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United States Capitol Cities Fact Files

Too many people? Look it up here.
Average income, look here.
Poverty rate? It is here.
And so much more……

What do you need to know???


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FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. The adventures of a young boy and a runaway slave as they travel down the Mississippi River together on a raft. ... Read more

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"Have you had any trouble with Diaz, Teddy?"

"Who's he?"

"The new Spanish clown."

"Oh!"

Teddy Tucker's face grew serious.
... Read more

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This story recounts the adventures of the ever-resourceful Tom Sawyer and his friend Huckleberry Finn. Tom explores a deep and mysterious cave, but why is he afraid of what he sees there?Mark Twain (1835-1910) grew up in a small town on the Mississippi River where the story is set. See also The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a Level 3 Penguin Reader. ... Read more

Product Description
The Hamlet, the first novel of Faulkner's Snopes trilogy, is both an ironic take on classical tragedy and a mordant commentary on the grand pretensions of the antebellum South and the depths of its decay in the aftermath of war and Reconstruction. It tells of the advent and the rise of the Snopes family in Frenchman's Bend, a small town built on the ruins of a once-stately plantation. Flem Snopes -- wily, energetic, a man of shady origins -- quickly comes to dominate the town and its people with his cunning and guile.


From the Trade Paperback edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

One of Faulkner's Masterpieces
"The Hamlet" is one of Faulkner's later works, and it belongs to his so-called "Snopes Trilogy." It deals with travails of the Snopes family, first introduced in "The Unvanquished." Various parts of the book can be read as independent stories, and some have even been published as such. The book, like most other Faulkner works, is highly literally and can be challenging to read if you are not used to Faulkner's narrative style. It is also characterized with rich language that verges on poetic. The language and the narrative fall short of the stream-of-consciousness style of many of the Faulkner's best known masterpieces, but not by much.

The book's many characters go through significant personal transformations, and in the process leave a mark on the community that they live in. The psychological insight into various individual psyches and the analysis of their drives and motivations is nothing short of phenomenal. This novel is an impressive work of art, and as such it needs to be appreciated slowly and deliberately. It is certainly not a quick read.

Glorious
An excellent intro to Faulkner. Beautifully written and one of his most accessible works. See the "Long Hot Summer" with Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward which is a filmisation of a novella of the same name in 'The Hamlet'. Great stuff! ... Read more

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Text and photographs describe the progression of cargo barges down the Mississippi River from Minneapolis to New Orleans. ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. In 1941, a black youth, sadistically teased by two white boys in rural Mississippi, severely injures one of them with a tire iron and enlists Cassie's help in trying to flee the state.Amazon.com Review
The third novel in a series which started with Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry,The Road to Memphis catches up with the Logan family in 1941. Cassieis entering her last year of high school in Jackson, Mississippi and herolder brother Stacey is driving his first car. After a family trip toMemphis, a sequence of events, including pregnancy, death and the intrusionsof Pearl Harbor and World War II wreaks havoc on the family, threatening toseparate them from each other, perhaps forever. Drawing upon their strengthas a family and the support of their community, the Logans fight forsurvival, particularly Cassie, who dreams ofbecoming a lawyer. The Roadto Memphis won the 1991 Coretta Scott King Award. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (61)

Good book
This book teaches about racism, and how it was back in the 1940's. This is a good history lesson for kids.

Great realistic fiction

This book was great.I read it for my class assignment .It is realistic because everyone knows how Blacks were tortured, and mistreatedin those days.I admire the ways the characters use their brains tosolve their problems and go on with their lives.Some kid said it made whites look mean.It is not the book that does that it is just true history.I think we kids shouldmore history and sstuff instead of just reading about fantasy.
anjie UK

My Opinion
This was a book I was assigned to read for school. When I first saw it, I was demolished because I thought the book would be boring, because normally I like fantasy novels with wars between dragons and wizards and such. But when I finished this book, I was amazed at how intruiging it was. The plot is all carefully and well melded together, starting from the incident to... well maybe you should read the book. The only I put 4 is because this book seems to discriminate white people, or make them look mean, like how the white people did to the black people in the book. But this is just my opinion. You should read the book, and see for yourself.

My Opinion
This was a book I was assigned to read for school. When I first saw it, I was demolished because I thought the book would be boring, because normally I like fantasy novels with wars between dragons and wizards and such. But when I finished this book, I was amazed at how intruiging it was. The plot is all carefully and well melded together, starting from the incident to... well maybe you should read the book. The only I put 4 is because this book seems to discriminate white people, or make them look mean, like how the white people did to the black people in the book. But this is just my opinion. You should read the book, and see for yourself.

