Books published by Louisiana State University Press

What remained of the decomposed body of twelve-year-old Tina Marie Andrews was discovered in the woods outside of McComb, Mississippi, on August 23, 1969. Trent Brown's Murder in McComb is the first comprehensive examination of the case, the lengthy investigation into it, and the two extended trials that followed.

Building on the comedic hijinks of Penelope Lemon: Game On!, Operation Dimwit is a warmhearted look at the challenges of being a single working mom trying to stay afloat in the middle class after a divorce.

In lush verse pointed by Cajun language, these poems measure the good that can result from destructive situations, encompassing ecological devastation, maternal deprivation, spiritual poverty, and mania.

Argues that the writing of Percival Everett compels readers to retrain their thinking habits and to value uncertainty. Stewart maintains that Everett's fiction challenges its interpreters to question their assumptions, consider the spaces in between categories, and embrace the potential of a larger, more uncertain world.

George Bourne was one of the early American republic's first immediate abolitionists. His approach to reform was shaped by a conservative Protestant outlook that became increasingly hostile to Catholicism. Ryan McIlhenny examines the interplay of Bourne's pioneering efforts in abolitionism and his intensely anti-Catholic views.

Explores the roles women played in civil rights activism in Louisiana from the 1920s through the 1960s. As Shannon Frystak shows, the civil rights movement allowed women to step out of their prescribed roles as wives, mothers, and daughters and become actors - even leaders - in a social structure largely dominated by men.

Robert Penn Warren, Randall Jarrell, and Robert Lowell maintained lifelong friendships with one another, often discussing each other's work in private correspondence and published reviews. This book traces the artistic and personal connections between the three writers, uncovering the significance of their parallel literary development.

Gathers one hundred poems by Henry Taylor, drawing on over fifty years of published work by this witty, adept, and vital literary voice. The book opens with twenty-five recent poems collected for the first time. The remaining seventy-five poems appear from his previous books.

A panoramic collection of essays written by both established and emerging scholars, American Discord examines critical aspects of the Civil War era, including rhetoric and nationalism, politics and violence, gender, race, and religion.

Laura Davenport confronts the vexing possibilities of human intimacy, confessing, "The question is what keeps me coming back." The crisp narrative style and confiding voice of these poems invite readers to consider the ways in which unspoken expectations shape identities and relationships.

The second volume in Gordon Rhea's five-book series on the Civil War's 1864 Overland Campaign abounds with Rhea's signature detail, innovative analysis, and riveting prose. Here Rhea examines the manoeuvres and battles from May 7, 1864, when Grant left the Wilderness, to May 12, when his attempt to break Lee's line reached a chilling climax.

Andrew Jackson Higgins is perhaps the most forgotten hero of the Allied victory. He designed the LCVP (landing craft vehicle, personnel) that played such a vital role in the invasion of Normandy. Jerry Strahan's biography of Higgins reveals a colourful, controversial character, who was an outsider to New Orleans' elite social circles.

Most of the Civil War was fought on Southern soil. The responsibility for defending the Confederacy rested with two great military forces. One of these armies defended the "heartland" of the Confederacy - a vital area which embraced Tennessee and portions of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Kentucky. This is the story of that army.

The compelling memoir of a single white mother searching to understand why her adopted biracial son grew from a happy child into a troubled young adult who struggled with addiction for decades. The answers, E. Kay Trimberger finds, lie in both nature and nurture.