His outraged friends -- —mostly poor cotton farmers -- form a secret society, Hell-at-the-Breech, to punish the townspeople they believe responsible. The hooded members wage a bloody year-long campaign of terror that culminates in a massacre where the innocent suffer alongside the guilty. Caught in the maelstrom of the Mitcham war are four people: the aging sheriff sympathetic to both sides; the widowed midwife who delivered nearly every member of Hell-at-the-Breech; a ruthless detective who wages his own war against the gang; and a young store clerk who harbors a terrible secret. Based on incidents that occurred a few miles from the author's childhood home, Hell at the Breech chronicles the events of dark days that led the people involved to discover their capacity for good, evil, or for both.

    Intricate wrought-iron gates opening to lush, fragrant gardens. A skyline of steeples and a river harbor bustling with schooners and sailboats. Charleston is one of America's most charming cities. In vibrant watercolors and detailed sketches, artist Diana Gessler captures the beauty and riches that make Charleston so unique: White Point Gardens, the Spoleto Festival, Rainbow Row, Waterfront Park, Fort Moultrie, the beaches of Sullivan's Island, sumptuous Lowcountry cuisine, and handmade sweetgrass baskets. Full of fascinating details--on everything from the art of early entertaining, the city's inspired architectural and garden designs, and George Washington's Southern tour to famous Charlestonians and the flags of Sumter--Very Charleston celebrates the city, the Lowcountry, the people, and our history. Hand-lettered and full color throughout, Very Charleston includes maps, an index, and a handy appendix of sites. With her cheerful illustrations and love for discovering little-known facts, Diana Gessler has created both an entertaining guide and an irresistible keepsake for visitors and Charlestonians alike.

    nurse Ella Majors has seen all the misery that she can handle. Burned-out and unsure of her next step, she accepts the temporary position as caregiver to Marion Henderson, a frightened five-year-old who suffers from juvenile diabetes. But Ella soon realizes there is more sorrow in the isolated home than the little girl’s illness can account for. Harris Henderson, a single father, seems better able to deal with the wild birds he rehabilitates in his birds-of-prey sanctuary than with his own daughter. Then something magical begins to happen: the timeless beauty of the South Carolina coast and the majestic grace of the wild birds weave a healing spell on the injured hearts at the sanctuary. But a troubled mother’s unexpected return will test the fragile bonds of trust and new love, and reveal the inherent risks and exhilarating beauty of flying free.

    Devastated by his loss, but secure in their love, Claybird feels as though life could almost go on as usual in their small, sleepy Southern hometown.Until Uncle Gabe comes back.A stranger to Claybird, Uncle Gabe is a brilliant academic who disappeared twenty years ago. Despite the deep mystery that surrounds him, Gabe's humor and intellect shine, and he quickly positions himself in the role of the Catts family's patriarch, filling the role of Claybird's dead father. Gabe and Claybird become coconspirators and best friends, until a slip of the tongue unveils the real history of their relationship, a heart-wrenching revelation that turns Claybird's world upside down.

    - By the author of Ecology of a Cracker Childhood (50,000 copies sold)

    Huston has never before written about that time—an era of racism and repression, a time when this country was still relatively young, an age of quirky individualism and almost frontier-style freedom that largely has ceased to exist. Fearful he would not be believed, on one hand, but desirous of the freedom to embellish, on the other, Curtiss chronicles that time in Sins of the Seventh Sister, a book he characterizes as “a novel based on a true story of the gothic South.” It is his story and the story of the people of Elkins, West Virginia, a small town whose inhabitants included his mother, Billy-Pearl Curtiss, and her many sisters—all stunning blondes. Billy-Pearl would prove to be an irresistibly romantic figure in her son’s life. She was the seventh of eleven children, all girls to her father’s consternation. By the time of her arrival, her father felt he had been patient enough and insisted on calling her Billy; he taught her everything he had intended to impart to his firstborn son. She would grow up to be one of the most beautiful women in the county, but also one of the most opinionated and liberal. Her aim was so precise that she was barred from the local turkey shoot because none of the men had a chance against her. When a Klansman accused her of attempted homicide after she shot him through the shoulder to stop him from setting fire to the home of her black neighbors, she told the sheriff, “If I had meant to kill him, he’d be dead.” And with that defense, she was exonerated.Curtiss Farm was large and the house had many rooms, which Billy-Pearl got in the habit of gathering people to fill, especially the downtrodden who had nowhere to go. In May 1929, Billy-Pearl brought home a boy from the local orphanage. Stanley was sixteen, the age at which the orphanage kicked children out, and Billy-Pearl, knowing his sad history, could not allow him to end up on the streets. Stanley had witnessed his father beat his mother to death in a drunken rage and had taken a straight razor and slit his father’s throat while he slept. A country judge had the boy castrated to control his aggressive ways. Not a boy, but not yet a man, Stanley was tall, willowy, and frightened as a colt upon his arrival at Curtiss Farm—not at all the playmate for whom Huston had hoped. But quickly a friendship developed between the two that would last a lifetime—a friendship that would survive murder, suicide, madness, and Stanley’s eventual transformation into Stella, a singer who would live her adult life as a glamorous woman.Sins of the Seventh Sister is brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, as alive with flamboyant characters and wildly uncontained emotions as any book to come out of the South.