Cassie Logan
I would recommend this book because it speaks the truth and it doesn't hold anything back. I think that people who came from this background would like the story because it's our nature. It's easier for people who came from a similar background; it would be easier to understand.Some are used to hearing real southern slang 24/7. They can get into depth as I did, and relate to the story.They can read," in between the lines", the message is more clearly sent. This book was so real and you felt like you were there. I personally think that it wasn't hard to concentrate on the story because it was such a page-turner. Something was always exciting or causing anxiety. I learned a lot of things by reading this book. The message that was mainly focused was that racism wasn't a joke. For some people, the details got too emotional.The Road to Memphis was a terrific book. ... Read more

Product Description
FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. After being turned out by his mean-spirited uncle, Chris Dahlberg decides to harvest some of the timber on his grandfather's land in Minnesota and float the giant logs down the Mississippi River to market in St. Louis. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Riveting
This book is not only a fast paced adventure, but a picture of a simpler time.It is a glimpse into an era in which, despite its rougher nature, dishonesty and criminality were relatively rare--at least in the circles the main character lives/travels in. I also found it refreshing the things (small and large) those in that time would do for someone else without expecting anything in return.

The book has picturesque language, fast-paced adventure and interesting characters.It also has a certain amount of sentimentality.

I read it with my 10-year-old son as part of the Sonlight Curriculum.It was used as a read aloud, not a reader.I concur with another reviewer that more would be gained from a child several years older than by a 9 year old, if read independently.

My son enjoyed it and got some things out of it, and I got even more out of it.Although it is technically a "children's book", it could also be read by, and hold the interest of, an adult.

a good read, albeit dated
The book shows its age (originally published in 1932) particularly in its assorted generalizations about Indians, as well the inclusion of an unnecessary and unbelievable tangent to tie the story to then-President Andrew Jackson.Still, I found the book worth reading for Meigs' engrossingly detailed descriptions of logging on the Mississippi, for the story (likable but far from saintly protagonists) and for its themes of perserverance and devotion.

I absolutely loved this most interesting wonderful book!
You'll have to read it!

Not that bad
I read this book some time ago, and while I have no strong emotional impressions of it, the book wasn't that bad.In fact the plot itself was masterfully developed - a true characteristic of Newbery Honor books.But I felt the story was a little difficult to follow and I never attained muchinterest in Chris, the main character.I'd tell my own nine-year-old towait a few years before reading this one - it requires a certain amount ofpatience to get through. ... Read more

Product Description
Holly Faye Lovell sure can sing. Everyone in Biscay,Mississippi, knows that. And when at fourteen she becomes the youngeststudent ever to win a scholarship to the prestigious Haverty School ofMusic, her dream of pursuing a singing career is on its way. But forthe first time in her life, Holly must leave behind her mother,Wanda. Although they don't have much in the way of money, there'salways been plenty of love . . . and there's always been Wanda'sbirthmark, an ugly red scar on the side of her face that makes peoplewho don't know her turn away. Now that Holly's off with her posh newfriends and new life, she's ashamed to find herself embarrassed by hermom and their humble background. And Wanda finds herself wanting toreveal a long-hidden secret . . . a secret that could destroy theirbond forever.

Besides being an author, Britney is that rare phenomenon, amegastar-one who still phones her mom every night, no matter where sheis. Not only is Britney the bestselling female artist during anyone-week period in music history, but her debut album, . . . Baby OneMore Time, made her the youngest artist to hit the 10-millionmark. Her second album, Oops! . . . I Did It Again, sold more than 1.3million copies in its first week and to date has sold more than 17million CDs worldwide.

Besides being the mother of the planet's biggest superstar, Lynnetaught school in Kentwood, Louisiana, for several years before takingtime off to be her daughter's biggest fan. She and her husband, Jamie,are the parents of Bryan, Britney, and Jamie Lynn Spears.

This is Britney and Lynne's first--but definitely not their last--workof fiction together.

A portion of the proceeds from this book will go to The Britney SpearsFoundation ... Read more

Customer Reviews (99)

to me it was sickening.

Well where do I start, Im more into science-fiction books then this kind of stuff but my friend was raving about it so i made my dad buy it on amazon for me (quick shipping as always) When the box got to my house i was a little aprehensive to open it (i mean this literally especially something from britney and her mom)

Well it started off about her perfect life, then how her mom was sooooo anoying and an embarressment. and bla bla bla bla and everyone seemed to have such wierd names god i cant even remember them but i know one started with MS or i think it did.

