Customer Reviews

My Mississippi

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My Mississippi by Willie Morris is the quintessential guide to the Magnolia State, brilliant authors, beautiful landscapes, warts and all. Morris covers every aspect of Mississippi, its people, culture, history, landmarks, and leaders, in his own inimitable way. No one turns a phrase better than the late Morris, and this, his final effort, creates no exception to that rule. The tone is conversational, almost as if you're listening to the author holding court, as he was wont to do, at one of his favorite Jackson restaurants. It's all here--the Civil War, civil rights struggles, the old 18th Century Natchez District, the state's incomparable literary heritage, the pathetic public school system, Ole Miss football, beauty pagents, catfish farms, the histrionic Delta. All beautifully and lovingly described by Morris. The only disappointments are the photographs, which are frequently amateurish and, unlike the prose, seem oddly disconnected from their subject-- down home Mississippi. Even so, this is a great book.

I agree with Jim Frazier that this book is worth the read. This is a compelling portrait of a wickedly alluring slice of North America, replete with "boogeymen" and victims, deep wounds in the psyche of our great country begging to be healed. Scathingly simplistic photographs add to the feeling of having enjoyed a piece of cake, even though the cook forgot to frost it.Yes, folks, strange fruit still hangs from the trees in these parts. May God keep a watchful eye o'er the skies of Mississippi.