Winner of the 1994 Virginia C. Ledbetter Prize, this collection of wide-ranging essays is the first collaborative work to focus exclusively on the living and historical contradictions of the Arkansas portion of the Mississippi River delta. Individual chapters deal with the French and Spanish colonial experience; the impact of the Civil War, the roles of African Americans, women, and various ethnic groups; and the changes that have occurred in towns, in social life, and in agriculture. What emerges is a rich tapestry—a land of black and white, of wealth and poverty, of progress and stasis, f despair and hope—through which all that is dear and terrible about this often overlooked region of the South is revealed.

• Contents 
• Contributors
• Preface
• WHAYNE, JEANNIE
• The Arkansas Delta: The Deepest of the Deep South
• GATEWOOD, WILLARD B.
• The River's Gifts and Curses
• FOTI, THOMAS
• The Delta's Colonial Heritage
• ARNOLD, MORRIS S.
• “Desolation Itself”: The Impact of Civil War
• ROBERTS, BOBBY
• From Slavery to Uncertain Freedom: Blacks in the Delta
• GORDON, FON LOUISE
• “What Ain't I Been Doing?”: Historical Reflections on Women and the Arkansas Delta
• PAYNE, ELIZABETH ANNE
• Strangers in the Arkansas Delta: Ethnic Groups and Nationalities
• GIBBENS, BYRD
• Always a Simple Feast: Social Life in the Delta
• HUBBELL, KENNETH R.
• Delta Towns: Their Rise and Decline
• MONEYHON, CARL H.
• The Plantation Heritage: Agriculture in the Arkansas Delta
• HOLLEY, DONALD
• Notes
• Index