Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: For the Love of Books -- The South -- Essence of the South Remains Hard to Define -- Slaves in the Family -- Ball's Book Strikes Personal Chord with Historian -- Rivers of History -- Bumper Crop of Poems Celebrates Life on the Land -- Faulkner's "Blood and Thunder" Novel Endures -- Oprah Makes Brave, Bold Choice with Faulkner -- Liuzzo Biographer Brings a Sense of Justice to Topic -- South Carolina's Charms Preserved in Encyclopedia -- Young Woman's Diaries Basis of Wonderful Book -- Painter Mary Whyte Shows Keen Eye for Laborers in Working South -- The Civil War -- Slaves' Memories Offer Harrowing Accounts of War -- LSU Press Revives Story of Army of Tennessee -- Lee's True Legacy beyond Latest Biographer -- Pelham's Valor Shines in Maxwell's Perfect Lion -- Eye of the Storm: Union Soldier's Illustrated Memoir Confirms Civil War Was Tragedy for All -- Co. Aytch a Direct Link to Army in Gray -- Chance Discovery Reveals Details of Mobile Campaign -- Chaffin Cuts Through to Clear View of Hunley -- Poetry Collection from out of the Blue and Gray -- Rosen Invigorates Civil War Setting -- The Gulf Coast Renaissance -- Year in Greece Yields Book for Native Mobilian -- Our Voice of Reason -- Author Finds Inspiration in Writer Eugene Walter -- Store Specializes in Antique Volumes -- Hollon's The God File Deserves National Attention -- Black Belt Chronicles Richly Deserve Recognition -- Mobile Native Knight a Fast-Rising Literary Star -- Breech a Violent, Dark Tale from Franklin -- Scully's In the Hope of Rising Again a Gem -- Chicken Dreaming Corn: Family Tales Spur Captivating Novel of Mobile -- Emotional Exploration of a Deplorable Event -- Groom Takes Big Step with Vicksburg -- Architecture -- How Did Our Gardens Grow? Famously, It Seems.

Mississippi's Victorian Treasures Get Their Due -- Alabama's Architecture Gets Some Overdue Respect -- William Faulkner and the Tangible Past: The Architecture of Yoknapatawpha -- Matrana Shows Pride and Ruin of Plantations -- Historian Upends Ideas on American Architecture -- Scholar-Town Houses Have Many Tales to Tell -- Legacy Presents a Detailed Look at Rayfield's Work -- Fallingwater Study Cuts Myths, Affirms Merits -- The Architect of America -- New Orleans Takes Shape in an Architect's Memoir -- Literary Pilgrimages -- Stumbling on a Fossil of a Southern Dinosaur -- McMurtry's Hometown a Paradise for Collectors -- Drama of Story Comes Alive in Monroeville -- A Night in the Library -- Finding Cahaba: New Book Rekindles Fascination with Alabama's First Capital -- Looking Past Midnight -- A Literary Ramble through Old New Orleans -- Oxford, Mississippi: A Literary Profile -- A Small City of Literary Giants: Greenville, Mississippi -- Visit to Library Is a Return to Childhood -- Images from the Literary Side of Paris, with a Personal Touch -- Walter-Inspired Dream an Affirmation of Creativity -- Classics and Old Favorites Revisited -- A Tale Worthy of the Centuries: Looking into Chapman's Iliad -- Plato's Ancient Words Inspire the Modern Mind -- Old Story, New Life: Heaney Makes Epic Worth the Wait -- Decline and Fall Stands Test of Time -- Last of the Mohicans Was First of Its Kind -- Omoo a Showcase for Melville's Lighter Side -- Slowly, Beautifully: That's How the Cookie Crumbles -- Revisiting a Classic at the Water's Edge -- Joseph Conrad's Typhoon Shows Power of Storm -- One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Pleasure -- Pride and Prejudice Run Deep in Memoir -- Old Soldier Sahib a Rare Chronicle of Bygone Empire -- Cather's Look Westward Broke New Literary Ground -- Shane Stands as Classic of Western Genre.

Book behind Classic Wayne Film Still Holds Up -- Pacific Battleground Is More Than a Memory -- The International Scene -- A Shadowed Friendship: Book Looks Back on Broken Bond between Two Powerful Writers -- Quirky Italian Novel Shines in Recent Reissue -- "Just an adventurer": An Aid Worker's Strange Path -- Cuba in Mind Brings Island Near Enough to Touch -- Events Make Brick Lane a Timely Volume -- Long Way Gone a Tribute to Human Spirit -- My Forbidden Face Drives Home Sufferings of Women under Taliban -- Márquez Classic Still Rewards Reader's Effort -- Istanbul, Not Constantinople, Gets the Works from a Nobel-Winning Native Son -- Iconic AK47 Assault Rifle Subject of Far-Ranging Biography -- Controversy and Censorship -- Plagiarism Charges Pull Prize-Winner from Shelves -- Alexandria's Library Rises from the Ashes-but Fires Still Burn -- George and Lennie Feeling the Squeeze -- Proposed Book Ban Deserves Firm Rebuttal -- America Flap Puts Mississippi in Spotlight -- Writer Takes Clear-Eyed Look at Battle Flag's Past and Present -- Without Sanctuary Confronts an Ugly Past -- Poe Folks Perturbed by Graveyard Guest -- Breach of Faith Offers Incisive Critiques -- An Open Letter to Louisiana's Governor -- School's Switch Alarms Book Lovers -- Old Writings Preserve Sense of Beaches' Beauty -- Reading and Writing Life -- My First Gun Became a Boy's Rite of Passage -- The Reader: A Quieter Side of Michael Jackson -- Politics Aside, Spanish Opens Rich Literary Terrain -- In Changing Times, It's Hard to Turn the Page -- Southern Writers Save the Style for the Page -- Oscar Wilde: One Fine Figure of a Writer -- Everybody Has a Story, but Who Wants to Read It? -- Odd Fantasy Reveals Deep-Seated Desire -- Coleridge Tome More Than Equal to Georges -- Favorite Reading Spots Make Good Books Better -- Elysium -- Mentor's Passing Time for Reflection.

Mississippian's Deep Roots Yielded a Towering Legacy -- In Memoriam: Eudora Welty -- George Plimpton's Wit, Grace Will Be Missed -- Foote Takes His Place among Heavenly Host -- Norman Mailer Leaves Larger-Than-Life Legacy -- A Chess Board Warrior's Influence Remembered -- A Father's Reading List Holds Share of Treasures.