North Carolina Books

The personalities, prejudices and courage of the Founding Fathers come alive in the give and take of the debates of the Continental Congress. We, who can see the results, can little doubt what each of them knew, that they were inspired by a higher power. I feel greatful to be a descendent. Dewey F. Brignone

I found myself somewhat amazed at how much Sheridan is able to teach with so few words.

Charles Wiltse's the Jeffersonian Tradition in American Democracy is a very good account of the intellectual background and philosophy of Thomas Jefferson. Wiltse starts out with the intellectual background for Enlightenment thought in Great Britian and France. It is shown how the philosophy of republicanism and libertarian thought progressed from the mid 17th century to the time of Jefferson.

Next Jefferson's intellectual background is explored. Locke, Bacon, Newton, Sidney, and Lord Kames are shown to be the main influences on our greatest founder. It then moves to Jefferson's progressive philosophy of liberty and republican thought. Public education, religious freedom, the abolition of slavery, ending primogenture and entail, and a republican constitution consume the mind of Jefferson.

Wiltse also goes into Jefferson's philosophy for "ward republics",a form of grass roots democracy. He details Jefferson's passion for ward republics to be the "salvation of the republic" as he called it. The main thing that makes this work so good id that it lacks the anti-intellectual postmodern "deconstruction" of Jefferson. No political correctness or extreme "presentism" viewpoint. A really good book for a Jeffersonian education.

This book was published first in 1835 but as 19th century novels go I found it fairly well-done, and holding my interest. There is a lot of melodrama, and the Indians are portrayed with some balance. There are some racist-like views, and a silly scene where Hector, a slave, begs his good master not to set him free. But the account is fast-moving and event follows rapidly on event. The scene is 1715 in South Carolina, and involves an Indian insurrection which actually happened, tho it is pretty hard to find much about it in history sources. Some of the speeches put in the mouths of characters in the extremely stressful situations in which they find themselves are not without humor to today's reader. It is said this is the best of Simms' novels, and knowing that makes me think some of his other novels might be fun to read--this one is.

Far more is written about Christian missionaries from the North, especially New England, than from the South. The author attempts to redress some of this imbalance with this story of the Jiangyin Mission Station of the Southern Presbyterian Church near Shanghai, China. The home church of the Station was in Wilmington, NC which may make the book of especial interest to Carolinians.

The author has turned out a good academic history of the Station and the American missionaries who staffed it. Jiangyin began life with an anti-Christian riot -- the missionaries were accused of killng children to take their organs for medicine, an echo of the common rumors around the world today that Westerners kill children to steal their organs for transplant. Over the years the Mission was accepted by many in the Chinese community -- although converts were few and far between. The author includes maps and photos plus a lot of detail about how missionaries lived and worked. An especially good chapter details the trials and tribulations of the missionaries when Japan invaded the region in 1937 and, finally, forced the closing of Jiangyin on December 8, 1941. The Church opened Jiangyin after WW II, but it was closed permanently by the Chinese Communists in 1951. The history of Jiangyin is pretty typical of hundreds of Mission stations in China.

Well, this is a subject with a limited readership and -- however well done this book -- I have to wonder why academic books of such limited sales potential are not simply published on the web as ebooks and made available free to the general public. The author surely does not get rich off the royalties.

Smallchief

Having been the state's Commissioner of Agriculture for 36 years, Jim Graham knows more about North Carolina food than anyone else. During these past 36 years the state has moved from a land of small family farms to one dominated by industrial and technologically advanced cities. This gave Mr. Graham the idea of publishing a book of recipes of the cherished country cooking from the state's past for the NC urban dwellers of today.

The recipes were gathered from all over the state by NC Cooperative Extension and the NC Farm Bureau as a tribute to this great man and his contribution to the rural residents of North Carolina. The true authors are the residents of the state who submitted their favorite recipes. Jim Graham wrote the Introduction and submitted one recipe to the anthology, his mom's Brunswick Stew. Many of the entries include notes by the contributors that give them a truly personal touch. Proceeds from the book's sales go to the James A. Graham Scholars Endowment at N.C. State University.

If you have one North Carolina cookbook in your kitchen, this should be it. Now that the small towns of the state are hosts to fast food restaurants, and rural citizens spend hours commuting to city jobs, this book will long preserve a fading heritage for future generations. It is a labor of love to be cherished by anyone who loves North Carolina foods.

I have just finished reading Catherine Edmondston's journal of her life during the Civil War.

I am so grateful to "Kate" for making the effort to record each day, 1860 to 1866 as she experienced it. She recorded the reports, rumors, and her vitriolic response to the hated Yankee depredations. She also found time to record the ebb and flow of the plantation work her personal joys and sorrows. I feel she shared her life with me, a woman of different circumstance in 2008.

It is a hefty book, weighty in both substance and size. Many a night in bed I struggled to hold it upright at an angle harmonious with my bifocals. Reading it from beginning to end is a task of persistence and devotion. I feel rewarded by the effort.

The story offers the opportunity to travel back in time, to be immersed in the thinking and social fabric of the secessionist south.

At times I became impatient with her favorite themes, the gentlemanliness of the Confederate Officers contrasted with the "ill bread" Yankees, her acerbic abuse of Lincoln. Still what would you expect? Do you want social realism or some sanitized romantic novel?

