Mississippi native Eric Etheridge has recently published a coffee table book of photography called Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders which portrays the historic summer of 1961 through interviews of the former freedom riders, and their current portraits alongside their mugshots from the time.

Having grown up in Jackson, I can’t remember the first time I was made aware of segregation, or the role our state played in the civil rights movement. Though I can’t remember when I learned about this part of our history, I’ve always been sensitive to the attitude of some people in our community: that these events happened in our past, and though they are an important and controversial part of history, we ought not dwell upon them but instead, continue to move forward and distance ourselves from the past. Thus, it came as quite a shock in college when my sociology class read Doug McAdams’ book, Freedom Summer.

Reading Freedom Summer forced me to come face to face with this reality: I grew up believing that a great temporal and physical distance existed between me and my culture’s not so distant past when, in fact, the people in Freedom Summer filled the streets of my hometown in the not so distant past. The images depicting that summer were filled with tanks, policemen and rioters. It was at this point that I finally understood that these are people I pass in my neighborhood and stand in line behind in the grocery store.

Many of the documents and mug shots from that summer remain forever in posterity in the files of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History where Etheridge discovered them and came up with the idea to use them to recreate this history. In his introduction to Breach of Peace, Etheridge mentions that he found no evidence that the Sovereignty Commission used the mug shots after they were filed, but expresses his belief of their importance today, saying: “… they’re invaluable to us today. They give us the chance to take the measure of these men and women in the very heat of battle, and perhaps to take measure of ourselves in their responding gaze. Here they are, four decades later, patiently and urgently awaiting our reply,” (29). In my humble opinion, through his interviews and the creation of Breach of Peace, forty years later Etheridge attempts to respond to their gazes.

Mr. Etheridge will be at Lemuria signing Breach of Peace on Friday, May 30 at 5:00 and giving a short talk at 5:30… we hope to see you all there to celebrate this beautiful book!

We had a fantastic evening with Rick Bragg last Wednesday night! As usual, Rick charmed us all with his charisma and hilarious anecdotes while he signed his latest book, The Prince of Frogtown. Bragg wrote The Prince of Frogtown about his father, saying he didn’t want to die without writing something good about his father. In one of his earlier books, All Over but the Shoutin’,  Bragg told several stories about him, though many of them were less than flattering depictions of his father. In The Prince of Frogtown Bragg wrestles with both the good and evil sides of his father’s character. In the style of Ava’s Man and All Over but the Shoutin’, Bragg pieced together stories about his father to create the book and from the parts that I’ve read it is his most heartfelt work yet.

Get Rich, Stay Rich, Pass it On: The Wealth-Accumulation Secrets of America’s Richest Families

by Catherine S. Mc Breen and George H. Walper, Jr.

(Portfolio, 2009)

I just finished reading, and found Pass It On to be the perfect fit for the title of this timely book.  I will pass this read on to my children.  This book is a perfect follow up for families who have studied Schwab’s It Pays to Talk.  Pass It On is a good one for families to read together, think about and discuss.  Family financial goals are just another way to share love and friendship together in this important way that in the past was a hidden or taboo subject for some.

The main theme is that there are only two definitive ways to create the kind of wealth that can be bequeathed to multiple generations.

(1) Own income-producing real estate-in addition to your primary residence.  An asset that can earn money for you and that can be passed down to your heirs as part of your legacy.

(2) Practice what we call continually innovative entrepreneurship—being involved in or investing and reinvesting, in a company product, or service that represents a whole new way to make money.

Pass It On stresses self-assessment, character ethics and self-analysis of your business passions.  This practical book teaches you that only way to really have wealth is to have a plan for generational wealth.

Today is May 10th, the day everyone has been waiting for, National Train Day! Are you looking for a way to “get your choo choo on?” If so, come by the store and get a copy of Howard Bahr’s new novel, hot off the presses, Pelican Road. Howard’s fourth novel chronicles the lives of characters working on the rail road in the early forties and has been a hit with all those who have read it so far. I haven’t had a chance to read it myself yet, but truly enjoyed the segments he read on Thursday night at the kick off signing on his tour.

Southern Herb Growing by Madalene Hill and Jean Hardy is a comprehensive book on everything from herb selection for our tough southern climate to designing an herb garden to preserving and cooking with herbs.

In the introduction, Madalene Hill tells the story of beginning her restaurant in Cleveland, Texas despite the fact that she had retired and had just planned to enjoy cooking. The restaurant and herb garden grew into a booming family business.

This has been the best herb book I have come across so far. Much of the scientific information on herbs is supplemented with Madalene’s tried and true experience of herb cultivation in a southern climate. I have yet to try some of the recipes from the family restaurant, but I look forward to trying the recipes for herb butter and parsley soup.