South Carolina Books

Written by former plantation mistress Julia Peterkin, Scarlet Sister Mary is a novel of intellect, individualism, coltish word play, tradition and most importantly, respect. The novel, like, Their Eyes Were Watching God and The Color Purple, is written in an old southern vernacular, and it tells the story of Sister Mary or Si May-e, a young and sprightly woman at the novel's start. It is some time after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, and freedon (used loosely, historically speaking), has come for those individuals who were field slaves or indentured servants. Their opportunity to flee has come, to seek opportunities for self and financial betterment. For some, however, betterment is not up north or anywhere else in the country; it is exactly where it is: the native coastal terrain of South Carolina - the setting for the novel. Religion, faith, folklore, generational history and magic are the ties that bind the folksy and hard working men and women of the Quarters. Dignity and peacefulness does not come from being nomadic, as was in the case of the pioneers to the Midwest and far West; it is closer. It is in the hoeing, the field labor, the mud between the crevices of the rough and crackling flesh. It is in the earth. To combat the joyous harshness of the work is love and a family. And thus, Sister Mary comes into the picture; she is at the marrying age, and July, her suitor, is ready to be her protector and provider. Or so one would believe. Using faith in lore and mythology, Sister Mary's marriage is almost doomed from the start: "'Do, Master, look down and see what a rat is done!' Mary's heart flew up into her mouth. Cold chills ran over her as she ran to see what happened. There it was, a great hole gnawed deep into the bride's cake's tender meat...she fell into bitter dumb sobs...Such bad luck was hard to face." (p.29) And it only advances to something worse via the aid of a love charm and another woman's insatiable lust for the groom's affections. Time passes, and Mary is all alone with her son Unex (shortened for Unexpected). A suffocating cover of depression smothers Sister Mary, and as time heals old wounds, Mary rises into a life of self-satisfaction and sexual gratification. She enters the dominion of sin and religious transgression; she is altered in the eyes of those around her. From Sister Mary, she becomes Scarlet Sister Mary - red with hungry passion as the adjective implies. She has a flock of children, but they are not heart children, as in the case of Unex, but they are passion, lust children. Redemption is nil, and her destiny upon her final breath (in the eyes of her brethren) is clearly understood; her spirit, her soul, is scudding rapidly to the flaming and billowing sulphur pitts of hell. Can redemption and acceptance ever come into her grasp? Will peace ever rectify the wrongs incurred in her heart and mind? Her somewhat sardonic life philosophy and world-weary actions narrow down the chances for hope. But that hand-clenching curiosity does get solved. Banned in Boston when it was first published in 1928 and winner of the 1929 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Scarlet Sister Mary is a classic among classics - lyrical in prose and description, vivid in the intellectual exploration of the "Negro question" - (vii) and complex as well as humane. But it is by no means an accurate representation of a specific catagory of people. Consequently, the work, although brilliant, is slightly antiquated and beguiling.

This delightful story by Julie Peterkin caught the eyes and surely the hearts of the committee to garner the Pulitzer Prize in 1929. Mary has the misfortune to become besot by July, the biggest rascal in the Quarters. The love-charm that Old Daddy Cudjoe makes for her comes too late to win back July as he drops out of sight with Cinder and is lost from Mary's life for the next twenty years. Mary goes on to be the Venus of the Quarters eventually having nine children by an untold litany of befogged lovers. A word of advice Mary gives to Seraphine, her eldest daughter, is telling of her view of men. "But don' never let yousef tink on one man all de time. It'll run you crazy if it don't kill you." After the death of her first-born son, Unex, Mary undergoes a religious conversion and welcomed back into the Heaven's Gate Church. But she secretly holds something in reserve.

Scarlet Sister Mary is the story of a free-spirited woman's life in the post-Emancipation South. It is unique in its portrayal of an African-American community as capable of independent existence in the South at that time. The culture of the community is portrayed most interestingly and permeates through the religious, spiritual and even medical undertones of story. While Peterkin tells a poetic tale of an independent, strong, rebellious woman (of whom you grow dearly fond, and cannot help but cheer her on in her resistance), one finds it hard to wonder how accurate a picture Peterkin paints as one who viewed African-Americans in the South rather than lived as an African-American in the South. But all in all, this book is a must read (and if you attempt to read it as you would imagine people read the book when it was first published, you have a most scandalous story of taboo story before your eyes!)

