Cotton's Seafood is a Cajun autobiographical cookbook. From crawfish boils to cooking shows, from folk art to family traditions, interest in Cajun culture has never been greater. But how Cajun do you really want to be? Spanning five years of research, interviews, writing, and planning, Cotton's Seafood is a cookbook like no other. Throughout the book, Jim LaBove recounts the story of his childhood in the mid-20th century, documenting an oft-overlooked segment of Cajun culture: Bayou Cajuns, the descendants of Acadian immigrants who settled in the marshy coasts of Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana. Along the way, Jim shares a wide variety of authentic Cajun recipes from his mother Cora, using the ingredients and methods available to the people in the area at the time. The dishes are deeply tied to Jim's memory of bayou Cajun life in the salt marshes of Southeast Texas. As you learn to cook gumbo, court-bouillon, peach cobbler, and much more like a true Cajun, you will also learn about the rough but rewarding lifestyle that inspired the people who codified these dishes. The book is named after Cotton's Seafood, a locally-renowned fishing and shrimping company that Jim's father Cotton founded in the early 20th century. Gorgeously illustrated with Jim's field sketches, contemporary photographs, and maps of bayou Cajun territory. Exhaustively researched. Lovingly detailed. This is our family legacy, printed and bound. We could not be more proud of it, and we cannot wait to share it with you.

The New York Times best selling true story of an unlikely friendship forged between a woman and the man she incorrectly identified as her rapist and sent to prison for 11 years. Jennifer Thompson was raped at knifepoint by a man who broke into her apartment while she slept. She was able to escape, and eventually positively identified Ronald Cotton as her attacker. Ronald insisted that she was mistaken-- but Jennifer's positive identification was the compelling evidence that put him behind bars. After eleven years, Ronald was allowed to take a DNA test that proved his innocence. He was released, after serving more than a decade in prison for a crime he never committed. Two years later, Jennifer and Ronald met face to face-- and forged an unlikely friendship that changed both of their lives. With Picking Cotton, Jennifer and Ronald tell in their own words the harrowing details of their tragedy, and challenge our ideas of memory and judgment while demonstrating the profound nature of human grace and the healing power of forgiveness.

Cajun history preservationist Jim LaBove steps back into the salt marshes of Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana within the pages of Splendor in the Salt Grass, the third and final chapter in his Salt Marsh Trilogy of books about bayou Cajun culture. This time, Jim sets aside the Cajun recipes that have framed his previous books to focus on detailed, intensely personal accounts of the people, traditions, and circumstances that shaped his youth and which defined a little-understood time and place in American history. Within the pages of Splendor in the Salt Grass, you'll learn about the hunting and fishing habits of the ancestors of the Acadian diaspora who settled along the Gulf, along with stories of specific people in Jim's life who exemplify the Cajun people's challenging but fulfilling lives. Jim's stories about nature, humanity, and persistence in the face of harship echo from the past and predict the current troubles of our present. As always, Jim's stories are complemented by his gorgeous field sketches of the animals, tools, and objects of everyday mid-20th-century Cajun life, taking you out of the pages of his book and deep into his remarkable past. You may even find some revelations about the origins of some of your favorite Cajun food within its chapters. In the salt marsh, things aren't always what they seem. Splendor in the Salt Grass completes the Salt Marsh Trilogy of books Jim has written to celebrate untold stories in Cajun culture. The first book in the series (Cotton's Seafood) was released in 2016. It focused on Jim's recollections of his parents' lives, work, and recipes, and took its name from his father Cotton's seafood business. In 2017, this was followed by Sketches of My Cajun life, an art book and supplemental entry in the series featuring a new collection of Jim's grouped field sketches, grouped by subjects relevant to Cajun interests. Along with a second art book, 2018 saw the release of his second trilogy entry: Sunrise Over Keith Lake, a meditation on the lives of his aunt, uncle, and cousins framed by the fate of the "Sabine Light" lighthouse, a once-important resource for marine commerce that is at a risk of being lost to the past.

This collection examines cloth as a material and consumer object from early periods to the twenty-first century, across multiple oceanic sites—from Zanzibar, Muscat and Kampala to Ajanta, Srivijaya and Osaka. It moves beyond usual focuses on a single fibre (such as cotton) or place (such as India) to provide a fresh, expansive perspective of the ocean as an “interaction-based arena,” with an internal dynamism and historical coherence forged by material exchange and human relationships. Contributors map shifting social, cultural and commercial circuits to chart the many histories of cloth across the region. They also trace these histories up to the present with discussions of contemporary trade in Dubai, Zanzibar, and Eritrea. Richly illustrated, this collection brings together new and diverse strands in the long story of textiles in the Indian Ocean, past and present.

“Bart van Olphen elevates canned tuna to the heights of deliciousness.”—The New York Times Scrumptious recipes for tuna, mackerel, herring, and more—so tasty, you won't believe it's from a can! Quick: What ingredient is delicious, sustainable, easy to store, and adds protein and healthy fats to any dish? Why, it’s tinned fish, of course! Whether you’re a seafood lover or a home cook craving something new, The Tinned Fish Cookbook is for you. Sustainable fishing advocate Bart van Olphen shines a light on the superstar potential of canned tuna, salmon, anchovies, and more, with recipes that are ready in a jiff. Here are hearty mains from Tuna Lasagna to Mackerel and Potato Frittata, fresh salads like the classic Niçoise Salad and crisp Crab and Fennel Watercress Salad, and creative takes on normally less-fishy fare, such as Anchovy Dumplings, Salmon Pizza, and Quinoa Tabbouleh with Sardines. The possibilities are endless—and the photos by David Loftus are irresistible. What’s more, Bart dives into the wonders of modern fishing and canning, helping you recognize eco-friendly fish, so you can enjoy your ocean-to-plate meal with confidence. There’s more to tinned fish than ever before!

"[The author] traces the full arc of Thoreau’s life, from his early days in the intellectual hothouse of Concord, when the American experiment still felt fresh and precarious, and 'America was a family affair, earned by one generation and about to pass to the next.' By the time he died in 1862, at only forty-four years of age, Thoreau had witnessed the transformation of his world from a community of farmers and artisans into a bustling, interconnected commercial nation. What did that portend for the contemplative individual and abundant, wild nature that Thoreau celebrated? Drawing on Thoreau’s copious writings, published and unpublished, [the author] presents a Thoreau vigorously alive in all his quirks and contradictions: the young man shattered by the sudden death of his brother; the ambitious Harvard College student; the ecstatic visionary who closed Walden with an account of the regenerative power of the Cosmos. We meet the man whose belief in human freedom and the value of labor made him an uncompromising abolitionist; the solitary walker who found society in nature, but also found his own nature in the society of which he was a deeply interwoven part. And, running through it all, Thoreau the passionate naturalist, who, long before the age of environmentalism, saw tragedy for future generations in the human heedlessness around him."--