Paul Theroux's 'DEEP SOUTH'

   I recommend the latest book by Mr.Theroux called "Deep South" in which he travels around the southern United States and relates his experiences in his usual perceptive, no nonsense manner. Having traveled all over the world he compares the poverty he witnessed in the rural south to a third world country-a result of the local economies having been decimated by the loss of manufacturing over the last two decades. Additionally, hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid are funneled to foreign nations while a comparative pittance is directed to needy areas in our own country. He also relates the continuing prejudices that undermine black progress such as the reluctance of white owned banks to proffer loans to black business. It is a sobering expose' of sorts, and not a portrayal you see on the daily news. According to the author- who is from Massachusetts-the white rural south remains stuck in a subtle, unfinished resentment left over from having lost the civil war, and I suppose the problems of racism are no doubt more entrenched in a culture that did not even recognize the perversion of slavery in the first place. At any rate, it's a good read and worth the time.