A comprehensive history of the deep South - the bottomlands between Memphis and Vicksburg, lined by the Yazoo and Mississippi rivers - from the first white settlement in the 1820s to the present. A portrait of the development and survival of a society and economy often seen as the most extreme in the South - an area where, despite the large black majority, whites have kept their grip on power throughout every era.

In this comprehensive account, Cobb offers new insight into 'the most southern place on earth, ' untangling the enigma of the grinding poor but prolifically creative Mississippi Delta.