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Lower Mississippi River, New Orleans to Memphis

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Click on Essential Reading for the featured set of Lower Mississippi River books and a map. We offer free shipping on anything else you order with the travel books package.

Essential Reading

Item EXUSS139. Buy these 4 items as a set for $56 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

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Life on the Mississippi

Life on the Mississippi

by Mark Twain

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 388 PAGES

A classic marking Twain's return to the days of his youth spent on the Mississippi. Full of historical information, anecdotes, character sketches and fond memories, it's an enjoyable look back at the Old Mississippi. (USS05, $9.95)

Wicked River, The Mississippi When It Last Ran Wild

Wicked River, The Mississippi When It Last Ran Wild

by Lee Sandlin

  • HISTORY
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 304 PAGES

Sandlin composes a lively portrait of the Mississippi River before it was domesticated as a shipping channel. He draws on firsthand accounts to depict a 19th century society that gave rise to presidents and river pirates. (USS475, $15.95)

The Majesty of Natchez

by Steven Brooke

  • HISTORY
  • 1999
  • HARD COVER
  • 96 PAGES

This lively introduction to Natchez's well-preserved antebellum architecture includes a useful map, anecdotal histories and a number of excellent color photographs. (USS133, $17.95)

Deep South, Mississippi Valley, Gulf of Mexico Map

Deep South, Mississippi Valley, Gulf of Mexico Map

by Hallwag

  • MAP

A map of the southern Mississippi Valley region. (USS47, $14.95)

 
Jackson, Natchez and Vicksburg Map

Jackson, Natchez and Vicksburg Map


by Riley Maps

  • 2004
  • MAP

A regional map of Mississippi at scale of 1:50,000, covering Jackson, Natchez and Vicksburg. (USS403, $4.95)

Eyewitness Guide New Orleans

Eyewitness Guide New Orleans


by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 240 PAGES

This thorough, gorgeously illustrated guidebook provides a terrific introduction to the city and its many highlights (USS305, $20.00)

Frommer's Nashville & Memphis


by Linda Romine

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 274 PAGES

A comprehensive, practical guide to the region with excellent recommendations for hotels, restaurants and excursions. With two-color maps throughout. (USS441, $16.99)

Frommer's New Orleans Day by Day


by Frommer's

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • PAPER

This compact guide, ideal for a shorter visit, features excellent suggestions for everything from food, hotels and nightlife to neighborhood walks and shopping. With a foldout map. (USS462, $12.99)

Africans in America, America's Journey through Slavery

Africans in America, America's Journey through Slavery


by Charles Johnson | Patricia Smith | WBGH Series Research Team

  • HISTORY
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 512 PAGES

A powerful collaborative effort that paints a vivid picture of the history of slavery in America, and celebrates the brave Africans who managed to preserve their heritage as they endured so many hardships. (USS53, $38.95)

Coming Back, New Orleans Resurgent

Coming Back, New Orleans Resurgent


by Mario Tama

  • HISTORY
  • 2010
  • HARD COVER
  • 128 PAGES

Tama documents the city's struggle to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina in striking color photographs. With a forward by news anchor Anderson Cooper, who has devoted much time and energy to the Gulf Coast region. (USS496, $45.00)

Fabulous New Orleans

Fabulous New Orleans


by Lyle Saxon

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1989
  • PAPER
  • 400 PAGES

First published in the 1920s, this charming book by local journalist and literary personality Lyle Saxon is a lovely, impressionistic chronicle of the city, its people and its culture. (USS01, $16.99)

Lost Plantations of the South


by Marc R. Matrana

  • HISTORY
  • 2009
  • HARD COVER
  • 320 PAGES

Matrana weaves together photographs, diaries and letters to bring to life 60 great estates and the people who once called them home. (USS461, $40.00)

Rising Tide, The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America

Rising Tide, The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America


by John M. Barry

  • HISTORY
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 524 PAGES

A sweeping history of the devastating Mississippi flood of 1927, delving deeply into the race relations, agriculture and politics of the time. (USS48, $18.00)

