Mike Tidwell

Subtitled "The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast", this book should have been required reading for every government official in Washington and Louisiana, and a few other places as well, the minute it came off the presses. Tidwell's observations and warnings went largely unheeded, as did those of the shrimpers, fishermen and other locals along the Louisiana Coast, before Hurricane Katrina made him look positively clairvoyant.
Here's a quote from one of the state's field show more biologists, who tried for over a decade to put a stop to destructive practices of the big oil companies in the Gulf: "There's a reason they're called 'barrier islands'...This is the first line of defense against hurricanes. WIthout these islands, a hurricane's storm surge will slam right into the coast unchecked. Then it'll meet the remains of our shrinking marshes, facing little resistance. Then it's straight into the population centers. The next time a direct-hit hurricane comes, I'm afraid it might be really, really ugly."
The destruction of New Orleans and other southern Louisiana towns was totally predictable, but it did not have to happen. Mother Nature's fury was aided and abetted by generations of misguided land and water management, greedy development and oil exploitation, and just plain ignorance.
This book is a beautifully written and moving tribute to the vanishing way of life of the Cajun people of Louisiana, as well as their adopted environment. Read it and weep. show less

Mike Tidwell seems to believe in ghosts and magic. He certainly writes magically about his adventures; fishing the inner-city parks and ponds of DC or camping in the Congo, his ‘voice’ resonates with his pleasure, respect and love for the peoples he encounters. Tidwell, a journalist and former Peace Corps volunteer, has earned the praise of fellow travel writers, including Paul Theroux and Bob Shacochis, but he has a unique prose, light, humorous, self-effacing and very, very show more engaging.

Recalling a hunting trip he and his wife make while visiting the Mbuti pygmy in the Ituri forest he contrasts his present life in globally warmed DC with those of this ”… perfect society. We have witnessed the best that humans can be.” On first entering the Mbuti clearing they find the entire twenty members in uncontrollable laughter, so infectious and gleeful that, without any idea of what is so funny, they both join in with the giggling and chuckling, ”… instantly amused with by the sheer, contagious joy of these stone-age comics.”

In these glorious travels Tidwell is still amused when marooned on a tiny desert island in the Caribe with, as its own travel blog says, no amenities at all. Or when continuingly challenged by Kyrgyzstani shepherds, in the Mountains of Heaven as to what it is he wants - ”Gold, wives or horses?”

If you are a reader or collector of travelogues, an armchair voyager or one who has already seen it all and now finds it enough just to recall memories and enjoy another’s trips, do read this glorious book. show less

nonfiction (published 2025 though headed to print Nov. 2024, so doesn't really cover anything that happened in 2025) - Climate change (and the extreme, adverse weather events that stem from climate change) leading to the decline of a neighborhood's trees (very likely you've seen this happening near you, too) doesn't seem like enough of a topic to fill a whole book, but Tidwell is a skilled enough writer to make it work; even all the bits about carbon sinks, solar sinks and renewable energy show more are interesting (if you've been pondering the switch to electric appliances, the common prevalence of small gas leaks near/in homes may prove the final impetus). show less

One of the most amazing reads in quite a while! The author takes you on a once in a lifetime adventure deep into the swamps of Louisiana that sits below New Orleans and finds that the Gulf of Mexico is reclaiming, and has been reclaiming, hundreds and hundreds of acres for many years.

Yes! He is an environmentalist, but not your screaming environmentalist that foolishly screams to shut everything down now. He believes there is a way to save the coast so fisherman, shrimper and crabbers can show more continue to crab for many, many years, save the navigational system in the Misissippi, and save the agricultural lands along the Mississippi so people can continue to live and farm.

He's such an awesome writer that I felt like I was on this awesome journey with him, hitchhiking on shrimpboats down the bayou from Golden Meadow to the Gulf, visiting some of the most remote villages deep into the swamp, and experiencing the "battlefield" for shrimpers out at Barataria Bay at the first full moon in May...the week before shrimp season opens inside Louisiana territory.

I'm a Cajun whose family has migrated to Southeast Texas. I'm very envious of his journey. My husband and I are making plans now for a weekend adventure excursion to check out the boot below New Orleans. I've never been there before and want to make the drive through Golden Meadow and Leeville, all way to the end of Highway 1, to Grand Isle, Louisiana.

The book was originally published in 2003, with the newest publication in 2010. Here we are now, the year 2018, I wonder if anything has been done to convert some of the Mississippi River back down to the swamps? I'm curious to see if 8 cemetery crypts are still visible above water at the Leesville bridge, or has the Gulf completely claimed them? show less