When i finished this book i wondered how britney got along with her mom because they seem to have it all wrong with the mother daughter bond andi wondered if they just made this book because they were bored (also found some errors on the way)

my conclussion is that this is the type of book you would burn with gasoline then put holy water on.

go through amazon (because of the large selection of books) and actuallybuy your money's worth.

A road full of speed bumps..
..is what I compare this book to.

I finished this book in about 2 hours after getting it at the library. I had seen the TV movie "Brave New Girl", that is based on this book and had really liked it. Since I thought the movie was so good, I had high expectations for this book, and I was really let down.

(May Contain Spoilers)

Fourteen year old Holly Faye Lovell lives in Biscay Mississippi with her single mother Wanda Jo. Holly and Wanda have a very strong mother/daughter bond that is strengthen with Friday night viewings of the "Haverty Talent Hour", a talent show live from the prestigious Haverty School of Music. Holly's dream was to attend this school but she was afraid that the fancy school would not accept small town, low income students like her. Her dream suddenly becomes a reality when her boyfriend, Tyler Norwood, records her singing a solo at church. Tyler sends it in and in a few weeks, Haverty calls and requests an audition! After some waiting, Holly is accepted. She gets to Haverty and meets Lydia (or "Ditz" as she wishes to be called). "Ditz" opens up Holly to a whole new world that makes Holly realize how very thankful she is for herway of life. When Holly and "Ditz" visit Biscay for spring break, Wanda finally gets the courage to tell Holly a life changing secret. This secret leaves Holly upset and sorry for feeling resentment of her mother and her small town life and really shows her that she is A Mother's Gift.


This book was a bit boring at times and I was disappointed that it was very different from the TV movie. This book is a good read if you're a Britney Spears fan or you like light young adult novels. I would choose the movie over this book. The last two chapters really saved the book from dying a very slow and painful death. Skip the book, see the movie.

Taylor Hodgkins, 6/21/08

A great book
I think this book was amazing.I have always liked Britney Spears, so I picked up this book, not sure that I would like it.It is now one of my favorite books, among Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia.This book has a great story to it.I love the ending.I have not always been a great reader, but this book encouraged me to read more and more books.now I don't want to stop!

I've got to tell you..
most people wouldn't give this book a chance simply because of the authors..

Then again, I READ it simply because of the authors, to see how badly they could do...

I was wrong and quite surprised.
This was a bit of a moving story and I really enjoyed it.

Pretty good
I wouldn't say that this book is boring or fabulous, it's just fine. Although i'm a huge fan of Britney, and i used to say that everything about her is fabulous, but this book is not really interesting and it's a pretty short story, you can finish it in 2-3 days. You many consider buy STAGES instead of this, STAGES is 10 times better than A MOTHER'S GIFT!! ... Read more

Product Description
One of a series offering classic and contemporary writing for schools to suit a range of ages and tastes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (38)

A PRETTY GOOD DEPICTION
I AM AN OLDER READER AND I FOUND THIS BOOK TO BE VERY GOOD.
THE USE OF THE "N" WORD GOT TO BE A LITTLE GRATING--I REALIZE
THE AUTHOR WAS BEING ""REAL""---BUT---IT WAS STILL GRATING.

The Well
The Well is a book that works into lesson plans for Black History month very easily.

The author of the book helps elementary age students understand the racial tension that reached its tenacles far beyond the Civil War and made the Civil Rights Movement in our nation a necessity.

I would encourage every teacher to have a classroom set of this book to use to help explain that hatred and racism can be overcome. It may take years, but each small victory is simply a rung in the ladder to success.

Read it, I think you'll agree.

CGE Student Review
I just read this amazing book titled The Well by: Mildred D. Taylor. Mildred has also written books like Roll of Thunder Hear my CryandThe Friend Ship Circle.She mostly writes in historical fiction. In her books she likes having individuals treated equally, no matter their race.
Mildred writes about prejudice times with excruciating details. She wrote about two boys named David and Hammer Logan. My favorite character is Hammer, mostly because he expresses his feelings by telling this story.
I have some back round knowledge about those harsh times. I know that there were many people were being treated very harsh fully. Sometimes they were still treated like slaves, even though the war was over. In the beginning of the book everybody's well went dry except for the Logan's well. Mama said it was a gift from the Gods. But the Logan's were a black family, they lived in Mississippi. Since it was the only good water in that town Mama said she was willing to share it with everybody, even white folks.
There is a white boy named Charlie he causes trouble, a lot of trouble. He doesn't like the Logan's. But one day David gets Charlie fired up and mad! Charlie does something horrible for everyone, but mostly for the Logan's. What will happen? Will Charlie get caught? Do they break the ice and become friends? Or will this last forever? You won't know until you read it!
I would recommend this book to people who like to read about the past or history. Also, people who have to get to the next page or can't wait to finish the book.