The last entries, after Lee's surrender, made the whole reading worth while. Catherine and her husband Patrick had three properties and about eighty-six slaves. She continues her entries for another year as they struggle, former master and former slave to work out a new social contract.

Catherine excoriates the "Freeman's Bureau", their meddling, rules and general mischief. It is frustration and miscommunication on all sides. The dysfunctional family that was the Plantation hierarchy falls apart before the reader's eyes. There is a redistribution of power, misread on both sides as the model shifts from Master and Slave to Labor and Management. Kate has a wonderful ear for dialect and dialogue. You can hear the speech and see the participants confronting each other both uncomfortable and on unsure ground. It is the beginning of the transition period in race relations that may devolve into the Presidency of Barack Obama.

Those who read and enjoy James Joyce will appreciate the learned illumination within this commentary by Kershner.

While it does not specifically address its chapter headings to the later novels, it does take in the entire opus while considering technique and meaning and thus tangentially though deeply refers to Ulysses and Finnegans Wake in a manner most helpful.

As I am one most interested in the novel Ulysses, I was disappointed not to find chapters specifically dedicated to that novel of novels, but my frustrations were quieted to discover the novel as well as the Wake adequately considered in the comprehensive context of the works. In fact many valuable insights not found elsewhere are available here.

Specifically the chapter headings are dedicated to each of the tales of the Dubliners collection, and to Portrait, with strong consideration of the proto-Portrait Stephen Hero fragment. It is rare to find the Dubliners series so carefully considered and commented, and a delight to discover hidden treasure with the able and clear help of Kershner. Nevertheless, one cannot help but notice a few lacks of insight; for instance in the direct discussion in the subchapter dedicated to The Sisters, she mentions only that the adults at the boy's foster home speak in banal triteness, concealing there real meaning. Only later does she in passing indicate that hidden unspoken meaning is the gossip of pederasty which they dare not mention in the boy's presence. Certainly this is neither banal nor trite. And the boy uses silence and disguise as he lives involuntarily in a rather unloving foster home, which wishes to introduce him to "boxing his own corner" and the wonders of "faints and worms" of the brewery, whereas he would prefer not to drown his brain cells in alcohol but in deep thought.

And as mentioned above the profound reflections on Ulysses and the Wake are of course not only icing on the cake but a meal in themselves (does that adequately though not tritely mix a delicious metaphor?).

In an area of literary study noted for its incomprehensible jargon, it is truly a delight to encounter the clarity with which Kershner writes, reflecting the precision and well-developed depth of her research and thought. Joycean commentary can be filled with the insubstantial fruit of associate professor's "publish or perish" desperation, or with the competitions in micturation (to adapt the more vulgar phrase) by higher academics, but Kershner has something useful to say and says it well. Her definitions of terms, although common to the specialist, are clearly presented. I am especially grateful for this, as I admit this to be my first full-length and in-depth introduction to Bakhtin's thought, and I appreciate very much this author's careful and clear accompaniement. In fact this is the majoy work relating Bakhtin to Joyce, and might incidentally serve as a general introduction to Bakhtin, as other Joyce commentary does for Lacanian philosophy. Joyce prophetically foresaw how busy his writing would keep the future generations of scholars, as demonstrated here in the fullness of its ramifications.

Highly recommended for the intermediate reader of Joyce's early works, with strong indications and perceptions for those like myself most interested by his later work.

A valuable addition, with clarity, wit and substance, to any shelf already well laden by Joycean commentary. If you do notice the rough spots in this book, and there are indeed some bumps in the road, as well as the yawning lagunas in the commentary where some insight is missing, then you are ready and able to advance to further and more challenging explorations, such as Joyce's Messianism, etc., which comes HIGHLY recommended for any budding Joyce scholar.

William Bosch offers a unique study of the Nuremberg Trial. He examines the attitudes of various groups in America regarding such subjects as the legality of the trial, its purpose, and its predicted legacy. The book includes a tremendous amount of research with many lengthy footnotes and an exhaustive bibliography of books, periodicals, newspapers, documents, and letters. The groups considered were: American policy makers, international and domestic attorneys, congressional leaders, religious leaders, historians, foreign affairs writers, military officers, behavioral scientists, and the American public at large. His results are valuable albeit not terribly surprising.

In addition, Bosch also extends his research to the Vietnam war. He examines whether or not Nuremberg principles should be used in the trials of Vietnam soldiers who disobey supreme commands or if two American pilots captured in northern Vietnam should be tried for war crimes by Ho Chi Minh's court. By noting the relationship between Nuremberg and Vietnam, Bosch demonstrates that the Nuremberg Trial was not just an event left to the past but is an event that has a significant influence on present and future issues regarding international military law.

If you are interested in this subject, I highly recommend seeking out this book. It is very well written and contains a mountain of valuable information on American attitudes toward the Nuremberg Trial (the trial being undoubtedly dominated by American ideals). I have written several college papers on the Nuremberg Trial and this book has proved an invaluable source.

This is an excellent book for anyone searching their geneology for connections to American Indian Nations in North Carolina. It is a well written history book that is interesting to read. I have trouble putting it down and wait anxiously to pick it up again.