A historian specializing in Louisiana and East Texas, Bagur describes a small town 150 miles east of Dallas, Texas and 40 miles west of Shreveport, Louisiana, during the middle of the 19th century. Founded in 1845, he says, Jefferson was the most important and farthest upstream of the ports and landings on the navigation route west of Shreveport, whence trade traveled down the Red and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans and the world. This study is an outgrowth of A History of Navigation on Cypress Bayou and the Lakes, which covers all the ports and landings on that navigation route. It draws on US censuses, city records, county tax rolls, deed records, district court minutes, and other primary sources to discuss such matters as women, slaves, primary business types, fraternal organizations, postal services, balls and dances, and vice. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)