My Mississippi

the long version

"This book, finished a few weeks before his death in August 1999, circles back home where he started. To live it and discover it one more time, he and his son David Rae take us on a trip through contemporary Mississippi." "Who could express so ardently a comprehension of the Mississippi landscape? Who could capture so unerringly the state's contrasting and often contradictory faces? For his readers the answer is Willie Morris. For Morris it is his photographer son.". "Surveying the familiar yet always strangely evocative panorama that became his literary terrain, My Mississippi contemplates the realities of the present day, assesses the most vital concerns of the citizens, gauges how the state has changed, and beholds what Mississippi is like at the beginning of a new century. This southern homeland to which Morris returned after terminating his career as a New York editor remained for him a tantalizing mystery, the touchstone for all his thoughts, and one of the last unique places in America. For Morris, despite its flaws, Mississippi is beloved."--BOOK JACKET.