Visions of the Black Belt

“Illustrated with absolutely stunning collections of images, the chapters individually and collectively offer a feast for the eyes. Images range from the most humble of structures to plantation homes and churches that would be described as magnificent in any time or place. While the authors do not skirt the issues of race, poverty, and class that obtain, they simply state the facts. There is an evenness of tone, an appreciation of the region as it has been and as it is now that makes this book less about what we have lost than about what we still have. Therefore, to my mind, this is the most valuable kind of work for a general reader: one that cherishes the past but brings us fully into the moment and even looks forward.”
—Jay Lamar, coeditor of The Remembered Gate: Memoirs by Alabama Writers 

“Like rural America everywhere these days, Alabama’s storied Black Belt is undergoing profound change. Yet its gentle landscapes—suffused with the sense of a haunted, romantic past—hold something timeless. And added to its natural beauty is a rich layering of architecture, nearly two hundred years’ worth, that tells a very human story at once wrenching and inspiring. In words and gorgeous, seductive images, the authors have captured a mood, an intangible spell—that anyone who lingers in this very special place must sooner or later feel. Here we have a book that seems sure to become an Alabama classic: a lovely record as well as a nostalgic evocation.”
—Robert Gamble, author of Historic Architecture in Alabama

"Visions of the Black Belt is no mere coffee table book full of pretty pictures; it is a profound and intriguing piece of scholarship examining the overarching shadow of the past in a region uniquely defined by its heritage."
​—Mike Bunn, author of Lower Chattahoochee River (Images of America) and coauthor of Battle for the Southern Frontier: The Creek War and the War of 1812

"Visions of the Black Belt is a gorgeous, oversized coffee table book and it will, properly, be bought for the photos, but before talking about the photography, let me urge people ot be sure to read the text."
—Don Noble, Bookmark, Alabama Public Television