Many people think of Mississippi when they think of the South. Perhaps the most beloved of Southern trees, the magnolia serves as Mississippi’s state tree and flower. And Mississippi’s official bird, the mockingbird, is the most popular state bird in the South.
People often think of the South as a place that is slow and peaceful. With few large cities, much of Mississippi is quiet. Hot, humid summers may make people feel sluggish. Even rivers flow very slowly across the Gulf Coastal Plain; sometimes they scarcely appear to be moving at all.
Mississippi lies along the Gulf Coast between Texas and Florida. Its neighbor to the east is Alabama, while both Louisiana and Arkansas border it to the west.
Except for the extreme northwestern corner of the state, Mississippi lies wholly within the Gulf Coastal Plain. The highest elevations are in the Tennessee Mountains in the northeastern part of the state. At 806 feet, Woodall Mountain is the highest point in the state. This mountain is near the town of Iuka in Tishomingo County, Mississippi’s northeasternmost county.
From the northeast highlands, the land slopes gently south to the Gulf Coast. It also slopes westward to the Mississippi River, which forms Mississippi’s western border.
Along the Gulf Coast, people often apply the word “bayou” to streams, or to marshy inlets or outlets of swamps and lakes. Because much of Mississippi is quite low and flat, there is an abundance of swamps, marshes, and bayous. In fact, Mississippi is nicknamed the Bayou State. It is also nicknamed the Mud-cat State for the catfish that are so abundant in its sluggish, muddy streams and swamps. People even raise catfish in ponds for food.
In the Gulf itself are the barrier islands of Gulf Islands National Seashore, which stretches east into Florida. And beyond these is the sea that once covered so much of Mississippi.
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism - 
