This is primarily a book of black-and-white photographs taken between 1968 and 1983 of the various black spiritual communities of New Orleans. The photographer sees them less as art photos than as documents, even though they are beautifully composed and technically excellent. The communities run the gamut from fundamentalist, to “personal” (with a lot of really great “outsider art”-style signs), to Catholic/voodoo, to the “Indian tribes” of Mardi Gras. The text is succinct and does a great job of explaining the various ways in which spirituality manifests itself without being overly analytical about it. Probably nowhere better than New Orleans could one see this much diversity within any community, be it ethnic or religious. SA

Publisher: Pelican
Paperback: 120 pages
Illustrated

The real question behind all the myths of the Civil War is, were the Confederate States of America a sovereign nation that was invaded and occupied by the separate nation of the United States of America? If this is true, as the authors propose, then the South was right to defend itself against attack, and the South has a claim to sovereignty now. SC

Publisher: Pelican
Hardback: 448 pages
Illustrated

“Hill, the woman in red in the Zapruder film, stood less than 10 feet away from the presidential limousine facing the now-famous grassy knoll. From there, she saw a gunman fire the shot that exploded the president’s skull. That gunman was not Lee Harvey Oswald. Despite years of inner turmoil and harassment from the Secret Service, FBI, CIA and the Warren Commission, this courageous Dallas schoolteacher has held firm to her belief that the truth must be known about what happened… Hill, the closest, most important surviving eyewitness to the assassination, is the last major witness to publicly dispute the findings of the Warren Commission.”

Publisher: Pelican
Hardback: 256 pages

This is actually a new spin on the JFK-assassination-theory material. The La Fontaines are respected journalists with a good track record for accuracy in reporting and no preconceived agenda on the subject. The really big revelation of this book is that after Oswald was initially arrested, he had a cellmate to whom he spilled his guts. Using a lot of previously unreleased materials from the Dallas Police Department and re-interpreting other information, the writers have pieced together a compelling narrative. This is the book that lured Marina Oswald back into the open in hopes of clearing her husband’s name. Even though an avid follower of conspiracy theories might not find a pirate’s hoard of new information here, aside from the cellmate’s revelations, it is the presentation, lacking the usual sense of hysteria, that ultimately makes the case airtight. SA

Publisher: Pelican
Hardback: 456 pages
Illustrated