From NPR commentator ("All Things Considered") Ed Cullen comes this collection of humorous commentaries on life in southern Louisiana, including Mardi Gras, science fairs, and how the denizens of Guatemala North (Baton Rouge) stay cool.

Although Roy Bedichek published less than his more famous friends J. Frank Dobie and Walter Prescott Webb, he wrote voluminously and, many say, with more distinction than the others. In addition to his four published books, Bedichek produced a great number of letters through which he communicated his broad interests and deep learning to a wide variety of correspondents. Prefaced by a biographical sketch, this volume presents a collection of Bedichek letters that give us an insight into his literary and creative development—from his earliest years through his career at the University of Texas and on into his later years. They include letters to his closest associates, J. Frank Dobie and Walter Prescott Webb, and to many old friends, such as William A. Owens, John A. Lomax, and John Henry Faulk. Also included is Bedichek's correspondence with other contemporaries, not all old friends, among them Texas Governor James Ferguson, the recipient of some of Bedichek's most trenchant criticism. Throughout this collection, Bedichek's sparkling wit and profound learning are evident as he discusses his favorite subjects, among them ecology, education, literature, politics, and history, frequently related to Texas. When Roy Bedichek gave his collection of letters to the Barker Collection in the University of Texas Library, he designated William A. Owens as the authorized editor of the letters, with the restriction that none of them be published until seven years following his death, which came in 1959.

Written in Love When a postal error creates pen pals of two young Amish people, can they put behind their past mistakes to see the bright future God has written for them? The Promise of a Letter A letter brings him back to his Amish family. It will take someone truly extraordinary to make him stay. Words from the Heart Ivy Yoder thought she had found the man she would marry, but she returns to her Amish community of Birch Creek with a broken heart. When a family friend asks for her help in cleaning out an attic, she's grateful for the chance to get her mind off the betrayal.

Irish Literary Studies Series No. 26.

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- Abbreviations -- Editorial Principles -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. "Book Farmer"--Chapter 2. "The Guessed of Michigan"--Chapter 3. A New Regime at Amherst -- Chapter 4. To Michigan Again (for a Lifetime in a Year) -- Chapter 5. Ten Weeks a Year in Amherst, Fourteen Once in Europe -- Biographical Glossary of Correspondents -- Chronology: February 1920-December 1928 -- Acknowledgments -- Index