This Book Is Da Bomb
This book was a very good book, i think the book could be a little bit longer, but it was a good book.
The well has some bad language so i would not recomend this book for youngsters. It isbetter for older kids.

realy GOOD book
This book is realy good but not good for young ages. It has violence and bad language. It shows how black people weretreated by whites, and it makes you angry but you keep turning the pages. If you get this book you will like it. ... Read more

Product Description
This completes the great trilogy of the Snopes family in Yoknapatawpha and traces the downfall of this indomitable post-bellum family. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

the mansion-william faulkner
the third and last volume of william faulkners triology, of the snopes familey of missisippi. it can be read by itself or in order with the other two.it is very thrilling and of an interesting style of the southern united states.

Greatness
Reading The Mansion reminded me of reading Greek tragedy: I was witnessing the struggle of good and evil played out between godlike characters on a whole other plane of existence, and they all get what they deserve.
Anyway, Mink Snopes's patient toiling in the first section is the best slow burns in American literature.

In Faulkner's Mansion are many rooms
I read the first two books of the Snopes trilogy, The Hamlet and The Town, many years ago, so it is lucky for me that this concluding novel more or less retells the main events of the previous two novels - albeit from different points of view - from the start.So, let me get one thing that irritated and disappointed me, by turns, throughout the novel out of the way: Faulkner is rather sloppy here concerning his interior monologues and, indeed, exterior dialogues.Having a Harvard educated lawyer (viz., Gavin Stevens) saying "ain't"is just as grating as hearing an illiterate tenant farmer (viz., Mink Snopes) thinking in fifty dollar words.One only has to contrast the effect here to the masterfully controlled interior monologue of "the idiot" (q.v. Macbeth-"...a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing") Benji in The Sound and the Fury to see how striking is the difference.

Nevertheless, I think this a very worthwhile book because - as another reviewer has stated - it deals with the human condition, more particularly with the fallen state of man.Also, I had well-nigh forgotten how addictive Faulkner's prose style becomes after one adjusts to it.He seems to have never met an adverbial phrase he didn't like, nor a restating of matters with a slightly different nuance which he couldn't resist putting to paper.But the more one reads, the more acutely one becomes aware of how accurately this mimics life itself, in which we constantly relive the past in our minds and in which we dwell in a constantly changing state of uncertainty regarding the motives of those closest to us and even of ourselves.

I think it more than a bit of an over-simplification to say that this trilogy and that this novel are merely about the rise and fall of the vile, money-grubbing Snopes clan - though, on one level, it's certainly the plot line.But, as ever with Faulkner, the book is about far more than mere plot.There are so many themes here that I can't do justice to them all.I certainly can't do justice to the knight-errant psychology of Gavin Stevens.So, let me just advert to one question he poses: "If mankind matched his dreams too, where would his dreams be?"This question is the most concise explanation of his fear of consummation and all his other actions.He values his dream life. But the main character of the book, as far as overarching import is concerned, in the beginning of the book and the end, is the aforementioned unlettered tenant farmer and twice murderer Mink Snopes, who serves as an avenging angel of Fate, or of our fallen nature, or call it what you will here, to whose death Faulkner devotes the final words of the book:

"...himself among them, equal to any, good as any, brave as any, being inextricable from, anonymous with all of them: the beautiful, the splendid, the proud and the brave, right up to the very top itself among the shining phantoms and dreams which are the milestones of the long human recording - Helen and the bishops, the kings and the unhomed angels, the scornful and graceless seraphim."

I could go on, but this is an Amazon review, not a dissertation.Suffice it to say that in Faulkner's mansion are many themes, all of them deep and well-worth exploring.

Complex, Uneven, but Interesting
I've heard people talk about the best approach to reading Faulkner, and the best book to begin with.I don't think this is a good book to start with - too much of Faulkner's previous work crowds this text for it to make sense to someone without exposure to some of his earlier work.But I think the Snopes trilogy, and especially this book, is some of Faulkner's most important (and most neglected) work.

