Catfish and the Delta: Confederate Fish Farming in the Mississippi Delta

by Richard Schweid

Examines the catfish farming industry in the Mississippi Delta as well as the people, music, and customs that make the Delta unique

185 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1992

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean do you want to know more about catfish as an industry? Because here's a book for you. It's surprisingly engaging. C-A-T-F-I-S-H, that spells good eating. Also decent reading.

[Allan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a technical work on fish farming, nor does it contain any recipes, if that's what you were thinking. Instead, Schweid writes a very accessible portrait of Delta culture near the end of the 20th century through the window of one of the region's most promising (and few) industries. Given the history of Mississippi in the previous decades through the civil rights movement, it is discouraging to learn that so little seems to have changed. Catfish raising and processing provides many desperately needed jobs for African-Americans, but the doors to real ownership and representation remain closed.

[grundoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, it's about catfish farming and a fair amount of (non-technical) process detail is covered in the narrative, but it's much more about the industry's relationship with the region, and the region's race relations. Well written with an approach both personal and journalistically objective. I'm longing for not only an account of what has happened in all aspects over the 25 years since, but one as engagingly written.