Scan barcode
lewnie's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.25
ellaharris37's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
slower paced BUT it was so good. Natchez is such an interesting little town and an embodiment of faulkner’s quote “the past is never dead, it’s not even past.” i wish some of the chapters were a bit shorter but overall i loved it
jacobpark's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.75
lonestarwords's review against another edition
5.0
It's just the south. There's no point in trying to explain it.
The Deepest South of All
Richard Grant
•
I don't remember where I stumbled upon this book but the minute I did I knew I had to read it immediately. An expose of Natchez, Mississippi, I listened to this start to finish almost without stopping.
•
Natchez was one of the cities we visited after moving south and it is a walk through history as many of the town squares look much as they might have two hundred years ago; preservation is something Natchez has worked hard to achieve. But Natchez has a complicated past and The Deepest South of All explores how a city with it's roots deeply seated in slavery moves towards a future that incorporates a dark history.
•
Natchez is an eclectic southern city full of bigger than life characters, Antebellum homes, and some very southern traditions. It is full of contradictions, from long ingrained southern rituals involving hoop skirts and home tours yet Natchez also overwhelmingly elected a gay black mayor. Grant spends a lot of time highlighting Greg Iles, author of The Natchez Trilogy (a series I loved) and how he has made peace with his home city-- I found this to be one of the most interesting parts of the book.
•
The narration was absolutely stellar; it felt both like a history lesson and a travel journal. Natchez is full of both shame and hope and The Deepest South of All did a fantastic job exploring both. William Faulkner’s quote “the past is never past dead” seems written with a city like Natchez in mind. 5 huge stars.
The Deepest South of All
Richard Grant
•
I don't remember where I stumbled upon this book but the minute I did I knew I had to read it immediately. An expose of Natchez, Mississippi, I listened to this start to finish almost without stopping.
•
Natchez was one of the cities we visited after moving south and it is a walk through history as many of the town squares look much as they might have two hundred years ago; preservation is something Natchez has worked hard to achieve. But Natchez has a complicated past and The Deepest South of All explores how a city with it's roots deeply seated in slavery moves towards a future that incorporates a dark history.
•
Natchez is an eclectic southern city full of bigger than life characters, Antebellum homes, and some very southern traditions. It is full of contradictions, from long ingrained southern rituals involving hoop skirts and home tours yet Natchez also overwhelmingly elected a gay black mayor. Grant spends a lot of time highlighting Greg Iles, author of The Natchez Trilogy (a series I loved) and how he has made peace with his home city-- I found this to be one of the most interesting parts of the book.
•
The narration was absolutely stellar; it felt both like a history lesson and a travel journal. Natchez is full of both shame and hope and The Deepest South of All did a fantastic job exploring both. William Faulkner’s quote “the past is never past dead” seems written with a city like Natchez in mind. 5 huge stars.
vi__'s review against another edition
4.0
Fantastic story that goes in depth of both sides of little town in the south. Really well researched and makes you think.
literary_lover's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Coming from someone with incredibly limited information on the south, this book gives a crash course on the complexities facing the area in the present due to its past. Although the content discussed is heavy, the characters living in Natchez provide some levity.
erinloranger's review against another edition
5.0
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and offer an honest review of this book.
Richard Grant 's compelling storytelling and expert technique of weaving together the past and present of Natchez, Mississippi made for an unforgettable study of the cultural anthropology of the riverside town. The present-day people whom he profiles are a mix of eccentrics, town leaders and notables, and people trying to heal the wounds of the past all while firmly (and often unapologetically) clinging to the complicated heritage and history of their ancestors. Grant masterfully intersperses present-day events with the history of an enslaved man, Ibrahim, and tells his tale from capture until his death at age 67 in modern-day Liberia. It makes for a thoughtful juxtaposition to the modern day traditions of Natchez that can appear to border on the absurd, especially to an outsider.
The reader can tell that Grant is charmed and intrigued by the people in this micro-culture of the South and the population of individuals who are outsized in their personalities, insular focus, and pride of place. I found this book to be a thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening experience, which prompted me to independently take a deeper dive into many of the topics and traditions that were detailed in its pages.
Richard Grant 's compelling storytelling and expert technique of weaving together the past and present of Natchez, Mississippi made for an unforgettable study of the cultural anthropology of the riverside town. The present-day people whom he profiles are a mix of eccentrics, town leaders and notables, and people trying to heal the wounds of the past all while firmly (and often unapologetically) clinging to the complicated heritage and history of their ancestors. Grant masterfully intersperses present-day events with the history of an enslaved man, Ibrahim, and tells his tale from capture until his death at age 67 in modern-day Liberia. It makes for a thoughtful juxtaposition to the modern day traditions of Natchez that can appear to border on the absurd, especially to an outsider.
The reader can tell that Grant is charmed and intrigued by the people in this micro-culture of the South and the population of individuals who are outsized in their personalities, insular focus, and pride of place. I found this book to be a thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening experience, which prompted me to independently take a deeper dive into many of the topics and traditions that were detailed in its pages.
bridgette's review against another edition
4.0
Read for research and wasn't disappointed. The tone is conversational, and I love a microhistory/biography of place, which Natchez is the perfect place for. The story of enslaved Ibrahima worked well with the current stories of Natchez.