Posted: October 1st, 2008
Asch, Christopher Myers. The Senator and the Sharecropper: The Freedom Struggles of James O. Eastland and Fannie Lou Hamer.
New York: New Press, 2008.
368 pp. $27.95 (hardcover)
It is clear from Asch’s introduction that this book was written to provide a contrast between the life experiences of an affluent, powerful, white Southern male (Senator James O. Eastland) and a poor, barely educated, female, civil rights activist (Fannie Lou Hamer) who was his neighbor in Sunflower County, Mississippi.
As Asch points out, it would be difficult to find a pair of Mississippians more diametrically opposed to one another. Whereas Eastland, as a long time member of the U.S. Senate and a devout white supremacist, resisted all efforts to end segregation, Hamer was equally active in the struggle to bring about true equality for all Americans. Asch traces the lives of these two individuals using flashback techniques and interviews to describe the critical differences between Eastland’s world and that of Hamer. The contrast between these two well-known Mississippi residents is used by Asch to depict a polarized society led by a small handful of elites who used money, power, law, and tradition to ensure the continued oppression of black Americans.
This is an interesting book, which can inform contemporary readers about the challenges that were overcome in the Deep South as a consequence of the work of people like Hamer and despite the opposition of men like Eastland. It is an extremely well researched and documented text. This is also one of its slight drawbacks, because at times it reads more like the doctoral dissertation it once was than a work of historical commentary. Asch is, at times, didactic and uses his text to make an argument against the kind of social system that created Eastland and Hamer. His political convictions shine through this book. The book ends with Hamer’s death in 1977 and Eastland’s in 1986. It covers almost three quarters of a century of Mississippi history during a period when great social change was occurring. Eastland fought desperately against that change and, for a time, succeeded in preventing it from occurring. However, it is Hamer as depicted by Asch who emerges as the true heroic center of this era. This title is recommended for public and academic libraries.
William Bahr
Assistant Director
Pike-Amite-Walthall Library System
Posted: October 1st, 2008
Johnson, Deborah. The Air Between
Us. New York: Amistad, 2008.
321 pp. $23.95 (hardcover)
This book presents a story about race relations in Mississippi during the 1960s. While many writers have covered this time, Johnson adds some new details by blending a murder that involves a small town’s doctors, an interracial relationship, and school integration.
There is a great deal of character development of the two doctors. Dr. Reese Jackson is an educated, white-collar, African American doctor. He does not have any social equals, which puts him in an odd place and makes him somewhat bitter. His counterpart, Dr. Cooper Connelly, while not facing any social restraints, is also at odds with the country club set. He does not agree with the opinions held by most of the Caucasians in town, including his father Jack Rand Connelly, who is a very powerful politician.
Johnson uses some simple details to remind the reader of years past. Madame Melba, the town’s fortune teller, describes the “clean, fresh” smell of Cooper Connelly as he sits at her house. This detail brought to my mind the difference in the end-of-the-day smells of my white-collar father and my blue-collar grandfathers.
This book is enjoyable, but the ending is somewhat contrived. Johnson brings her characters to life, so that a reader feels as if he knows these people. This book would fit into a popular reading section at a public library.
Jodi Kuehl
Account Services Manager
EBSCO Information Services
Posted: October 1st, 2008
Cook, Thomas H. Master of the Delta.
Orlando, FL: Harcourt Books, 2008.
367 pp. $24.00 (hardcover)
The time is the mid-1950s in the Mississippi Delta where old plantation homes and cotton fields haunt the landscape. Jack Branch, a history teacher and son of an old plantation family, has returned to Lake- land to teach in the local high school as his father did before him. In addition to his history classes, Jack teaches a special course on historical evil to senior high students from poor working class families from the community. When the class is assigned to write a paper about an evil character, one student asks to write about his father, a confessed murderer. Eddie Miller, the son of the Coed Killer, as he was known, is a quiet young man who lives with the cloud of his father’s misdeed hanging over his head. Eddie’s early success interviewing people who knew his father gives him the confidence to interview members of the old plantation class – including Jack’s own ailing father, master of Great Oaks.
