Canalou: People, Culture, Bootheel Town

This book is about the region's people. They live in six counties that were part of the Louisiana Purchase. Explorer Lewis noted in his annals that his now famous expedition made its first camp in what is now Scott County, where I was born. Canalou native Dan Whittle is a retired newspaperman, a reporter who always had the knack for listening for listening for more than just the bare facts. His book of Bootheel stories is both funny and touching. Having known Danny Whittle since venerable old Grayridge High School days in the 1960s, I can testify that he knows the back-breaking pain of picking cotton under the boiling hot sun of the Bootheel's tortuous dog days of summer. Make no mistake, those who survived and benefitted by spending our youth in this unique area of the world, are proud of our heritage...and culture. -Garry Lewis