Since few people in respectable circles today would admit to having supported segregation, it is rare to read honest accounts from White southerners who admittely accepted the system and went along with it, as most did at the time.

This book is an interesting read for that reason. He speaks matter of factly about his own acceptance of the prejudices of his era and area, as he punches a black boy who uses his mouth on the same needle that he does to blow up a basketball without realizing why at the moment, although he is usually pleasant in hiis relations with the black customers who frequent his grandfather's general store in Wade, NC in the 1950s.

However, he comes across people who challenge everything he is led to believe about Blacks. There is the African-American schoolteacher who forces him to refer to her as "Miss" and most of all, his unlikely friend Street. Street is a self-educated free spirited intellectual who is amazingly accurate on biblical, astronomical, and constitutional facts who lives in a cave by himself. The local Whites dismiss him as crazy and eccentric, but Melton comes to see that Street is not only accurate in his facts, but represents the tragedy of racism through the inability of Street to make a living from his knowledge. One of the most interesting characters in all of Southern biography, one could easily picture Louis Gosset Jr. or James Earl Jones portraying Street in a film version of this book.

I would strongly recommend this for exposing young people in particular to a seldom-heard side in writings about the segregation era.

McLaurin has written a valuable and beautiful book. It deserves a place on the shelf with "Coming of Age in Mississippi" as a document of life in the segregated South and of the moral challenges that segregation presented to those who lived in the system.

McLaurin's book is a touching recollection of growing up in the South during the 1950s. His rich narative describes not only the difficulties all teenagers face, but explores how these difficulties are made even more difficult in a changing environment. While so many imagine the white teenagers of the Little Rock school integration as pictures of young whites during the 1950s, McLaurin paints a picture of a young man sensitive to the plight of blacks in the Jim Crow South. A very good book, highly recommended to those who wish to get a detailed portrait of the 1950s South

This is a great book! I teach 4th grade and the students love the pictures and the descriptions of all the snakes. I was surprised to find this book listed on Amazon. I bought it at the South Carolina State Museum for a MUCH cheaper price.

Don't let the small size fool you. This book is packed with detailed identification information for the Georgia and South Carolina region. I had no idea that a species could look so different based on a small geographic area. Also, it focuses on the most commonly sighted snakes not just the poisonous ones. My husband looked for weeks for a better field guide and this was clearly the best.

This guide is one of the best I have ever seen! The photo's are crystal clear and the information is very descriptive. Great job! I love it! Living in GA and visiting SC makes this book very valuable to my family.

Mark M. Smith has given us a splendid account of the 1739 Slave Revolt in the Charleston, South Carolina area. Rather than simply giving us his interpretation of this important, yet not widely studied event, Smith gives us the opportunity to look at some of the key documents relating to the uprising and then provides the reader with four separate essays to show different interpretations of the documents.

The essays Smith presents are written by well recognized historians, including one by Smith himself, and vary in analysis - we see such concepts forwarded as the idea that the rebelling slaves were mainly ex-military, that these male slaves revolted because they were pushed into agricultural work that they saw as "women's work", and that the slaves revolved on September 9, 1739 because of the religious significance of the date.

All told, this book will make an exceptionally useful case study of this revolt, and the presentation of the material makes it a most valuable addition to the field of historiography and training of future historians in how documents may be interpreted differently to come up with the "real" picture of what happened in the past.

This little book is a must read for anyone interested in colonial American, Southern, or African American history. Mark Smith has assembled an incredible collection of original documents [some never before published] that describe the largest slave revolt in 18th century Amercia. There are also several essays by modern historians discussing the significance of the Stono Rebellian and its aftermath. And, believe it or not, they are just as interesting as the primary documents. Smith's, in particular, is very thought-provoking.

The author has taken his time to present all sides of this important event in South Carolina history. By taking a dispassionate look at the contemporary accounts as well as later oral histories he allows one to make up his or her own mind as the the true events. I found no evidence of any political slant.
Not a novel for light reading, but easy to read. Makes a case as a good text, not only in the realm of black history, but in how one event can be looked at from numerous eyes. Gives one a perspective on how the history we come to accept can be changed and minipulated depending on ones desires and point of view.
Highly recommend this in any student of South Carolina or black histories library.

