I turn around quickly and ask like every little Black child asking 23 questions, ""Mama Mama---"" it's the early 1980's and i'm watching 'King Creole' my fave Elvis movie,""--Presley is cool---ain't he Mama?"" Jackie's face darkens, her bottom lip frowns down, and she tells me she hated Elvis. She says she never liked Elvis Aaron Presley because he said somethin' about all Negro people can do for him, is shine his blue suede shoes. ""He said that?"", I'm all shook up for a nanosecond. I thought he was cool. I slowly turn back around to enjoy the rest of the movie on the Zombie T.V. cathode ray tube; Questioning everything, still bobbin' my big head to the SOULFUL jazzy sounds, skeptical of the dude that styled his hair with ROSE OIL and vaseline. The ""Barnett Crossroads"", is the signpost reminder that visitors SEE right before they cross The 'Long Poetic Bridge', also known as ""The General Walter KING Wilson JR. Bridge.'

Originally published as weekly articles under the BYGONE TIMES headline of the Tri-City Ledger in Flomaton, Alabama; Life With the Top Down captures the sweet, sentimental flavor of life in the American South of yester-year. Some of the stories in this book will make you bust a gut laughing; others may touch your tender spot and leave you dewy-eyed. But all the stories will make you feel like you just finished visiting with a life long friend.

During the late summer of 1862, Confederate forces attempted a three-pronged strategic advance into the North. The outcome of this offensive--the only coordinated Confederate attempt to carry the conflict to the enemy--was disastrous. The results at Antietam and in Kentucky are well known; the third offensive, the northern Mississippi campaign, led to the devastating and little-studied defeats at Iuka and Corinth, defeats that would open the way for Grant's attack on Vicksburg. Peter Cozzens presents here the first book-length study of these two complex and vicious battles. Drawing on extensive primary research, he details the tactical stories of Iuka--where nearly one-third of those engaged fell--and Corinth--fought under brutally oppressive conditions--analyzing troop movements down to the regimental level. He also provides compelling portraits of Generals Grant, Rosecrans, Van Dorn, and Price, exposing the ways in which their clashing ambitions and antipathies affected the outcome of the campaign. Finally, he draws out the larger, strategic implications of the battles of Iuka and Corinth, exploring their impact on the fate of the northern Mississippi campaign, and by extension, the fate of the Confederacy.