From Baroness Pontalba to Kate Chopin to Mahalia Jackson, More than Petticoats: Remarkable Louisiana Women celebrates the women who shaped the Pelican State. Short, illuminating biographies and archvial photographs and paintings tell the stories of women from across the state who served as teachers, writers, entrepreneurs, and artists.

Your round-trip ticket to the wildest, wackiest, most outrageous people, places, and things the Pelican State has to offer! Whether you’re a born-and-raised Louisianan, a recent transplant, or just passing through, Louisiana Curiosities will have you laughing out loud as Louisiana native Bonnye Stuart takes you on a rollicking tour of the strangest sites in the Pelican State. Track down some serious fun, from watching lawnmower racing and petting live alligators to attending a prison rodeo and dancing at a powwow. Feast your way through festivals that celebrate the state’s cultural diversity and local crops, from fiery Cajun gumbo to sweet mayhaw jelly—and stop in at the local wineries and microbreweries to quench your thirst. Learn about the darker side of Louisiana as you tour haunted plantations, mysterious mansions, and spooky cemeteries.

"More than Petticoats: Remarkable Louisiana Women profiles the lives of sixteen of the state's most important historical figures--women from across Louisiana, from many different walks of life. With enduring strength and compassion, these remarkable women broke through social, cultural, or political barriers to make contributions to society that still resonate today" -- back cover.

Learn about the history, landscape, and culture of Louisiana.

A National Historic Landmark with a complex and remarkable two-hundred-year history, Melrose Plantation near Natchitoches, Louisiana, was home to many notable women, including freedwoman and entrepreneur Marie Thérèse Coincoin and artist Clementine Hunter. Among that influential group, Cammie Henry, the mistress of Melrose during the first half of the twentieth century, stands out as someone who influenced the plantation’s legacy in dramatic and memorable ways. In Cane River Bohemia, Patricia Austin Becker provides a vivid biography of this fascinating figure. Born on a sugar plantation in south Louisiana in 1871, Cammie Henry moved with her husband to Melrose in 1899 and immediately set to work restoring the property. She extended her impact on Melrose, the surrounding community, and the region when she began to host an artist colony in the 1920s and 1930s. Writers and painters visiting the bucolic setting could focus on their creative pursuits and find encouragement for their efforts. The most frequent visitors—considered by Cammie to be her circle of “congenial souls”—included writer/journalist Lyle Saxon, naturalist Caroline Dormon, author Ada Jack Carver, and painter Alberta Kinsey. Artists and artisans such as Harnett Kane, Roark Bradford, William Spratling, Doris Ulmann, and Sherwood Anderson also found their way to Melrose. In addition to hosting well-known guests, Henry began a collection of history books, nineteenth-century manuscripts, and scrapbooks of clippings and memorabilia that later brought her attention from the wider world. Researchers and writers contacted Henry frequently as the reputation of her library grew, and today the Cammie G. Henry Research Center at Northwestern State University houses this impressive collection that serves as a lasting tribute to Henry’s passion for the preservation of words as well as for the South’s material culture, including quilting, spinning, and gardening.

Folk art is as varied as it is indicative of person and place, informed by innovation and grounded in cultural context. The variety and versatility of 300 American folk artists is captured in this collection of informative and thoroughly engaging essays. American Folk Art: A Regional Reference offers a collection of fascinating essays on the life and work of 300 individual artists. Some of the men and women profiled in these two volumes are well known, while others are important practitioners who have yet to receive the notice they merit. Because many of the artists in both categories have a clear identity with their land and culture, the work is organized by geographical region and includes an essay on each region to help make connections visible. There is also an introductory essay on U.S. folk art as a whole. Those writing about folk art to date tend to view each artist as either traditional or innovative. One of the major contributions of this work is that it demonstrates that folk artists more often exhibit both traits; they are grounded in their cultural context and creative in the way they make work their own. Such insights expand the study of folk art even as they readjust readers' understanding of who folk artists are.

More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Oklahoma Women celebrates the women who shaped the Sooner State. Short, illuminating biographies and archival photographs and paintings tell the stories of women from across the state who served as teachers, writers, entrepreneurs, and artists.

State Oddities takes a different kind of look at the American nation, spotlighting the fun foibles, peculiarities, and twists in each of the 50 states that are (mostly) united under the Stars and Stripes. State Oddities is a fascinating trip through the 50 states for students studying America, teachers planning classroom activities, and general readers who will enjoy an eye-opening journey through the nation's fun side. It offers a compelling look at the character of America through the individuality of 50 very distinct states that together form the USA. This book paints a picture of the broad sweep of the American story, offering a gateway to the country as it developed into one nation filled with individual states that can be remarkably different from each other, yet unified under such national symbols as the American flag and "The Star-Spangled Banner." The author of State Oddities has become known as a master of "painless history," telling America's story in a sparkling style along with the historian's eye for fascinating detail. On the book's cross-country journey, the reader will find that it differs from other works by taking a fresh look at stories we think we know.

More than Petticoats: Remarkable Missouri Women celebrates the women who shaped the Show-Me State. Short, illuminating biographies and archival photographs and paintings tell the stories of women from across the state who served as teachers, writers, entrepreneurs, and artists.

More than Petticoats: Remarkable Kentucky Women, 2nd Edition celebrates the women who shaped the Bluegrass State. Short, illuminating biographies and archival photographs and paintings tell the stories of women from across the state who served as teachers, writers, entrepreneurs, and artists.