Tales From Georgia's Gnat Line is about the South-the Deep South; Larry Walker's part of the world. It's about good people, and some not so good. It's about a part of the United States that was, and is, somewhat different from the rest. And it's about cotton, because in many ways cotton caused Southerners to do some of the things that otherwise good people would not have done. It's never been easy to be a Southerner, black or white. But it's worth holding on to, and we must. Walker promises to do his part. He uses "y'all" and does it often. It's not just the way he speaks, but the way he thinks, y'all means everyone. Yes, the road is long and narrow. It's wider down in the South than it used to be, and it is getting wider all the time, but there have been recent problems which will need to be addressed. We can't afford to fight the Civil War again--either here in the South or elsewhere in this country. This book is about the South of the past, the present, and, if read carefully, of the future.

A Southern woman's view of life is often formed not only by experiences within her family, but without as well. Â The nostalgic reflections of living in small town south Georgia, with four younger brothers, produced a "colorful" life for author Johnnie W. Lewis. Â As the only daughter of a Naval Chief Petty Officer, she reflects, with humor, on the many and varied aspects of her life, living both above AND below the Gnat Line! Stories abound in this almost-autobiographical memoir of Johnnie's life. Stories about brothers, children, "life" experiences, trials and tribulations, but all are told with her tongue firmly planted in her cheek, so that if you hold your head sideways as you read them, they almost sound believable!!

Full of third sons, talking birds, enchanted places, beautiful women and impossible journeys, these charmingly illustrated stories have a magic-realist, almost absurd quality, and they are told and translated with enough shamanstvo to keep you reading. In his introduction and extensive accompanying gloss, Michael Berman skilfully locates them in their historical, religious, storytelling and shamanic contexts with a scholarship that is both thorough and accessible, making it complementary to the reader's enjoyment. A nice collection. David Ronder

A collection/transcription of oral folktales that imaginatively records the values, customs, and lifestyles of the region's past as well as the spirit of its rural people. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

In 1888, Charles Colcock Jones Jr. published the first collection of folk narratives from the Gullah-speaking people of the South Atlantic coast, tales he heard black servants exchange on his family's rice and cotton plantation. It has been out of print and largely unavailable until now. Jones saw the stories as a coastal variation of Joel Chandler Harris's inland dialect tales and sought to preserve their unique language and character. Through Jones' rendering of the sound and syntax of nineteenth-century Gullah, the lively stories describe the adventures and mishaps of such characters as "Buh Rabbit," "Buh Ban-Yad Rooster," and other animals. The tales range from the humorous to the instructional and include stories of the "sperits," Daddy Jupiter's "vision," a dying bullfrog's last wish, and others about how "buh rabbit gained sense" and "why the turkey buzzard won't eat crabs."

Unusual, interesting and little known stories of the state of Georgia. Georgia Tales is aimed at the target of familiarity-plus-novelty. These suspense-packed stories constitute "history for the ordinary person," and a few include really great traditions passed orally from generation to generation.