Donna Ruth Duggan Lile
October 2, 2012
Chabert hit with added cuts and job losses
October 5, 2012
THE PASSAGE OF POWER: The Years of Lyndon Johnson
By Robert A. Caro
Knopf $35
In this fourth volume of his monumental biography of Johnson, Caro reveals the enormous price LBJ paid in accepting the invitation to run for vice president as John F. Kennedy’s running mate despite Robert Kennedy’s efforts to keep him off the ticket. After the election, Johnson, the most powerful majority Senate leader in our history, was now “…humiliated, almost ignored – most important, powerless.” He was never invited to fly with Kennedy on Air Force One and was even excluded from planning that fateful trip to Texas, his home state.
But only moments after he was told that the president had died, Johnson acted quickly and forcefully, taking command with the authority he was famed for as Majority Leader. As president, he moved quickly to get Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act and War on Poverty, two Kennedy proposals JFK had failed to accomplish. LBJ may have come to the presidency circumstantially, but he took command and made it totally his.
HELL OR HIGH WATER
By Ron Thibodeaux
UL Press $20
Talk about hurricanes in south Louisiana and Katrina dominates the discussion. Forgotten are two other major storms that caused disasters along our coastal areas: Rita and Ike.
Remember? Thibodeaux, an editor and staff writer for the Times Picayune does and, more importantly, this native of south Louisiana decided to document their stories. Just over three weeks after Katrina, Hurricane Rita swept across the coast, from Terrebonne to Cameron, causing major damage but thankfully, claiming few lives.
Three years later, Hurricane Ike followed Rita’s exact track. Again, neither storm got the media attention of Katrina. But once again, the people, hardy “Cajuns” of many types, went to work and rebuilt.
CLEMENTINE HUNTER: Her Life and Art
By Art Shiver and Tom Whitehead
LSU Press $36
Whether you’re a collector or just a fan of Ms. Hunter’s folk art, you’ll delight in this comprehensive biography and color photographs of a great number of her works.
As a self-taught painter, Hunter described the plantation life around her, including her time picking cotton and using “canvases” as varied as strips of wood and window shades. Her murals adorning the walls of the Africa House at Melrose Plantation are her most ambitious and universally admired. Thought to have painted as many as 10,000 paintings, she kept at it almost to her death at 101 years.
LOUISIANA AVIATION
By Vincent P. Caire
LSU Press $39.95
Here’s a timely celebration of Louisiana’s bi-centennial certain to please anyone interested in our aviation history.
From the birth of Delta airlines in Monroe to the WWII blimps flying out of Houma searching for enemy submarines in the Gulf to Army Officer Harry P. Williams, who founded Wedell-Williams Company in Patterson, which eventually was sold to Eastern Airlines, Louisiana has had a love affair with aviation.
There’s an interesting foreword by J.W. “Corkey” Fornof, who performed aerial stunts in the James Bond 007 films as well as the locally filmed “Nutriaman.” There’s also a photo of him and his father Bill Fornof flying together in an air show.
THE MAYO CLINIC DIET
By Dr. Donald Hensrud, Editor
Good Books $25.99
Want to lose weight in a hurry? The weight-loss experts at Mayo Clinic say you can lose 6-10 pounds in just two weeks without going hungry. Start with a healthy breakfast, eat vegetables and fruits four or more times a day, add whole-grain bread, brown rice and other grains, eat healthy fats, olive oil and nuts, and … you knew this was coming: Move! Walk or exercise 30 minutes or more each day.
The many pages of recipes will tempt you to get started. Remember: You Can Do It!
Robert Caro, who has spent years meticulously recording the life of Lyndon Johnson, details the price LBJ paid for being tabbed John F. Kennedy’s vice president in his fourth volume of the monumental biography.
“The Passage of Power”
“Hell or High Water”
“Clementine Hunter: Her Life and Art”
“Louisiana Aviation”
“The Mayo Clinic Diet”