I'm not a kid and I loved this book. Its engaging and yet true to the history and the times of the American Civil War. I would think the folks in South Carolina that worked so hard to bring the Hunley back to life would find this book a real gem. The Hunley Museum Store should be able to sell lots of them. I recommend it for folks of ALL ages.

This book is an amazing introduction to the history of the Civil War era submarine Hunley. Focused on the most intriguing legend surrounding its captain, Fran Hawk wonderfully recounts the history of the submarine and its tragic end. She deftly steers the story into the modern day, aided by wonderful illustrations. Give this book to every kid on your Christmas list - get them out from behind the video games and into history.

Finally, a true adventure story for children that is both historically accurate and wonderfully told. This account of the Hunley is much more than a history lesson. It brings to life the young Lieutenant George Dixon and the fiesty Southern belle whose gift of love once saved him. Fran Hawk takes young readers on a great Civil War adventure from Mobile, Alabama, across the battlefield at Shiloh, through the blocade at Charleston and down inside the first submarine ever to sink a war ship. Her story plants the feet of young readers firmly on the moonlit deck of the ill-fated Union Housatonic moments before she went down, and then leads them onto the sandy, dark beach at Sullivan's Island where a signal fire burned.
Fast-forward more than two centuries. Hawk takes readers offshore with adventurer Clive Cussler to the discovery of a lifetime. She presents the recovered sub in its research laboratory and reveals its many intriguing secrets, one by one.
The book is beautifully - and accurately - illustrated on every page.
Here's a terrific and absolutely true children's adventure book that parents will also enjoy.
Steve Mullins
Metro Editor
The Post and Courier
Charleston, S.C.
Reviewer's note: Hawk writes a weekly column about children's books in the Family Life section of The Post and Courier newspaper.

Sunrise on the Santee is a 224 page autobiographical account of a South Carolina duck hunter, Julius M. Reynolds, Jr. The prose is well written and enjoyable. This book really captures what life is like in South Carolina's lowcountry where, even today, almost everyone hunts and fishes.

Duck hunters should really enjoy this book, but I also believe that a non-hunter or even an anti-hunter will have a better appreciation for the lives of hunters after reading the these accounts.

Sunrise On The Santee: A Memoir Of Waterfowling In South Carolina by Carolinian duck hunter Julius Reynolds is a picturesque, vivid, emotion inspiring testimony of experiencing what nature has to offer. Set in the splendor of South Carolina, and with an especial reverence for the glory of a brand new dawn, Sunrise on the Santee is a hunter's testament about treasuring life, including one's own life, the life of the natural world around one, and the life of the waterfowl hunted and consumed for sustenance. Of special interest are Reynolds commentaries on the future of waterfowling and the challenges future generations of hunters must deal with to save a rapidly vanishing wetlands environment upon which waterfowl migration depends if they are to return to the Santee. Sunrise On The Santee is highly recommended reading for anyone who has ever sought a true communion with nature.

Excellent account and history of one of the greatest bodies of waters in the Carolinas. JM Reynolds takes the reader from the early days of his childhood in the midlands of South Carolina when the great Santee was born up to present day with all the politics and troubles the lakes faces with growth, human encrouchment, and lack of habitat for the Anadidae. It is a down to earth story of one man's life memories upon one of the greatest places to learn the art of waterfowling. Of course, I'm a bit biased as I have also hunted Pine Island Creek "Big Ducks" or the "Bombers" of recent years on Russelville Flats of the "Lower Lake"!

If you've hunted the Santee, this book is a MUST for you but is great reading for any waterfowler or outdoorsman!

What a delight to find this amazing classic back in print, in a reprint
edition with new comments by the authors. This will spare thousands
of food enthusiasts the perennial burden of scouring the used-book
market for copies of it. (I ordered several copies of the reprint at once
for gifts and to have on hand.) People who were following food
writing at the time will recall the stir created by the Hesses' book when
it first appeared in the late 1970s. The book is iconoclastic, even

subversive, in the same sense as Prometheus's gift of fire to mankind.

