Bayou Farewell

Bayou Farewell
Author: Mike Tidwell
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2007-12-18
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 0307424928

The Cajun coast of Louisiana is home to a way of life as unique, complex, and beautiful as the terrain itself. As award-winning travel writer Mike Tidwell journeys through the bayou, he introduces us to the food and the language, the shrimp fisherman, the Houma Indians, and the rich cultural history that makes it unlike any other place in the world. But seeing the skeletons of oak trees killed by the salinity of the groundwater, and whole cemeteries sinking into swampland and out of sight, Tidwell also explains why each introduction may be a farewell—as the storied Louisiana coast steadily erodes into the Gulf of Mexico. Part travelogue, part environmental exposé, Bayou Farewell is the richly evocative chronicle of the author's travels through a world that is vanishing before our eyes.

T-Garçon of Grand Isle

T-Garçon of Grand Isle
Author: Lana Laws Downing
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2018-10-16
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1483491927

In the 1920s, following the death of his parents, young Alphonse Henri Caillet moves to his grandmother's home on Grand Isle, a tiny island off the coast of Louisiana. Islanders have no bridge, no electricity and no running water. Alphonse tries to fit in at Grand Isle school, but bullies tease him and give him the nickname "T-Garçon." Alphonse and his grandmother have little money, but they find inventive ways to supplement their meager income. His grandmother is a healer-a traiteur-and a midwife. Alphonse takes on a summer job entertaining wealthy children from New Orleans who vacation on the island. He fulfills his wish to search for Lafitte's treasure. T-Garçon's wise grandmother does her best to raise him to be an accepting, responsible, God-fearing young man. Above all, she wants Alphonse to have an education. She loves rearing her grandson, and Alphonse begins to thrive in her care on this tiny island of legend and lore where neighbors help one another. Books by Lana Laws Downing; Grand Isle Farewell 2020 T-Garçon of Grand Isle 2018 Jon Teel 2018 Heaven and High Water 2011

Sam Henry's Songs of the People

Sam Henry's Songs of the People
Author: Gale Huntington
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Total Pages: 674
Release: 2010-06-01
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0820336254

The story of Ireland—its graces and shortcomings, triumphs and sorrows—is told by ballads, dirges, and humorous songs of its common people. Music is a direct and powerful expression of Irish folk culture and an aspect of Irish life beloved throughout the rest of the world. Incredibly, the largest single gathering of Irish folk songs had been almost inaccessible because, originally newspaper based, it was available in only three libraries, in Belfast, Dublin, and Washington D.C. Sam Henry's “Songs of the People” makes the music available to a wider audience than the collector ever imagined. Comprising nearly 690 selections, this thoroughly annotated and indexed collection is a treasure for anyone who performs, composes, studies, collects, or simply enjoys folk music. It is valuable as an outstanding record of Irish folk songs before World War II, demonstrating the historical ties between Irish and Southern folk culture and the tremendous Irish influence on American folk music. In addition to the songs themselves and their original commentary, Sam Henry's “Songs of the People” includes a glossary, bibliography, discography, index of titles and first lines, melodic index, index of the original sources of the songs and information about them, geographical index of sources, and three appendixes related to the original song series in the Northern Constitution.

Black Tide

Black Tide
Author: Antonia Juhasz
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
Total Pages: 418
Release: 2011-03-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 1118067746

A searing look at the human face of BP's disaster in the gulf It is the largest oil disaster in American history, and it could happen again. It is more than a story of ruined beaches, dead wildlife, corporate spin, political machinations, and financial fallout. It is a riveting human drama filled with people whose lives will forever be defined as "before" and "after the gulf oil disaster." Black Tide is the only book to tell this story through the perspective of people on all sides of the catastrophe, from those who lost their lives, loved ones, and livelihoods to those who made the policies that set the devastating event in motion, those who cut the corners that put corporate profits over people and the environment, and those who have committed their lives to ensuring that such an event is never repeated. Dramatic and compelling, Black Tide exposes the human failings and human cost of the largest oil disaster in American history and how it could easily happen again. "We cannot allow the BP disaster to be pushed from public view the way BP used chemical dispersants to hide the oil. These remarkable stories-of loss, heroism and culpability-are a vivid reminder that this catastrophe will be with us for decades, and that we have not yet made the changes necessary to prevent destruction in the future." -Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. "It's hard to imagine a better person to turn loose on this epochal disaster than Antonia Juhasz, with her compassionate heart, vivid prose, and rich expertise in both oil and economic policy. From oil-smeared beaches, to the drilling rig's control room, to the big picture of Big Oil and the governments they push around. It's not just about disaster: it's a series of encounters with real people, from oceanographers to oyster-shuckers, striving to make things right. Black Tide is riveting, infuriating, and incredibly important. -Rebecca Solnit, author of A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster Praise for The Tyranny of Oil "Reminds us that those who don't learn the lessons of history are fated to repeat its mistakes." -USA Today "[A] timely, blistering critique . . . white-hot" -Kirkus starred review "[A] thorough, readable takedown of Big Oil." -Publishers Weekly "Abrave, groundbreaking case study. . . . A good first step toward true energy independence is to read this insightful book." -The Christian Science Monitor