The Snopes trilogy follows the fortunes of the Snopes family, and especially Flem Snopes, as they invade and virtually conquer Faulkner's fictional Yoknapatawpha County.The trilogy starts with The Hamlet, published in 1940 before Faulkner was a Nobel laureate and a famous author.This book is often considered one of his great works, and I recommend it.The second book in the trilogy, The Town, is a bit less interesting because it focuses so much on Gavin Stevens and his obsession with Eula Varner Snopes and then her daughter Linda.I suppose I got a little tired of the dirty old man staring at the little girl thing.

Anyway, in The Mansion, Flem has risen to the presidency of one of Jefferson's two banks.He lives in the old Sartoris mansion (hence the title) with his daughter (since his wife committed suicide at the end of The Town - sorry to ruin that book for you).As the book progresses, Gavin Stevens moves closer to Linda, though they don't seem to end up together.And Mink Snopes, a cousin of Flem who killed his neighbor Jack Houston in The Hamlet, is getting out of prison (through the intervention of Linda Snopes and Gavin Stevens), and he wants to kill Flem.

Basically, the book jumps back and forth between these two components: the Gavin/Linda exchanges, and the Mink Snopes quest for revenge.Mink is an illiterate sharecropper who seems incapable of sympathy or remorse for his earlier murder or the murder he wants to commit.But in this book you start to feel bad for him.Sitting in a truck, hitching his way across Mississippi to buy a gun, he has to ask the driver to do the math for him to help him figure out how old he is after being in prison for almost forty years.He's too old to be useful to anyone, and so out of touch with the changes in the world around him (cars, for instance, were a novelty when he went into prison) that it seems a miracle that he finds someone to sell him a gun.He has enough principle not to steal from the former-Marine preacher that he runs into, and the preacher gets him his stolen money back and finds him a ride to Memphis.

For me, this book is worth reading for Mink Snopes.He's almost/sort of a sympathetic character here, and the whole trilogy starts to unravel a little when we get inside the head of a Snopes, and we start to feel bad for him.He has a lot of real problems - he's a terrible racist, though near the end of the book he goes to work for an African-American cotton farmer and seems to be social with them.But he rescues this book from being just the fantasy of an aging writer about a voluptuous young woman.

I should also mention that this book really ruins Ratliff as a character.The whole business with the tie really annoyed me, and made this homespun Socrates into a hick.

I think this is a flawed book, but interesting to people who are looking for more from Faulkner.Like another reviewer said, a lot of Yoknapatawpha shows up in here, such as Jason Compson from The Sound and the Fury and Clarence Snopes, who has a small but funny part in Sanctuary.

If you're looking for a good Faulkner book to start with, I think Light in August is good but a little long.Or Sanctuary, because it's so sensational.

the end of a wonderful trilogy
"the mansion" is faulkner's memorable conclusion to the excellent snopes trilogy. Although it can be read on its own, it is best appreciated as the third in a series.

Let me first start by commenting on the trilogy as a whole (you can see my reviews on the first two books). This trilogy provides excellent overall background to all the novels of faulkner. In it he talks about most of the main characters of yoknapatawpha county, mississippi which run through all of his work. "The mansion" in particular ties many of these people and history together. In addition to that, it tells the fascinating story of the snopes family.

In "the mansion" faulkner retells most of what has occurred in the prior two books. This allows the reader to enjoy this novel on its own. For the trilogy reader he makes it interesting by changing the point of view. In "the town" v. k. ratliff tells the story of mink snopes and his murder ofjack houston. In the retelling in "the mansion" the story is told by mink himself; a totally different perspective. Faulkner also, in sections of the book, reverts back to the omniscient narrator in this book whereas in "the town" 3 individuals tell the story from their perspective.point of view is one of the most intriguing aspects of faulkner's style.

In this novel, he concludes the stories of the main snopes' characters and other characters in the trilogy. There is a clear air of fate that doesn't appear in the other novels. The story centers on mink, linda, and flem. Each ones destiny is irreversible. Even gavin stevens is fated to become a co-conspirator in murder.

As before, we never see into the head of the main character, flem snopes. He has clearly become bored with life as he defeated everyone in his way to becoming the most powerful person in jefferson. Why, at the end he takes no steps to save himself from mink is described by ratliff like rules of the game he has been playing. Is he also bored with life?

