CATAHOULA LAKE CHRONICLES: The View From Indian Bluff is the first book of its kind that describes in detail the history of Catahoula Lake along with some of its colorful legends and folklore. Catahoula Lake spans some 30,000 acres in the Louisiana parishes of LaSalle and Rapides, and is actually a gigantic basin, an open sump area, roughly sixteen to eighteen miles long and six to eight miles wide. The lake is the most important inland wetland for waterfowl and shorebirds in Louisiana, providing habitat for as many as 500,000 waterfowl and 20 species of shorebirds. Hunters and fishers come from all over the world to experience the wonders of Catahoula Lake. Jack Willis, a longtime storyteller from Jena, Louisiana, spins his yarns, weaving historical fact with legendary tales from the people who have lived off the lake and the land for hundreds of years.

“For those interested in De Soto and his expedition, these volumes are an absolute necessity.” —The Hispanic American Historical Review 1993 Choice Outstanding Academic Book, sponsored by Choice Magazine The De Soto expedition was the first major encounter of Europeans with indigenous North Americans in the eastern half of the United States. De Soto and his army of over 600 men, including 200 cavalry, spent four years traveling through what is now Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas. The De Soto Chronicles Volume 1 and Volume 2 present for the first time all four primary accounts of the De Soto expedition together in English translation. The four primary accounts are generally referred to as Elvas, Rangel, Biedma (in Volume 1), and Garcilaso, or the Inca (in Volume 2). In this landmark 1993 publication, Clayton’s team presents the four accounts with literary and historical introductions. They further add brief essays about De Soto and the expedition, translations of De Soto documents from the Spanish Archivo General de Indias, two short biographies of De Soto, and bibliographical studies. For anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians, The De Soto Chronicles are valued for the unique ethnological information they contain. They form the only detailed eyewitness records of the most advanced native civilization in North America—the Mississippian culture—a culture largely lost in the wake of European contact.

1993 Choice Outstanding Academic Book, sponsored by Choice Magazine. The De Soto expedition was the first major encounter of Europeans with North American Indians in the eastern half of the United States. De Soto and his army of over 600 men, including 200 cavalry, spent four years traveling through what is now Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas. For anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians the surviving De Soto chronicles are valued for the unique ethnological information they contain. These documents, available here in a two volume set, are the only detailed eyewitness records of the most advanced native civilization in North America—the Mississippian culture—a culture that vanished in the wake of European contact.