What: "Growing Up in Mississippi," $25, a new release from University Press of Mississippi.

The contributors: Elizabeth Aydelott, Fred Banks, Jimmy Buffett, Edward Cohen, Ellen Douglas, W. Ralph Eubanks, Richard Ford, Gwen Gong, Carolyn Haines, Lorian Hemingway, Samuel Jones, Robert Khayat, B.B. King, John Maxwell, Alberto Mora, Don Peterson, Noel Polk, Jerry Rice, George Riggs, Robert St. John, Sid Salter, Elizabeth Spencer, Constance Slaughter-Harvey, Clifton Taulbert, Keith Tonkel, Maggie Wade, Sela Ward, Wyatt Waters, Jim Weatherly and William Winter.

Perhaps the answer to why this much-maligned and beloved state produces a kaleidoscope of talent and characters is found in "Growing Up in Mississippi." Credit, or blame, the diverse experiences of Mississippi childhoods.

Thirty men and women write about the influences that made them governors, astronauts, musicians, humanitarians, writers, teachers and athletes. Some are names you will recognize - William Winter, B.B. King, Jimmy Buffett, Ellen Douglas, Jerry Rice. Others are less known but their passions nonetheless are influential.

"A Mississippi childhood bestows unique gifts upon its own," observe Judy H. Tucker and Charline R. McCord, who edited the University Press of Mississippi book, which hits book shelves this week. "The most fortunate of children take from it the stuff of legend - generations of deeply rooted family ties, the space and time for contemplation, a connected community, an awareness and an awe of the natural world, the scars left by a conflicted history, the blessing of a rich soil, the curse of an unequal bounty and a deep and abiding faith in a power greater than themselves."

The 30 represent a generational, economic and ethnic melting pot filled from every region. Their memoirs are both funny and poignant as they reveal the events, people and communities that made them who they are.

"The most worthwhile thing about Aunt Mima's place was her crank-up Victrola, a machine that changed my life," writes B.B. King, Itta Bena's King of the Blues.

"Aunt Mima taught me to gently put on the platter, set down the needle, and watch the turntable spin. A second passed and then - pow! - those beautiful, scratchy sounds flew in my face, cutting right through me, electrifying my soul."

Among the essayists are Ole Miss Chancellor Robert C. Khayat, who grew up in a Moss Point that "produced a disproportionate number of characters whose antics, activities, personalities and peculiarities are indelibly etched in the memories of those of us, who, by virtue of the random nature of birthplace, had the good fortune of spending our childhood years there."

Keith Tonkel, a Methodist minister who grew up in Bay St. Louis, learned "integrity is a learned response." Jerry Rice, the great NFL wide receiver, didn't begin football until his principal saw how fast he could run when playing hooky.

Carolyn Haines, Lucedale native and author of 50 novels spanning genres from thriller to literary, has a Gothic take on her Mississippi childhood: "I enjoyed one of the last greatest childhoods of the South," she writes. "Dramatic, filled with crazy relatives... growing up in a haunted house and parents and a grandmother who were superb and devilish storytellers."

But for the most part, childhoods were not idyllic. With the sage reflections of age, the "Growing Up" contributors tell of personal and family struggles. These childhood stories reveal much about the state's history, culture and struggles, from the influences of the Great Depression forward.

Former Gov. Winter, for example, writes about how his childhood adventures with dogs and farmyard animals created a lifetime love for pets, one of which, a schnauzer named Fritz, recently lunged at a gunman holding Winter hostage. Jackson newspaper editor Sid Salter's memories of his late mother's compassion made him realize he needed to show a similar compassion to those devastated by Katrina.

Jimmy Buffett confesses "the ocean has always been a salve to my soul," as he tells how his Pascagoula grandmother patched up his skin scrapes and sent him for a healing swim. "Later down the road of life, I made the discovery that salt water was also good for the mental abrasions one inevitably acquires on land."

The book is a compilation of original essays and excerpts from memoirs. The foreword is written by Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Richard Ford, a Jackson native and author of nine books including an acclaimed trilogy about U.S. mores, who summarizes, "To my mind, though, it matters far less what influences us than that we take responsibility for what we do."