Faulkner is a masterful writer. This trilogy is not his best work, but it is excellent literature.
... Read more

Product Description
In June 1964, over 1,000 volunteers--most of them white, northern college students--arrived in Mississippi to register black voters and staff "freedom schools" as part of the Freedom Summer campaign organized by the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.Within 10 days, three of them were murdered; by the summer's end, another had died and hundreds more had endured bombings, beatings, and arrests.Less dramatically, but no less significantly, the volunteers encountered a "liberating" exposure to new lifestyles, new political ideologies, and a radically new perspective on America and on themselves.The summer transformed them, and, as this riveting book shows, forged a crucial link between the Civil Rights Movement and the other social movements that would soon sweep the nation.
Here is the first book to gauge the impact of Freedom Summer on the project volunteers and the period we now call "the turbulent '60s."Who were the volunteers? What were their experiences?And what happened to them after the project ended?To answer these questions, Doug McAdam tracked down hundreds of the original project applicants, and combining hard data with a wealth of personal recollections, he has produced a fascinating portrait of the people, the events, and the era.
As they embarked on the campaign, McAdam found, the volunteers were mostly liberal reformers--not radicals.As such, they typified the idealism of the early '60s. During Freedom Summer, however, their encounters with white supremacist violence and their experiences with interracial relationships, communal living, and a more open sexuality led many of the volunteers to "climb aboard a political and cultural wave just as it was forming and beginning to wash forward."Many became activists in subsequent protests--the antiwar movement, the feminist movement--and helped set their tone.Most significantly, McAdam found, many of the participants have remained activists to this day; for them, the "big chill" never occurred.
Brimming with the reminiscences of the Freedom Summer veterans, the book captures the varied motives that compelled them to make the journey south, the terror that came with the explosions of violence, the camaraderie and conflicts they experienced among themselves, and their assorted feelings about the lessons they learned. This book is an engrossing re-creation of some remarkable lives caught up in a remarkable series of events as well as a penetrating analysis of why those events were significant.It is must reading for anyone seeking to understand the legacy of the '60s. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Academic, Accessable, and Astounding
Freedom Summer attempts to explain who gets involved in high-risk political action, and how their experience shapes their economic and personal decisions.McAdam uses the 1964 "Freedom Summer" program, where primarily Northern, white college students descended on Mississippi to register black voters.The experiences of the volunteers serve as a microchasm of the politics of the era; the lingering influence of the conservative 1950's with its fears of communism and idealized suburban nuclear families through the turbulent 1960's, and the collapse of the multi-racial civil rights movement into various atomized social movements - feminism, environmentalism, and of course, the anti-war movement.

The methodology here is fascinating in and of itself: McAdam obtained the original applications for the Freedom Summer program, and used them to track down both those who did and did not go to Mississippi that fateful summer.This allowed him to demonstrate not only how people are motivated to participate, but the difference that such participation can make on future life choices, not only for political engagement, but employment and even marriage.Along the way, he shatters some of the mythology about the baby boomers - especially the idea that everyone shed their love beads and picket signs for lattes and SUVs.However, he also is careful not to glorify the volunteers, many of whom found adjusting to life outside of "the movement" to be a difficult process (an issue McAdam handles with care and dignity).

Perhaps what is most admirable about this book, however, is that it gives a fresh view on the 1960's, an era that has been written about ad nauseum, and manages to do so in a way that is both academically sound (McAdam is a sociologist at Stanford) and easily accessible to a non-academic audience.Be sure to read the appendices as well as the main text; he includes SNCC's "incident list" detailing the daily litany of harassment and violence that the volunteers faced daily.It is especially chilling, not only for the savagery it details, but the matter-of-fact tone in which it is recorded.

Highly recommended.

Spectacular
This book should be required reading for any of us crusty old lefties.A nice reminder (along with Martin Luther King Jr's "Why We Can't Wait") that sometimes with enough strength and drive, we can make the impossible possible.A great recounting, not only of the civil rights movement, but also the emerging New Left philosophy.Rich and detailed to earn a place as a university textbook, but still as plainspoken and accessible as to be read by anyone.

Highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
The story of an elderly black farmer arrested for the murder of a white man and threatened by a lynch mob in America's Deep South. A characteristically Faulknerian tale of dark omen, its sole ray of hope the character of a young white boy who repays on old favour by proving the farmer's innocence. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (44)

Purchase of an old classic
I had been looking for William Faulkner's "Intruder in the Dust", because I wanted to have Charlie Mallison's quote about Pickett's Charge on file.

The copy sent to me was hard cover, 16th printing of the first edition, in excellent shape, and meets my requirements in every way.

I am totally satisfied.

If it's William Faulkner it must be good.
I read this on my own and have read other works by Faulkner, so I'm not just some innocent student.

On the positive:Faulkner does create good imagery such as the two scenes in the graveyard.I also like that he never tries to explain himself, let's the reader figure it out.The symbolism is OK if you're into that sort of thing.

