A young man decides to canoe the entire length of the Mississippi, all the way from Minnesota to New Orleans. His friends say don't go, there is too much danger, and not just from wild animals, boats with large wakes, rapids, and bad weather. For Harris is "a black man traveling alone, paddling from (as a friend put it) 'where there ain't no black folks to where they still don't like us much.'" Call him gutsy, or call him rash, but his is a story you won't forget easily.
Mississippi Solo: A Memoir, by Eddy L. Harris (TPB, 1988, $2) Look for this book on the new non-fiction table, avail. 10/12.
