From dust jacket notes: "Ghosts along the Mississippi presents a vivid history of the rise and fall of the Louisiana plantation, as revealed through the architectural forms of the region. It is clear from the one hundred superb photographs contained in this volume that beauty resides amid ruins just as it does at restoration sites. The imaginative scope of the photographs and the often poetic nature of the accompanying text leave an indelible impression of the grandeur and graciousness that were embodied in these beautiful southern homes. Clarence John Laughlin does not assert that these plantation structures were inherently original in design. Rather, he acknowledges certain derivations of style from French and classical forms. Tracing the modification, adaptation, and refinement of these forms, he chronicles the development of an architecture peculiar to Louisiana. Through word and picture, Mr. Laughlin demonstrates how climate and indigenous building materials played such an important role in this evolution; for the first time in nineteenth-century America, certain houses appeared in the lower Mississippi valley whose design actually grew out of the nature of the materials used - plastered brick and cypress wood. Since one of the fundamental concerns of the modern architect is to respect the innate character of materials, certain Louisiana plantation houses may be considered important native roots of modern architecture. In this sense, these houses possess a significance that extends beyond aesthetic appeal, romantic legend, or historical fact. Combining a deep feeling for his native Louisiana with his imaginative and masterful photography, Mr. Laughlin has produced a magnificent volume that belongs in the collection of photography buffs and admirers of fine architecture everywhere...."

Ghosts Along The Mississippi: The Magic of the Old Houses of Louisiana, New Revised Edition

History

Americas

American Legacy Press

Across the Wide Missouri

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the Bancroft Prize. Across the Wide Missouri tells the compelling story of the climax and decline of the Rocky Mountain fur trade during the 1830s. More than a history, it portrays the mountain fur trade as a way of business and a way of life, vividly illustrating how it shaped the expansion of the American West.

DEVOTO, Bernard

Wonderful evocative photographs of Maine' people and places along the Atlantic coast.

Along The Maine Coast

Travel

Thea Wheelwright

United States

Photographs of residences, churches, and other public and private buildings provide a pictorial survey of the significant architecture of a bygone New York

Lost New York

Silver, Nathan

Here, at last, is the great book of California, the first book whose scope matches that of the "most American of all the American states". The 544 pages of this remarkable volume vividly document more than four hundred years of the most varied and colorful history in the annals of the West, from the age of the conquistadores to the age of megalopolis, from the seekers of gold to the seekers of the twentieth-century Eden.

California: An Illustrated History (Great West)

T.H. Watkins

More than five hundred stories and thirty songs tell much about the colorful history of the river and the ways of the river folk

A Treasury Of Mississippi River Folklore: Stories, Ballads and Traditions of the Mid-American River Country

Politics & Social Sciences

BOTKIN, B.A.

Social Sciences

The most comprehensive collection of photos, paintings, and drawings documenting the history, development, and customs of the city of New Orleans ever produced.

New Orleans: A Pictorial History

Leonard V. Huber

Edward Sheriff Curtis: Visions of a Vanishing Race

The classic photographic record of Native American life--now in paperback for the first time. 175 duotones.

Edward Sheriff Curtis: Visions of a vanishing race

Arts & Photography

Boesen, Victor

[Curtis, Edward S.] Graybill, Florence Curtis

Photography & Video

Cargo Carriers Of The Great Lakes; The Saga of the Great Lakes Fleet - North America's fresh water merchant marine

Engineering & Transportation

Jacques Lesstrang

Transportation

Pewter in America: Its Makers and Their Marks (3 Volumes in 1)

Ledlie Irwin Laughlin

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Books by American Legacy Press