On the negative:He must have written this while out and out drunk and the editor, publisher and the adoring public make great allowance because this is "William Faulkner".The sentences are not just run-on, but change subjects midstream and simply make no sense.The dialogue is the same as the narrative except for the quotes surrounding it and thus since everyone talks the same, there is not much for characterization.The plot is a simple mystery which depends on timing, coincidence, stupidity and is just unbelievable.

If not for the fame of the author, this book would be forgotton.

On the obligations incurred from eating a plate of collard greens...
... the "owner" of which was a man who said "mister" to whites, but did not really mean it. The meal was served to 12 year old Charles Mallison, after he had fallen in an icy pond, and the server, who didn't mean mister, was Lucas Beauchamp. Four years later the "bill" for those collard greens would come due, and it would be Mallison's actions that would save Beauchamp's life. "Intruder in the Dust" is one of Faulkner's later works, written just after World War II. The perennial themes of his works are exhibited: his examination of life in barely fictional Yoknapatawpha County, whose county seat is Jefferson, (Oxford, MS) and the continued fall-out from America's "original sin," slavery. From Faulkner's majestically southern mansion of Rowan Oaks, he wrote in fear of the "white trash" that surrounded him, so often identified as the Snopes family, but in this novel they are transformed into the Gowries, from "Beat Four." Faulkner's stream-of-consciousness style always challenges the reader to stay engaged, or a vital clue to the story will be missed. And like those slower internet connections, he "backs and fills" his pixels, slowly revealing the entire story. This is also an excellent "mystery" novel; the particular situations involving the grave seem "impossible," but Faulkner makes it all so understandable, masterfully so, in the fullness of time. Faulkner is certainly not for the "fun read" crowd, nor, apparently, based on the reviews posted here, for sophomores in "Advanced Placement" English. I shutter at the thought of how many students have become confirmed non-readers of serious books for the rest of their lives as a result of such classes.

I am an immense fan of Faulkner, and still hope to read or re-read all his works. This time it was a re-read, after 35 or so years, and fortunately, even the first time was not a dreaded school assignment. There remain the wonderful, original descriptive passages that contain nuggets like: "...and forlorn across the long peaceful creep of late afternoon, into the mauve windless dome of dusk..." and "...if there were only some way to efface the clumsy room-devouring carcasses which can be done but the memory which cannot." But on the re-read I noticed Faulkner's "feet of clay." In referring to a patched roof, how much meaning is conveyed by "insolent promptitude," or a lathe's "ineluctable shaft," or "incredulous disbelief"?

But the real "feet of clay" are political, and there is a three page defense of the South's "go slow" policy for granting Blacks equal rights. The passage doesn't work in a literary sense, in that it plops, "cut and pasted," interrupting the dramatic tension of an enthralling mystery. Consider: "...only we (meaning white Southerners) must do it, and we alone without help or interference or even (thank you) advice since only we can if Lucas's equality is to be anything more than its own prisoner inside an impregnable barricade of the direct heirs of the victory of 1861-1865..." James Baldwin, in "Nobody Knows My Name," in his chapter entitled "Faulkner and Desegregation," offers the seminal critique of such an attitude: "After more than two hundred years in slavery and ninety years of quasi-freedom, it is hard to think very highly of William Faulkner's advice to `go slow.' `They don't mean go slow,' Thurgood Marshall is reported to have said, `they mean don't go.'"

Upon the re-read I was also struck by how derivative Harper Lee's classic book, "To Kill a Mockingbird" is, down to the two different men, both sitting in the doorway of the jailhouse, to prevent a lynching, as well as even the mockingbird! It is a point another reviewer made, but I had never realized it before, nor seen it in a critique of Lee's work.

Faulkner may be most associated with black-white relations, but he also has something to say about male-female relations. Consider: "...just enough dirt to hide the body temporarily from sight with something of that frantic desperation of the wife flinging her peignoir over the lover's forgotten glove..." or "I am fifty-plus years old,' his uncle said. `I spent the middle fifteen of them fumbling beneath skirts. My experience was that few of them were interested in love or sex either. They wanted to be married.'"

It pains me to knock a star from a Nobel-prize winning "idol," but the "feet of clay" are most certainly there.

Stream-of-Confusion
This novel is, in form, a thriller with a classic thriller plot- the fight to prove the innocence of a man accused of a crime he did not commit. (Alfred Hitchcock used this plot in a number of his films, and "Intruder in the Dust" was itself made into a very good film by Clarence Brown in 1949, only a year after its publication). Faulkner takes this basic plot and uses it to explore the problem of racism in America's Deep South; Harper Lee was later to take a similar plot, and use it for a similar purpose, in "To Kill a Mockingbird".

