South Carolina Books

Escott has written a well-research, scholarly study of how ordinary people in North Carolina, white and black, interacted with the political and social institutions of the day. This is an important social history worth the time of anyone interested in Southern history after the Civil War. Escott focuses in particular on five counties but his study is more broad-based than this indictes. He uses statistics but the human story predominates.

As a retired Marine First Sergeant (white) who was very familiar with the history of the Montford Point Marines, my eyes were opened to a more telling story that needed to be told. Although most books, articles and movies focus on the confrontational pressure cooker of black vs. white in a few dramatic examples, this book was the first one that allowed me to actually feel the emotions of oppression during their routine daily life. I have read many books, articles and seen several movies on the subject of racism but I have never been enthralled like I have during my reading of this book.

What I found very commendable was the neutrality of the writer. The mixture of good stories of genuine helpful whites was balanced with an equal number of examples of racism. Because the book is 90 percent actual stories from Montford Point Marines and 10 percent framing the content for each chapter, you feel as though you are visiting with these special Marines on their front porch as they tell their story.

I commend the writer on his method of creating chapters in the book. Each Chapter has a unique focus that is very specific for that chapter. This will make for an excellent method of research when seeking specific information for public speaking or citation in future articles to be written.

Semper Fi!

First Sergeant John E. Crouch (ret)

The _Mercury_ is known throughout South Carolina because of it's "The Union Is Dissolved" headline in 1860, a copy of which hung on the wall in many libraries and courthouses throughout the state until only a few decades ago. Brent Holcomb also is well known, or should be, as probably the leading living authority on the genealogy of and records sources in South Carolina. Over the years, he has published dozens of volumes of "vital records" abstracted from newspapers - birth, marriage, death, and burial notices and even coroner's reports, to substitute for the official records that mostly began only in the 20th century. Holcomb's work always is more useful (and interesting) than that of many abstractors who record only bare names and dates because he provides context with a significant amount of the original article or obituary. E.g., "The deeply felt grief of a mourning family, for the premature death of a beloved brother, had scarcely settled into the calm of resignation ere relentless fate has consigned another to the silent tomb," . . . which certainly should alert the researcher to hunt for another record associated with this family. Then there's the death notice in June 1828 of William Taylor, "an active partizan in favor of our Independence during the Revolutionary War," and Capt. Robert Hatton of the brig Nautilus, who died at "Cape Messurado, Coast of Africa."

This is the best biography of Chesnut to date. Muhlenfeld draws from all of Chesnut's writing, not just her famous Civil War diaries, to build a picture of a woman and a writer.

This is one of the best books around in the growing fields of both women's history and the history of the American South. DeCredico, a professor at the United States Naval Academy who is one of today's most respected Civil War historians, paints a fascinating picture of one Southern woman's life before, during, and after the Civil War. A must read for scholars and interested lay readers alike!

This book is a nicely written (sweetness) and insightful (light) exploration of, well, just what the title says, Matthew Arnold and Christianity. Debunking the charge by T.S. Eliot and others that Arnold was a spiritual dilettante, Livingston convincingly demonstrates the high seriousness of Arnold's spiritual quest and religious writings. In doing so he carefully explores Arnold's own distinctive and highly individual religiosity while contextualizing it relative to the Liberal Protestantism and the Catholic Modernism of Arnold's day--all while also touching on its relationship to certain later theological movements of the twentieth century, many of which do indeed seem to find in it a forerunner. Scholarly and accessible in the best senses.

This books does more than just tell you about the gentleman lawyer, Matthew J. Perry, it sets the scene for him before, during and now in South Carolina. The book puts in perspective what Perry had to deal with as he fought for the rights of South Carolina's African American citizens. He is an unflappable, decisive, thorough, warm, honest human being and a civil rights attorney par excellence. It is well written, with various contributors talking about him based on their experiences. It is well documented, so that it may also be used as a reference tool. It is timely and very readable. I recommend it highly.

Received the book quickly and we found the material to be very interesting. It was just what my husband was looking for and it gave him information on the area that he needed.

Caughey's book on Chief Alexander McGillivray is a "must own" book for serious students of Creek Indian or Alabama history. The primary value of this book is the reprinting of the many letters by McGillivray in his roles as Creek Chief and Creek diplomat, painstakingly taken from the Spanish archives. McGillivray was the only 18th century Indian chief who wielded a pen in such a powerful fashion dealing with various southern states, English and Spanish governors, and the US government. It also illustrates his role in the Scots owned Panton-Forbes trading company in Spanish Florida which was the "walmart" of its day which ran its own ships to the Bahamas and Europe for import/export purposes, maintaining several stores in florida and the Bahamas with sub-agents and traders in what is now Alabama,Mississippi, and Georgia.
Alexander McGillvray has a close relationship with William Panton the primary owner of the business.
The apex of his career is his meeting in person with George Washington and Thomas Jefferson in New York City to negociate the famous New York Peace Treaty of 1790 just before the US capitol is moved to Philadelphia.
With this collection of letters in his own handwriting we get to see these events through his eyes.
This book is not a complete history of Alexander and his father Lochlan but the letters presented give us a view of him we can find no other place. There are other more recent scholarly books on
Alexander and his dad Lochlan for the interested student.( see Wright or Cashin).
I see that this book has become very expensive and I hope that some University press will elect to reproduce it in paper back at a lower cost. Oklahoma Press has informed me they will not reprint this book.

Medway is an amazing book, I wasnt bored one minute while reading it, I used to live by Medway and never got the chance to see it so thats why I wanted to read this book, I still want to go to the plantation house, I will one day. BUt anyways I definately recommend this book if you are into plantations and all that stuff, which I am... so go out and read it! email me at brandon@daylon.com