Arkansas

My chief memory of driving through the state of Arkansas is of sitting in the back of a relatively small car constantly beseeching the driver to stop so that we could eat by yelling "RIBS!" really loud (as opposed to yelling really soft). As near as I could tell you had the opportunity to stop at a hole in the wall rib joint pretty much every five minutes or five miles, which ever came first. We had an opportunity to learn more about Arkansas when one of its native sons became President of the United States, but all I seem to recall was that the state was in the bottom of five of just about any statistical category you would care to come up with because of political or journalistic interest. Sylvia McNair provides a more thorough look at "Arkansas" for the America the Beautiful, Second Series. Chapter One, "Welcome to Arkansas," starts off by dealing with the most important question regarding the state, which is how you pronounce the name. The state legislature says AR-kan-SAW, but the people who live there are usually called Ar-KAN-sans. The history of the state is covered in the next three chapters. Chapter Two, "The Arkansas Territory," starts as many of these volumes about the Southern states do with the Mound Builders before moving on to the French explorers and the U.S. acquiring the territory as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Chapter Three, "The Young State," looks at slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Progressive Era that ended with World War I. "The Modernization of Arkansas" is covered in Chapter Four, which begins with the Great Depression and World War II, and ends with the crisis in Little Rock over desegregating Central High School in 1957 and the election of a Republican governor in 1967. "The Natural State" of Arkansas is developed in Chapter Five, which divides the topography into the Ozarks, the Arkansas River Valley, the Ouachitas, the West Gulf Coastal Plain, and the Delta. Chapter Six, "Here and There in Arkansas" is where McNair looks at what life is like in the different areas of the state. Chapter Seven, "Running the Government," is all about politics in Arkansas, paying special attention to the Constitution of 1874 and all of the state symbols, where young readers will learn that the South Arkansas vine-ripe pink tomato is the state fruit AND vegetable, while the state has two official state songs, "Arkansas (You Run Deep in Me)" and "Oh, Arkansas." We also learn that Arkansas was the 49th state to pass a civil rights bill (in 1993). The economics of the state are the province of Chapter Eight, "Making a Living," where agriculture, mining, and Sam Walton have made impacts. "The Arkansans" (see pronunciation guide above) are examined in Chapter Nine, which also looks at religion and education. Chapter Ten" is all about "Enjoying Leisure Time" in Arkansas. This is where readers find out about Razorback basketball, Dizzy Dean, and Johnny Cash. By the time you finish this book, like a charact