History Is Lunch: Ralph Eubanks, “A Place Like Mississippi”

The literary heritage of Mississippi is nationally known and regarded. The writings of Faulkner, Ward, Welty, and Wright, among others, demonstrate a deep connection to their home state.

“This relationship to the land runs deep—across onerous lines of class, gender, and race—and spans generations of authors birthed in the Magnolia State,” said Eubanks. “In their writing I find a very particular sense of place that the state and the South represent, and in my book I explore both the real and imagined landscapes that those authors have drawn inspiration from.”

The title of the book is taken from a quote often attributed to Faulkner: “To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi.”

“I wish I could have been riding shotgun with Ralph Eubanks as he drove the haunted and haunting roads of Mississippi,” wrote author Sally Mann of A Place Like Mississippi. “Fortunately, this captivating book is the next best thing, full of trenchant dispatches that speak to our current moment.”

W. Ralph Eubanks is visiting professor of English and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi. His holds a BA from the University of Mississippi and an MA from the University of Michigan. Eubanks is the author of two other books, Ever Is a Long Time and The House at the End of the Road. He received a 2007 Guggenheim Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and has been a fellow at the New America Foundation. From 1995 to 2013 Eubanks was director of publishing for the Library of Congress and is the former editor of the Virginia Quarterly Review at the University of Virginia.

History Is Lunch is sponsored by the John and Lucy Shackelford Charitable Fund of the Community Foundation for Mississippi. The weekly lecture series of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History explores different aspects of the state’s past. The hour-long programs are held in the Craig H. Neilsen Auditorium of the Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum building in Jackson