As the research paper takes form, the interviews, clippings, and photographs also reveal facts that disturb Jack Branch and the security he has assumed as his birthright as the son of Great Oaks. The story is narrated by Jack in that slow, polite manner of the Delta, as he looks back to his own past to make sense of the events of the present as they unfold; as he reads passages from Eddie’s research paper and recalls excerpts from the trial, the reader is forewarned of an unhappy ending that keeps the story engaging.
Thomas H. Cook, born in Alabama and living in New York, has written numerous mystery novels, is an award-winning author, and has been an editor of Best American Crime Writing since 2000. This most recent novel of suspense would be an excellent addition to public libraries, particularly those with readers familiar with the Delta landscapes and the people that live there.
Ann Branton
Head, Bibliographic Services
University of Southern Mississippi
Posted: October 1st, 2008
LUCEDALE – Thelma Killian thought she’d see what’s new at the Lucedale-George County Public Library on Friday, September 19, shortly after lunch. Little did she know that one of the 13 items she would check out would set a new benchmark for annual circulation at the library.
The Lucedale Library was able to reach an unprecedented milestone which will push the new Annual Circulation record well over 100,000 items for FY 2008. Final figures will be released in mid-October. The previous record was set at 95,341 items circulated in FY 2003.
Ms. Killian said, “I’ve been a patron for years — since I was a teenager and the library was located in the court house. I come in here all the time. This was a great surprise.”
The Friends of the Library provided Thelma with a gift basket filled with goodies and served cake and punch in celebration of the historic milestone. Library staff also threw balloons and confetti and played music when she came to the front desk with her 100,000th item.
Commenting on the new record, branch manager Becky Wheeler said, “The general public may not be aware of how much work goes on behind the scenes to circulate this many items. Patrons only see the items being scanned and stamped at the circulation desk. Selecting items to add to the collection, ordering inter-library loans, placing items on hold, preparing and submitting orders, scanning the materials in when they arrive, labeling, cleaning, and repairing items, and shelving are among the necessary tasks that happen daily. My staff and I have worked hard to reach this 100,000 item milestone; that averages out to over 42 items circulated per hour during the year, plus all the background work.”
For more information about the library or library services, visit at 507 Oak Street, or on-line at www.jgrls.org.
Submitted by
Rex Bridges
Public Relations/Marketing
Jackson-George Regional Library System
Lucedale Library branch manager Becky Wheeler (left) presents Thelma Killian (center) with a gift basket from the Friends of the Library for checking out the 100,000th item along with library assistant Evelyn Read.
Posted: September 29th, 2008
Tuesday, October 21
5:00 – 6:30 p.m.
Ticket required
The Presidential Bash / Scholarship fundraiser will be a Wine and Cheese Party held at historic Monmouth Plantation from 5:00 to 6:30 on Tuesday, October 21. I hope to have transportation provided and will post that information as soon as possible. The link to Monmouth is http://www.monmouthplantation.com.
Join us to support the Peggy May and Virgia Brocks-Shedd Scholarships and honor MLA President Jeff Slagell.
Posted: September 15th, 2008
Poster session abstracts are now available here.
Posted: September 4th, 2008
2008 Conference schedule and registration form are available:
Schedule
Registration Forms
Posted: August 28th, 2008
The pre-conference “Creating sustainable funding for your library” by Benevon will be on October 21, 2008.
More information can be found here.
Posted: August 22nd, 2008
Cynthia Beardsley has joined Delta State University as Reference/Instructional Services Librarian and Assistant Professor of Library Services. She has an undergraduate degree in History from Mississippi State and a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Southern Mississippi.
Before coming to Delta State, she worked as Acquisitions Technician at Smith-Rouse Library on the Hattiesburg campus of William Carey University.
Posted: August 15th, 2008
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