The Beleaguered City, The Vicksburg Campaign

The Beleaguered City, The Vicksburg Campaign


by Shelby Foote

  • HISTORY
  • 1995
  • HARD COVER
  • 347 PAGES

Shelby Foote, a noted Civil War scholar, tells the engrossing narrative of the taking of Vicksburg in 1863 by Ulysses S. Grant and his Union troops. It was one of the pivotal battles of the Civil War, and distinguished Grant as a military genius. (USS51, $19.00)

The Civil War, A Narrative: Fort Sumter to Perryville, Fredericksburg to Meridian, Red River to Appomattox


by Shelby Foote

  • HISTORY
  • 1986
  • PAPER

This classic, three-volume collection documents the military and political battles of the Civil War. (USS116, $78.00)

The Civil War, An Illustrated History

The Civil War, An Illustrated History


by Geoffrey C. Ward | Ken Burns

  • HISTORY
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 448 PAGES

An illustrated, comprehensive social history of the Civil War by the now-famous team of Ward and Burns. With 500 photographs and maps, extensive text and original essays by contributing experts. (USS27, $29.95)

The Devil's Backbone: Story of the Natchez Trace

The Devil's Backbone: Story of the Natchez Trace


by Jonathan Daniels

  • HISTORY
  • 1985
  • PAPER
  • 267 PAGES

A brief, pocket history of the development, exploration and settling of the Natchez Trace, which stretches from Natchez, Mississippi, across northwestern Alabama to Nashville. (USS142, $12.95)

The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation

The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation


by Stephen Ambrose | Douglas Brinkley

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2005
  • HARD COVER
  • 272 PAGES

This illustrated popular history -- and travelogue -- tells the story of the great river from the time of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. (USM110, $40.00)

The Mississippi Steamboat Era in Historic Photographs, Natchez to New Orleans, 1870-1920

The Mississippi Steamboat Era in Historic Photographs, Natchez to New Orleans, 1870-1920


by Joan Gandy | Thomas Gandy

  • HISTORY
  • 1989
  • PAPER
  • 128 PAGES

An excellent collection of early steamboat photos. Images include steamboat exteriors, interiors, passengers, crew and river scenes. (USS184, $15.95)

The South in Modern America, A Region at Odds


by Dewey Grantham

  • HISTORY
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 416 PAGES

A comprehensive, well researched survey of the South from the time of Reconstruction to the late 20th century. Grantham captures the politics, history, and psychology of the lower half of the country. (USS66, $24.95)

The World That Made New Orleans, From Spanish Silver to Congo Square


by Ned Sublette

  • HISTORY
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 360 PAGES

Sublette (Cuba and its music) charts the remarkable story of New Orleans's first century from European colonization through the Haitian revolution (crucial to French and American negotiations over Louisiana). (USS498, $16.95)

Classic Natchez: An Illustrated Tour through a Remarkable Antebellum Town


by Van J. Martin | Randolph Delehanty

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 1996
  • HARD COVER
  • 164 PAGES

Antebellum South presented through photographs and essays on 43 Natchez homes, including maps, floor plans, and a timeline. (USS136, $39.95)

Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta


by Robert Palmer

  • MUSIC
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES

Palmer crafts an engaging, thoroughly interesting history of blues music, tracing it from its rural roots in the Mississippi Delta to great blues musicians like Muddy Waters and B.B. King. (USS396, $16.00)

Delta Blues, The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music


by Ted Gioia

  • MUSIC
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 449 PAGES

From the field hollers of 19th-century plantations to Muddy Waters and B.B. King, Delta Blues delves into the uneasy mix of race and money at the point where traditional music became commercial and bluesmen found new audiences of thousands. (USS460, $17.95)

Elvis Presley, Memphis


by Mark Bernardo

  • MUSIC
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 130 PAGES

Weaving the story of the King's personal and public life with detailed descriptions of the locations in Memphis that served as the setting for his musical education and evolution, this pop culture guide offers a refreshingly even-handed account of Elvis Presley's life. (USS492, $14.95)

