Billy Boll Weevil

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

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

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.

Presents a tool for choosing books for children of all ages. This title offers practical guidance on sorting through the bewildering array of picture books, pop-up books, books for beginning readers, young adult titles, classics, poetry, olktales, and factual books.

Chock-full of photos, advertisements, and peanut recipes from as early as 1847, this entertaining and enlightening volume is a testament to the culinary potential and lasting popularity of the goober pea. 24 photos.

This book was written from the point of view of a 4 year old girl and is the way she remembers it. It is her experiences while traveling with her alcoholic, musician, father in the early 1940’s. This is just one year, from age three-and-one-half, when her mother died, to four-and-one -half. She drew strength from a Pow Wow where she was given her Indian name and a Totem. The half years made her feel important and more grown-up as she looked forward to what each new age would bring.

Blevins's study increases our understanding of the history of southern agriculture by providing a valuable model of a story repeated throughout the South.