Between the 1890s and the early 1920s, the boll weevil slowly ate its way across the Cotton South from Texas to the Atlantic Ocean. At the turn of the century, some Texas counties were reporting crop losses of over 70 percent, as were areas of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi. By the time the boll weevil reached the limits of the cotton belt, it had destroyed much of the region’s chief cash crop—tens of billions of pounds of cotton, worth nearly a trillion dollars. As staggering as these numbers may seem, James C. Giesen demonstrates that it was the very idea of the boll weevil and the struggle over its meanings that most profoundly changed the South—as different groups, from policymakers to blues singers, projected onto this natural disaster the consequences they feared and the outcomes they sought. Giesen asks how the myth of the boll weevil’s lasting impact helped obscure the real problems of the region—those caused not by insects, but by landowning patterns, antiquated credit systems, white supremacist ideology, and declining soil fertility. Boll Weevil Blues brings together these cultural, environmental, and agricultural narratives in a novel and important way that allows us to reconsider the making of the modern American South.

When a very, very small beetle decides to attend a ball, he won't let anything stop him -- not even the danger of being squished on the dance floor.

Have you ever wondered why there is a statue dedicated to the boll weevil in downtown Enterprise, Alabama? Here's the story behind it- how cotton was king in the south... but the invasion of an insect threatened the entire economy of the south. The foresight of one man, who listened to what God told him, and those who had the faith to listen to what he had to say- that one decision changed the way a generation farmed and raised their families, and ultimately kept an entire generation from being destroyed.

When the Boll Weevil suggests that farmers plant peanuts instead of cotton he becomes a town hero.

Best of the West: New Stories from the Wide Side of the Missouri, an annual anthology of exceptional short fiction rooted in the western United States, debuted in 1988 and continued publication until 1992. Recognizing that the West remains rewarding territory for literary explorations, James Thomas and D. Seth Horton revived the series in 2009. Best of the West 2011: New Stories from the Wide Side of the Missouri is the latest volume in what has become one of the nation's most important anthologies. Editors Horton and Thomas have chosen twenty stories by writers including Rick Bass, T. C. Boyle, Ron Carlson, Philipp Meyer, Dagoberto Gilb, Yiyun Li, Antonya Nelson, and Sam Shepard. Subjects vary from an Idaho family that breeds lions and tigers with disastrous results, to a Mormon veteran whose mind is taken over by a nineteenth-century consciousness, to a Texas boy who spends an afternoon with Bonnie and Clyde shortly before their deaths. Taken together, these stories suggest that the West has become one of the most exciting and diverse literary regions in the twenty-first century.

Children learn about the creepy "bug" - Mr. Fibface Boll Weevil who gets in their ears and whispers bad thoughts - things they shouldn't do, thing they shouldn't think, things they shouldn't say - but are so tempted to do! But kids also learn that they hold the key to the remedy for this loathsome pest - a little prayer can chase him away.