It Came from Memphis


by Robert Gordon

  • MUSIC
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 336 PAGES

This journalistic classic explores the burgeoning musical life of Memphis in the days before Elvis. A thrilling, colorful read. (USS501, $22.95)

Around the Bend, A Mississippi River Adventure

Around the Bend, A Mississippi River Adventure


by C.C. Lockwood

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1998
  • HARD COVER
  • 169 PAGES

A photographic tour of the Mississippi River as seen through the lens of naturalist and wildlife photographer C.C. Lockwood. (USS45, $39.95)

Bayou, Farewell

Bayou, Farewell


by Mike Tidwell

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 368 PAGES

Tidwell introduces us to the food and the language, the shrimp fisherman, the Houma Indians, and the rich cultural history that makes Louisian's Cajun Coast unlike any other place. (USS491, $16.00)

Black Boy

Black Boy


by Richard A. Wright | Jerry W. Ward

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 448 PAGES

The autobiography of Richard Wright, chronicling his days as a young black man in rural Mississippi and Memphis. It's a hard-hitting look at race relations in the United States before the civil rights era. (USS50, $14.99)

Louisiana Rambles

Louisiana Rambles


by Ian McNulty

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 297 PAGES

The New Orleans journalist explores Cajun and Creole communities of south Louisiana in this engaging guide to the music, culture and pleasures of the region. (USS493, $22.00)

Mississippi Solo: A River Quest

Mississippi Solo: A River Quest


by Eddy L. Harris

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 250 PAGES

From Minnesota to New Orleans, in a canoe, Harris travels the length of the Mississippi, facing rednecks, wild dogs and bad weather. (USS384, $16.00)

Old Glory, A Voyage Down the Mississippi

Old Glory, A Voyage Down the Mississippi


by Jonathan Raban

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 409 PAGES

Raban tackles the "Mighty Mississippi" aboard a 16-foot motorboat in this entertaining portrait of contemporary life on the river, featuring places and people he encounters along the way from from Minnesota to Mississippi. (USS42, $18.00)

The Barber of Natchez


by Edwin Adams Davis | William Ransom Hogan

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1973
  • PAPER
  • 278 PAGES

A vivid portrait of the life and times of the remarkable William Johnson, a free slave and successful businessman in Natchez, who writes of his family life, business successes and friendships with people of both races. Drawing on Johnson's diaries, letters and contemporary accounts. Johnson was murdered in 1851. (USS401, $19.95)

William Johnson's Natchez, The Ante-Bellum Diary of a Free Negro

William Johnson's Natchez, The Ante-Bellum Diary of a Free Negro


by Edwin Adam Davis | William Ransom Hogan

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1993
  • PAPER
  • 812 PAGES

The personal diary of William Johnson, a free Negro of Natchez, Mississippi. Discovered in 1938, this first person account reveals the hardship he endured as he went from a former slave to a successful businessman. (USS139, $34.95)

A Confederacy of Dunces

A Confederacy of Dunces


by John Kennedy Toole

  • LITERATURE
  • 1987
  • PAPER
  • 405 PAGES

The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, drenched in New Orleans color and culture. Its sharp humor, combined with vivid local detail, makes it great reading for any visitor to New Orleans. (USS02, $15.00)

A Curtain of Green and Other Stories

A Curtain of Green and Other Stories


by Eudora Welty

  • LITERATURE
  • 1979
  • PAPER
  • 324 PAGES

Welty's first collection of stories, which includes the classic "A Worn Path," established her reputation as a leading southern writer. (USS402, $27.95)

Delta Wedding

Delta Wedding


by Eudora Welty

  • LITERATURE
  • 1979
  • PAPER
  • 326 PAGES

An expertly written comedy about white southerners on the brink of marriage. (USS251, $14.00)