    Her daughter, Tananarive, grew up deeply enmeshed in the values of a family committed to making right whatever they saw as wrong. Together, in alternating chapters, they have written a paean to the movement—its hardships, its nameless foot soldiers, and its achievements—and an incisive examination of the future of justice in this country. Their mother-daughter journey spanning two generations of struggles is an unforgettable story.

    They were part of major changes in the entertainment business and American culture, participated in the folk music movement in the ‘60’s, and saw the steady birth of rock ‘n’ roll up close as they worked with Presley and others. Illustrated with many never-before-published photographs, Looking Back to See is a remarkable story told here for the first time.

    A prime-time hurricane devastates southern Florida at the start of his honeymoon and he can't even use camcorder. Fortunate, really, as the results would not make family viewing back home in New York. Within hours the ruins are alive with Mobsters, crusaders, temptresses, presidential aides and escaped wild animals. Even a crucifixion, previously unheard of in these parts, can't halt the mayhem. For the inhabitants of Dade County, the hurricane is the second good rush - the year's hottest scam. Everyone wants a piece. And Max, he just wants to go home Lucky You Saturday afternoon in Grange, Florida. Virtually unnoticed, JoLayne Lucks stops by the Grab'n'Go to play the same numbers she's played every week for five years. 17-19-22-24-27-30. Each lotto number marking the age she dumped a tiresome lover. She doesn't know it yet, but the discarded men in JoLayne's life have finally amounted to something. $28 million and a whole swamp of trouble

    Yet the problem with a lot of Southern cooking is the ever-present can of cream of mushroom soup. In this lively, humorous cookbook, Robert St. John shows Southerners (and all fans of the cuisine) how to indulge in the ideas and tastes that inspired Southern cooking, without resorting to ingredients like that canned soup in the recipe. The classic dishes are all here; they just taste better! Sections include cocktail party fare, funeral food, breakfasts, salads and soups, summer suppers, cakes, vegetables, chitlins, desserts, sides, and much more. Recipes include Buttermilk Chicken, Pecan Crusted Redfish, Fried Catfish, Cajun Popcorn, Corn Fritters, and lots of other Southern classics.

    Every year millions of tourists visit these mountains, drawn by the region's great natural beauty and diverse cultural traditions. Many popular aspects of Cherokee culture are readily apparent; beneath the surface, however, lies a deeper Cherokee heritage--rooted in sacred places, community ties, storytelling, folk arts, and centuries of history. Cherokee Heritage Trails Guidebook is your introduction to this vibrant world. The book is organized around seven geographical hubs or communities within the original Cherokee homeland. Each chapter covers sites, side trips, scenic drives, and events. Cherokee stories, history, poems, and philosophy enrich the text and reveal the imagination of Cherokees past and present. The Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee, North Carolina, is the main interpretive center for the Cherokee Heritage Trails. Among the many other featured sites are Kituhwa Mound, origin of the mother town of the Cherokees; Junaluska Memorial and Museum, with a preserved gravesite and medicine plant trail; and Unicoi Turnpike Trail, part of the Trail of Tears and one of sixteen national millennium trails in the United States.

    

    The new book of fiction from River Jordan, THE GIN GIRL, captures the essence of Florida and those who inhabit its salty marsh. Jordan "makes you care about the people she writes about, even the ones you might not like--but more then that, she makes you see them. Her literary spice rack has everything you need to put together a good book, and this was fun to taste" --Rick Bragg. Jordan's prose effectively paints images of Florida's sparsely inhabited landscape. Her images encompass characters "as haunted and lovely and endangered as the land they cherish"--Janis Owens.

    Whether a guide or a gift, The Ultimate Southern Living Christmas Book is one book that will keep on giving Christmas after Christmas.Key Features:-- Over 400 full-color photographs of holiday decorating ideas-- 250 kitchen-tested holiday recipes-- Handy substitution charts and menu-planning timetables-- Over 250 step-by-step decorations; over 100 easy-to-make gifts, cards, and tags-- 100 helpful illustrations and full-size patterns

    She still tracks down the newest voices before their breakouts, collecting the best renditions of the short-story genre. New Stories from the South has become sine qua non in creative-writing classes, in Southern-literature classes, for any serious writer following the competition, and above all, for any lover of Southern literature.The stories in the eighteenth volume of NEW STORIES FROM THE SOUTH carry on that tradition. Among the eighteen writers making their mark in this year's volume are Michael Knight, Donald Hays, John Dufresne, ZZ Packer, and Chris Offutt. This year's preface is by the preeminent Southern humorist and NPR regular Roy Blount, Jr.Each story is followed by the author's note about its origin. Readers will also find an updated list of magazines consulted by the editor, and a complete list of all the stories selected each year since the series' inception.

    Vivid, lush, and intensely honest, these poems capture the rough edges of the world and force us to pay attention.

    More than 55 essays touch on his observations and treasured memories, including food, farming, music, family, and neighbors. These hilarious, insightful, commentaries celebrate the essence of rural and small-town life in North Carolina.

    Her work is so thoroughly immersed in nature that it seems as if the sea and sky speak for her and not that she speaks of them. In her first full collection of poems, Marjory Wentworth's canvas is Lowcountry South Carolina. In language that is elegant and piercing, she links the mysteries of the human experience with the power of the sea, the vagaries of the wind, and the brilliance of the sun, always ac the natural world in sensual detail.