New Delta Rising

Called "the most southern place on earth," the Mississippi Delta annually attracts thousands of tourists, photographers, and writers to visit this haunting region of open fields, ramshackle houses, and blues music. Their experiences-and those of local documentary artists as well-have led to many articles and books about the Delta. None before, however, has focused so intently upon the people themselves. Award-winning photographer Magdalena Solé, known for her sensitive expressions of culture through distinctive color artistry, spent a year interviewing and photographing hundreds of Delta people. She immediately felt a connection to the Delta people, and her honest and heartfelt images in New Delta Risingcapture the warmth and sense of community she experienced. The accompanying narratives by Tom Lassiter further illuminate the moral strength of the people and the spirit they give to the place. The result is New Delta Rising, a book containing nearly one hundred stunning color photographs and compelling stories about the Delta people and their families. It is a book, Rick Bragg writes in the introduction, where "myth and magic and legend swirl into the real world, and it can be hard to tell where one stops and the other begins." New Delta Risingis a publication of The Dreyfus Health Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that helps individuals and communities in the Mississippi Delta and throughout the world.