LANGSTON HUGHES IN LAWRENCE

By Denise Low and T. F. Pecore Weso (2004). 128 pp. Perfect bound paper ISBN: 0-9761773-3-1,$13 or hard cover ISBN: 0-9761773-2-3, $25. Order through Mammoth. 68 B&W photographs, family tree, biographical essay, and summary of innovative research sources. Langston Hughes, the great American poet who inspired the Harlem Renaissance, spent most of his childhood (1902-1915) in Lawrence, Ks. This biography includes photos of Lawrence places connected to Hughes. A story emerges of his prominent abolitionist grandparents, Charles and Mary Sampson Langston, who lived in the Lawrence area 1870-1915, and their struggle for education and civil rights. Many buildings from their and Langston Hughes's time survive in Lawrence. Maryemma Graham, Langston Hughes National Poetry Project, University of Kansas writes, "Langston Hughes in Lawrence is a remarkable visual portrait of a place that nurtured a man known for his words more than one hundred years after his birth." Kansas History Journal writes "The Lawrence of Langston Hughes's boyhood (1902-1915) was not a 'citadel of freedom' and equality for all, but it was a place that impacted the poet/author's life, and "Langston Hughes in Lawrence"--a volume of photographs with extended captions documenting Hughes's life in the community--deserves the attention of anyone interested in Hughes and/or Lawrence, Kansas."

HASKELL INSTITUTE: 19th CENTURY STORIES OF SACRIFICE AND SURVIVAL, which includes WALKING TOUR OF THE HASKELL CEMETERY $20.00. By Haskell and Kansas University graduate Dr. Theresa Milk, this book presents student stories from early days of Haskell, with a balanced look at the ordeals and successes of Native students in a military environment. Dr. Milk's new research, based on letters, newspaper articles, and government documents, emphasizes individual stories. Close ties between Haskell and the KU and Lawrence community become evident in this book. The cemetery tour gives obituaries and registration information about individuals lost during the first years of the institution.ISBN: 0-9761773-8-2

TOUCHING THE SKY BY DENISE LOW

Essays by Denise Low, with photos by George Kren. 124 pp. Perfect bound paper. $12.00. 7 Color and 4 B&W photos. Eighteen essays about Great Plains nature and culture. Thomas Averill writes: “ Low explores a range of interests--from heairweaving the firing the Flint Hills, to her grandmother and the Haskell Indian Nations University Medicine Wheel. For Kansans, and for anyone else interested in exploring the connection of environment, history, and the life of the imagination, Touching the Sky will act as both witness and guide.” Originally published by Penthe Press. Available only through Mammoth. isbn 0-9632475-8-1 1994

WAKARUSA WETLANDS IN WORD & IMAGE

Edited by Denise Low; images edited by Rick Mitchell. 92 pp.Perfectbound soft cover. 24 color plates of photographs and paintings. isbn 097617730-7. $22. Published in cooperation with the Committee on Imagination & Place of the Lawrence Arts Center. Order through the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire, Lawrence, KS 66044 Essays, interviews, and poetry by Terry Tempest Williams, Wendell Berry, Suzan Shown Harjo, N. Scott Momaday, Luci Tapahonso, Sue Halpern, and others center on an endangered wetlands in northeast Kansas. The Wakarusa Wetlands in Word & Image also includes works by writers Kelly Barth, Michael Caron, Brian Daldorph, Jimm GoodTracks, Kenneth Lassman, Denise Low, Jim McCrary, Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Michael Poage, Judith Roitman, Richard Schoeck, Elizabeth Schultz, Steve Semken, Robert Stewart, Laurie Turrell Ward, T.F. Pecore Weso and others; and images from artists Jon Blumb, Wally Emerson, D.W. Gates, Kyle Gerstner, Lisa Grossman, Maril Hazlett, Kathleen J. Hird, Paul Hotvedt, Tom Mersmann, Rick Mitchell, Jerry Sipe, Thomas Soetaert, and Mary Tuven.

THE POWER OF WORDS: A TRANSFORMATIVE LANGUAGE ARTS READER,
	Edited by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg and Janet Tallman, this anthology will be available late summer 2007. It is 500 pages on social and personal transformation through the spoken, written and sung word. $28.00. ISBN: 0-9761773-5-8. Order through http://www.tlanetwork.org/tlareader/

TO FRANCIS: REMINSICENCES by CARRIE DOTSON

PROSE. To Francis: Reminiscences. By Carrie (Strittmatter) Dotson. 36 pp. Staple bound. $5.00. Memoirs of the 1920’s and 1930’s in Newton, Kansas, and 1960’s in McAllen, Texas. A unique view into the thoughts of a woman living in San Antonio, Texas, Colorado, and the Great Plains. Short essays include a 1934 description of travel to the Rockies; a 1918 Armistice parade; childrearing; women’s club life; and neighborhood vignettes. A useful primary source for those interested in Great Plains and women's histories.

THE NARRATIVE OF JOHN DOY OF LAWRENCE, KANSAS (1860)

The Narrative of John Doy of Lawrence, Kansas: A Plain Unvarnished Tale. Reproduction of the 1860 original book with added history of Lawrence and "Bleeding Kansas." Edited by Mark Volmut. Paperback $12.95. For purchase, contact moonland1@sunflower.com. This adventure story of the pre-Civil War conflict on the Kansas-Missouri border follows John Doy during his heroic experience on the so-called Underground Railroad, the network of abolitionists who spirited enslaved people out of the slave states. Mark Volmut makes available the memoir of one of the men who experienced capture and rescue from a pro-slavery stronghold.