In this case the gift is not fire but perspective, or a sense of history.
Co-author John Hess was himself a senior and very experienced
food writer and editor, but he has a scholar's dislike of pretentious
misinformation being quoted around until it becomes conventional
wisdom. Karen Hess is a food historian noted elsewhere for her
work on the mysterious "Martha Washington" cookbook.
Their book addresses questions like: How did things like iceberg
lettuce and phony "gourmet" products displace centuries of fine
immigrant and indigenous cooking wisdom in the US? Who helped
to "sell" such changes, only to be celebrated later (Orwellian-style)
for contributions to US cooking? Moreover, it is remarkable to see
how many "innovations" in US cooking since about the time this book
was written consist actually of rediscovery of principles widely known
100 or 200 years ago, as the book documents in detail.

The casual reader should be forgiven for not having heard of all
of this in the general media. Journalism in the US about food (and not
only about food) is lately graced with legions of people blissfully
and confidently unconscious of anything that preceded their own words.
Such people will gush uncritically about food pundits like Craig
Claiborne (distinguished on the basis that the gushing writers
have heard of them) without any real research or perspective.

These writers would not do so if they read the Hesses' book.

From the Hesses', and other, evidence it seems that around the
1950s, "gourmet" became a convenience-food-industry euphemism for
"sucker" in the US. "That flabby midget called Cornish game hen was,
next to chocolate-covered ants, the gourmet racket's funniest joke on a
gullible public. It has no more taste of game than a wad of cotton," say
the Hesses. Such game hens are one of several gimmicks Craig
Claiborne is quoted pushing; canned beef gravy and instant whipped
potatoes are others. Claiborne receives especial attention here,
though James Beard, the Rombauers, Fannie Farmer, even JC Herself,
are not spared. Yet this criticism is constructive, at least for the reader,
with positive counterexamples.

It is an angry, or perhaps indignant, book but an informed one,
meticulous in its documentation of sources. The bibliography by itself is
valuable, sort of an annotated miniature of Katherine Bitting's epic 1939
"Gastronomic Bibliography" (also cited; that book is very expensive
on the used market; I know because I own one; even its 1980s reprint is
expensive and I am told, unlike the original, is printed on acid paper).

After reading this book for the first time in the early 1980s, it changed the way I thought about both choosing what to feast upon and how to prepare it. I always wondered why I hated vegetables as a child. Having read the book, I realized that my mother--loving though she may have been--had cooked vegetables to death by boiling everything until it was soft, tasteless and unappetizing. When I began learning to cook for myself, the beauty of this text came through for me. Now I appreciate vegetables because I prepare them simply and let the flavor come through. I recommend this book to anyone who is a "picky" eater (and even to those who are not). Once you know why you don't like a variety of foods, you may discover that it's not the food you learned detest, but the way Mama cooked it for you!

An impassioned, lively, fascinating look at the American table. The Hess' are knowledgeable, erudite and highly opinionated. Many disagree with their negative view of American eating habits, but it is hard to argue with them on the facts. Read it and think!

This is an excellent book and anyone with an interest in the Viet Nam War should read it. The events of July and August 1964 are thoroughly examined and analyzed step by step. There are interviews with many of the people who were involved in the incident on both sides. It has a good technical discussion of the military equipment(ships and radar/sonar systems) that greatly contributes to an understanding of what happened on those "dark and stormy nights". This is definitely the best book about the Tonkin Gulf incident. The author is a History Professor at Clemson University and I had the priviledge of taking his Vietnam War and Modern Military History courses back in 1993. He told our class that he was writing a book about the Tonkin Gulf incident so it was great to finally read it after all these years.

Sometimes the details that matter aren't captured on videotape and broadcast around the world, like more recent events in the year 2001. What history doesn't have to show what was going on is a picture of how things were set up for this book. "Around noon on August 2, at the White House, President Johnson discussed the American response to the August 2 incident with Secretary Rusk, George Ball, Cyrus Vance, and Tom Hughes of the State Department; General Wheeler; Colonel Ralph Steakley of the Joint Staff; and Winston Cornelius of the CIA. At this meeting the president not only confirmed the decision that sent the Maddox back into the Gulf of Tonkin along with the Turner Joy, he authorized the continuation of OPLAN 34A raids (definitely the one scheduled for the night of August 3-4, and perhaps also those for the night of August 4-5; the procedure of waiting for the results of each raid to be evaluated, before approval of the next was initiated . . . would not have been practiced when there were to be raids on consecutive nights)." (pp. 103-4).