More of This World or Maybe Another

More of This World or Maybe Another


by Barb Johnson

  • LITERATURE
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 188 PAGES

The gritty, dazzling debut collection by New Orleans writer and carpenter Johnson. These nine interconnected stories follow four unlikely friends through the backstreets of New Orleans. (USS471, $13.99)

Shiloh

Shiloh


by Shelby Foote

  • LITERATURE
  • 1991
  • PAPER
  • 226 PAGES

Told through the perspectives of a diverse cast of soldiers, Foote's brilliant novel transports the reader to Pittsburgh Landing, Tennessee. (USS71, $15.00)

The Awakening


by Kate Chopin | Marilynne Robinson

  • LITERATURE
  • 1981
  • PAPER
  • 208 PAGES

The 1899 novel that forever vanquished "feminine propriety." Chopin's exhilarating, tragic feminist novella sings with the Cajun and Creole cadences of her native New Orleans. (USS229, $4.95)

The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty


by Eudora Welty

  • LITERATURE
  • 1982
  • PAPER
  • 622 PAGES

All the stories written by Welty, the pride of Jackson, Mississippi, in a single volume. (USS250, $16.00)

The Confidence-Man, His Masquerade

The Confidence-Man, His Masquerade


by Herman Melville

  • LITERATURE
  • 1991
  • PAPER
  • 351 PAGES

Melville's final work of prose, a bewildering story of the Devil and his attempt to con a group of travelers aboard a riverboat on the Mississippi. (USS44, $14.00)

The Heaven of Mercury


by Brad Watson

  • LITERATURE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 335 PAGES

Set in the fictional town of Mercury, Mississippi native Watson's compelling first novel follows the life and unrequited love of local newspaper editor Finus Bates, evoking changes along the Gulf Coast over the course of the 20th century. (USS495, $14.95)

The Moviegoer

The Moviegoer


by Walker Percy

  • LITERATURE
  • 1961
  • PAPER
  • 241 PAGES

Walker Percy won the 1961 National Book Award for this novel, his masterpiece, which unfolds in New Orleans during a momentous Carnival week. It's a great book that we can recommend as much for its sheer readability as for its palpable sense of place. (USS249, $14.95)

The Quiet Game

The Quiet Game


by Greg Iles

  • LITERATURE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 576 PAGES

A murder mystery set in Natchez, Mississippi. (USS141, $9.99)

Yonder Stands Your Orphan


by Barry Hannah

  • LITERATURE
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 333 PAGES

A dazzling Gothic novel of the Deep South, bursting with eccentric, deeply confused characters, humor and pain. Set near Vicksburg, Mississippi. (USS232, $14.95)

The Big Muddy

The Big Muddy


by Christopher Morris

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 320 PAGES
  • COMING IN AUGUST

A landmark environmental history of the Mississippi, illuminating the disastrous impact of human exploitation of the region. (USS502, $35.00)

The Control of Nature

The Control of Nature


by John McPhee

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 1989
  • PAPER
  • 272 PAGES

A bestseller in the classic McPhee tradition, this book explores our generally feeble attempts to combat all-powerful nature, including efforts by Icelanders to control the flow of a volcano. (NAT01, $16.00)

National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Southeastern States

National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Southeastern States


by Peter Alden

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 1999
  • FLEXI-BOUND
  • 446 PAGES

A compact photographic guide to the nature of the Southeast States from Mississippi and Georgia to North Carolina, featuring 1,500 photographs, concise descriptions and an overview of the natural history of the area. (USS31, $19.95)

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America


by Jon Dunn

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 576 PAGES

From Alaska to Baja California, Nova Scotia and Florida, this guide is the veteran's choice for birding anywhere in the United States. Tabbed for easy access, the color range maps in this sixth edition are outstanding. (FG09, $27.95)

The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America

The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America


by David Sibley

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 474 PAGES

A compact, geographically specific version of the Sibley Guide with all-new range maps, the same glorious illustrations and expanded, extremely valuable descriptions of each bird. (USW418, $19.95)

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Longitude provides recommended reading for travelers in partnership with the leading tour operators and travel programs for hundreds of destinations worldwide. We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.