Jay Edwards

Marcel Boyer

French priest Joseph M. Paret (1807-1872) served in the missions of Louisiana from 1847 to 1869 as pastor of the Little Red Church, located upstream from New Orleans on the east bank of the Mississippi River. During his somewhat lonely tenure, Paret sketched landscapes, architecture, and interiors, capturing everyday life in prosperous St. Charles Parish. In 1987, fifty-three watercolors were discovered -- still bound in their original sketchbook -- among his personal effects. Plantations by the River contains twenty-eight of these paintings created in or about the year 1859. Paret's insightful artwork provides a visual social history of the antebellum creole culture of south Louisiana and documents properties in addition to structures and furnishings of the period. The book features full-size reproductions of Paret's paintings, which have been restored to their original vibrancy. The value of Paret's detailed folk art lies in the accuracy of his depiction of the region he lived in. He faithfully renders parishioners attending church, men pulling driftwood from the Mississippi River, and the edifices and flora gracing local plantations Ormond and Good Hope, among many others. The text is presented in both English and French; and as a supplement to the art, an appendix of excerpts from Mon Journal d'Amerique -- a collection of correspondence between Paret and his family -- is included. The beautiful, brightly colored paintings of Plantations by the River are a rare discovery and provide a unique view of rural Louisiana life before the onset of the Civil War.

Watercolor Paintings from St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, by Father Joseph M. Paret, 1859

Plantations by the River

Barry Jean Ancelet

Glen Pitre

This insightful book is by far the broadest examination of traditional Cajun culture ever assembled. It goes beyond the stereotypes and surface treatment given to Cajuns by the popular media and examines the great variety of cultural elements alive in Cajun culture today--cooking, music, storytelling, architecture, arts and crafts, and festivals, as well as traditional occupations such as fishing, hunting, and trapping. It not only gives fascinating descriptions of elements in Cajun life that have been woven into the fabric of American history and folklore; it also explains how they came to be. Cajun Country reveals the historical background of the Cajun people, who migrated to Louisiana as exiles from their Canadian homeland, and it shows their folklife as a living and ongoing legacy that enriches America.

Cajun Country

Born into a farming family in Indiana, Jay Edwards, along with his wife and family, has been a missionary and agricultural businessman in South America since 1987. Challenged by the difficulty of dealing first-hand with decisions pertaining to bribes, extortion, threats, unfair bidding processes, political favoritism, blackmail, kickbacks, and other unethical practices, Edwards realized that the Daniel of the Bible, in all probability, faced these issues also. If God could guide Daniel in ancient Babylon, the cradle of perversity, then He could surely guide the author through the labyrinth of politically charged ethical dilemmas so often encountered in South American bureaucracy. How did Daniel do it? How can one adhere to Christian values in a corrupt world? How does one determine the most expedient path when choosing the lesser of the evils? This fast-paced historical fiction poses possible solutions for Daniel and his friends. The book includes as an appendix, Issues Daniel Faced, which provides interesting questions and themes which may be used as a discussion guide for similar issues in our world today.

Jay Edwards

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