The amount of detail in this book could support a view that secret operations are those things which are not revealed in order to create the greatest spin in the direction of the psychological warfare advantage desired by whoever is keeping the secrets. To get a full appreciation of the kind of restraint which the American government displayed in this incident, the whole picture should be compared to how well the participants in World War II responded to the order given by the president in August, 1945 (a mere 19 years before the Tonkin incident) not to drop any more atomic bombs on people whose government exhibited any hostility toward military activities directed by the United States of America. President Truman's order was followed by massive conventional bombing, much as the history of American bombing in Vietnam shows how long a superpower can maintain a campaign of destruction against anyone who knows the truth about something which is supposed to be secret. This book shows great deference to the feelings of the anonymous secret operations experts who would never say anything that wasn't in the best interests of the powers that be. "Escalation" is an understatement for the overt actions taken against North Vietnam in August, 1964. Adopting a bombing routine as a conditioned response to false accusations in anticipation of making the bombing a regular routine, in the absence of any debate on why things happened as they did, was the real policy. Even now, most people who ought to know better are pretending that a lot of things revealed in this book are still secret. What people don't believe now is the preamble to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which stated that the United States was going to be maintaining peace there, where it had no territoreal, military, or political ambitions. My ambition was to get the Combat Infantryman's Badge without getting killed, so I could be the CIB who failed to agree with whoever thought this ought to be. Check the facts in this book for a truly tortured bit of not being able to see a forest because the treehouse doesn't have any windows, and the trap door in the floor is closed.

This excellent book demonstrates that the Gulf of Tonkin "incident" was not really an incident at all. It explains in detail the events that lead up to the Gulf of Tonkin resolution and the escaltion of the war that followed. My only complaint is that the author says that the Gulf of Tonkin incident was based on a "misunderstanding" and not "knowingly faked." Even if that is true, the fact remains that it was used as a convenient excuse to escelate war. In addition, the fact that there was no effort on the part of the government to determine the facts behind the Tonkin incident demonstrates that the government wanted war, and were just looking for the right excuse.

Everything arrived in perfect order

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese has produced a very scholarly and enlightening examination of women of the old South. In vivid detailed with painstaking research, she presents the daily lives of women, black and white, within the plantation household. Though written from an academic perspective, the author has succeeded in presenting her research in an entertaining and even captivating narrative style. For those looking for the behind the scenes lifestyle of unknown women of the South, this is the one book of choice.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of "Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction." He has also authored "Soul Physicians," "Spiritual Friends," and the forthcoming "Sacred Friendships: Listening to the Voices of Women Soul Care-Givers and Spiritual Directors."

This is an impressive and large-scale achievement. I would have appreciated more acknowledgment of the role that white male eurocentric paradigms played (and continue to play) in the south and oppresion of Women of Color. Overall, a good starting place.

This play does exactly what Aristotle suggested a play such do, cause the reader or viewer to experience catharsis. It is so visceral and penetrating. I was enlightened, disturbed, and in awe of Ms. Orldandersmith's poetic genius. This play is simply amazing, because it offers truth in such a creative,compelling way. It will enter the canon of great American plays.

It's such a wonderful experience when you read a book, listen to a CD, view a film or attend a play, and you just know that you are privy to something that can, and usually will, change your life. "Yellowman" is a work on that level; a work of staggering truth and honesty.

Dael Orlandersmith-both as a writer and an actress-is among the best of her generation. This play was produced all too briefly at MTC in New York, but for those who didn't get to see it, please read the text. You will not be dissapointed.

This is probably the best play in the last 5 years.

I saw this play with Dael Orlandersmith and Howard Overshawn at The Wilma Theatre in Philadelphia in 2002; and nearly 2 years later I bought and read the play because I still think about it so often. Everything I might say about it is insufficient, if you are inclined and have the opportunity - read it, see it, you'll never forget the experience. "Yellowman" is just magnificent.