The book is set in Faulkner's fictional Yoknapatawpha County and its capital, Jefferson, based upon the real Lafayette County and Faulkner's own home town of Oxford. The innocent man wrongly accused is Lucas Beauchamp, an elderly, widowed black farmer. Although Beauchamp is honest and respectable, he is resented by many whites because he refuses to "behave like a nigger", that is to say behave in a servile manner. When a white man named Vinson Gowrie is shot dead, Beauchamp is accused of the crime. Gowrie was from Beat Four, a wild, hilly district of the county, whose white inhabitants are noted for their lawless ways and their ingrained prejudices against blacks. A mob, mostly members of Gowrie's extended family, gathers in Jefferson, threatening to break into the jail and lynch Beauchamp.

The story is told through the eyes of Charles Mallison, the sixteen-year-old nephew of Gavin Stevens, the relatively liberal white lawyer who acts for Beauchamp. Charles, who regards himself as being in Beauchamp's debt ever since, four years earlier, the old man rescued him after he fell in a stream, sets out to prove that Beauchamp did not fire the fatal shot. Together with his black friend Aleck and Miss Habersham, an elderly spinster (did Faulkner derive her name from Dickens' Miss Havisham?) he makes the dangerous body to Beat Four to exhume the body of the murdered man- and makes a surprising discovery.

Racial issues play an important part in Faulkner's work; indeed, it would probably be difficult for any Southern writer to avoid them altogether. His own views on the topic, however, seem to have been rather mixed. On the one hand he was an anti-racist, regarding the intolerant prejudice of many white Southerners as an affront to both decency and rationality. On the other hand, he was himself a proud Southerner, conscious of his family's Confederate heritage; his great-grandfather, Colonel William Falkner (thus spelt), had been a Confederate hero in the Civil War. In this novel Faulkner himself seems to adopt what might be called a neo-Confederate position, believing that, if the South could not be an independent, sovereign state it should at least form a culturally autonomous unit within the USA and have the right to deal with its own problems without interference from the North. He devotes several pages of the novel to his thesis that attempts by outsiders to combat racism in the south had actually been counter-productive and that black Southerners would never achieve equality until white Southerners were allowed to address the issue on their own terms.

The novel was written in the late forties, before the rise of the Civil Rights movement, and I think that Faulkner was wrong about race. The large-scale exodus of rural Southern blacks to Northern industrial cities in the first half of the twentieth century meant that race relations could no longer (if indeed they ever could) be thought of as solely a Southern issue. Since 1948 race relations in America have seen an immense change for the better; as I write this in October 2008 it seems quite likely that next month Barack Obama will not only be elected America's first black President but will also carry several Southern states. This change would not have been possible without the Civil Rights movement and the active involvement of Northerners, both black and white, and of the institutions of the Federal government.

Despite my disagreements with him, I nevertheless found Faulkner's analysis of the South's racial problems a stimulating and thought-provoking one. The characters are, for the most part, memorable and powerfully drawn. I did not, however, altogether enjoy this book, largely because of the eccentricities of the prose style that the author adopts here, a prose style characterised by long, rambling (and often syntactically disorganised) sentences, sometimes extending over several pages. He also has a weakness for obscure vocabulary items.

Faulkner was, presumably, aiming at the sort of stream-of-consciousness style he had used to good effect in other, better, novels, such as "As I Lay Dying". This style can be a valuable tool for showing us the world through the eyes of a fictional character or, in the case of "As I Lay Dying" which uses first-person multiple-narrator technique, through the eyes of a string of different characters. When stream-of-consciousness is used to represent the writer's own authorial voice, it becomes much less effective. "Intruder in the Dust" is a third-person narrative, and, although Charles is the central character, we are not always certain if it is his voice we are hearing, or the author's. The effect is less stream-of-consciousness than stream-of-confusion. As a result of this uncertainty, and of his often impenetrable syntax, the author's train of thought is in places difficult to follow, which means that, despite its interesting themes, "Intruder in the Dust" is not as effective a book as it could have been.

Difficult Read
This story is one of the most difficult stories I have read thus far. I am supposed to summarize the story for an English Majors course; but because the sentences are so long and tangled, I keep losing track of which character is being talked about. I have read and reread the story, but still have difficulty summarizing the story. The excruciatingly long paragraphs are what makes it so difficult to follow. Use caution when reading this story. ... Read more

Product Description
Come along with Wishbone as he sniffs out hidden treasure with Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn in Mark Twain's classic story ofboyhood adventure.

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