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Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful
Review: A very important book dealing with race and history. A must read for people interested in the subject.
Rating: 
Summary: A COMPLEX, DOWN TO EARTH VIEW OF THE SOUTH'S RACE ISSUES
Review: HAVING GROWN UP IN LAUREL, MISSISSIPPI, A TOWN OF APPROXIMATELY 20,000 IN THE STATE'S SOUTHERN END, I WAS PLEASED TO FIND ANTHONY WALTON'S BOOK SPEAK NOT ONLY TO THE COMPLEX HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI AND IT'S RACE RELATIONS, BUT THE PRESENT - AND HOW THE PAST DOES (OR FOR SOME FOLKS DOES NOT) INFORM THE PRESENT. HE WEAVES AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY WITH THE LARGER HISTORY OF THE NATION AND WITH REMINISCINGS WHICH, ALL TOGETHER, SPELL OUT A SMART AND HEART-FELT PORTRAIT OF THE IMMEASURABLY DIFFICULT TRANSITION FROM THE DAYS OF THE "PECULIAR INSTITUTION". IS MISSISSIPPI INTEGRATED TODAY? NOT BY A LONG STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION. BUT WALTON HELPS US TO PUT THIS IN PERSPECTIVE - ALLOWING US TO WITNESS THE HORROR OF THE PAST AS WELL AS HELPING US TO REALIZE THAT CHANGE - ESPECIALLY IMMMENSE CHANGE - TAKES DECADES, IF NOT CENTURIES. INSIGHTFUL, WARM, AND HIGHLY READABLE.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Brilliant
Review: It would be impossible to define this book: American history, personal history, travel log, memoir, but only through this eclectic storytelling does such a brilliant and complex vision of Mississippi, and its place in this country, emerge. Anthony Walton dazzles on every page with some of the sweetest prose I have ever read, and an intellect to match, that had me re-reading sentences, and then entire chapters, and sometimes just putting the book down for a moment to think.
Rating:
Summary: well worth reading
Review: This is purer in its idea than in its executiion, but the story of an African-American man travelling back to Mississippi offers many interesting observations about race and history. I especially enjoyed all the quotes, excerpts he provided.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderfully written, but some facts are questionable.
Review: Walton's book, while wonderfully written, has several glaring errors that make one question whether he bothered to keep his facts straight on the events taking place in his book. For instance, in the opening paragraph of the book, the author crosses the bridge from Concordia "County," Louisiana into Natchez, MS. Any self-respecting Southerner knows that Louisiana has parishes, not counties. In addition, he talks of Charles Evers, brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, as longtime mayor of Philadephia, MS. Actually, Evers was mayor of Fayette, MS, which is quite a long way from Philadelphia. I enjoyed the book, but I found myself wondering how much of it was accurate. As a native Missippian, his family story tugs at my heartstrings and leaves me wondering if things will ever change in my home state. I only wish I could trust his story to be true.
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