North Carolina Books

A great read for anyone with Burke county or Western Nc ties, some history along with some entertaining stories. a great gft for anyone with Morganton or burke county connections.

Here is a good example of a book which is the only one to cover a Civil War Campaign. I tend to recommend these every time, regardless of quality. With that said, Sauers' book is of very high quality. The maps are good, and Sauers fully covers the Burnside expedition to North Carolina in 1862. The author has an extensive bibliography, citing and using many sources to give the reader excellent coverage of the Campaign. 542 pp., 10 maps

Glenn Eskew has detailed the history of the civil rights movement in Birmingham from 1945 to almost the current time. His account is a detailed view of the struggle within the African-American community to find a way to confront segregation that was regnant in Birmingham. He has told a story riveting in its details and close observations. I lived through the period covered as a white liberal in a city undergoing enormous change. I knew many of the players who stride across these pages--Fred Shutttlesworth, Eugene T. "Bull" Connor, Abraham Woods, C. Herbert Oliver,Police Chief E.H. Brown Lucius Pitts, James A. Head, David Vann, Erskine Smith,James Bevels, Tommy Wrenn, Meatball Dothard, John and Addine Drew,Tom King,James Mills,and James A. Simpson. Culiminating in the 1963 marches lead by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Martin Luther King, Jr., Eskew shows the interaction of the local civil rights movement impacted by a national movement. Before King ever came to Birmingham the struggle for civil rights was carried on by local people who deserve to be valorized. Eskew does not do this. His careful and balanced interpretations make this history at its best. If you want to know how a city becomes captive to an ideology (segregation of the races) in a way that permeates all of social, political, educational and cultural life it is revealed here. You will see how dissenters are rejected and punished. You will see how newspapers, churches, pastors, businessmen--indeed every segment of society--is made to bow down to the God of Segregation. Eskew is all balance and historical objectivity. I fault his account in only one way, which is subject to argument and interpretation. He misses the fact that "vigilante activity," the blowing up of houses, the beating of rebels against segregation, and the general terror that held segregation in place was "governmentally sponsored." The Klansmen who bombed, whipped, cut, tortured and attacked were protected by the police and approved in the community generally. This is a fine study and a wonderful corrective for a generation who think that Martin Luther King was the civil rights movement. It was an indigeous protest movement and different in every community in the South. Eskew tells Birmingham's bloody story, in a fine prose and sense of drama, that brings that old struggle to life.--W. Edward Harris

Currituck County (originally Currituck Precinct) was created from Albemarle County in 1681. Currituck County was a parent county, in part, of Dare and Tyrrell counties. For this book, Mr. Brayton has abstracted the earliest extant deeds for Currituck, complete with metes and bounds. The data found in these abstracts are of great genealogical importance because the deeds are replete with information concerning former owners, relationships between grantee and grantor, and other family connections. Worthy of special mention are Brayton's abstracts from unnumbered Deed Book 1, which has not been indexed to the grantor-grantee index at the Currituck Courthouse, and the author's success in reconciling conflicting versions of Deed Book 2.

Spanning the period 1696-1773, this book won the year 2000 award for Excellence in Publishing from the North Carolina Genealogical Society.

Dr. Ausband's elegant, easy, affable writing style (threaded with humor and just a hint of the bawdy) mirrors that of his subject, and reading this book is very much like listening in on a conversation between two men sharing their thoughts, observations, and tall tales about their adventures in a land they both love, while warming their hands around a steaming mug of coffee before an autumn campfire. The fact that they are separated by three centuries of "progress" is no barrier to their camaraderie, and because the book is so well written, the reader becomes a member of Byrd's expedition team, too, as Ausband does---without having to clean the mud off his or her boots, or cut through the brush in the Dismal Swamp. Almost incidentally, he or she also gets an education in botany, ornithology, and zoology along the imaginary line that separates Virginia from North Carolina, the descriptions of the animals, plants, and people Byrd encountered (and Ausband revisits) as colorful as the Carolina parakeet that once overran the area--and nowhere to be found is the cloying smell of leather elbow patches and tweed the one might expect such a book to exude.

It's a skillful piece of work, written by a master storyteller, and will be of interest to anyone who is a student of Byrd of Westover, a resident of the geographic area, a fisherman or hunter or hiker, or a bibliophile unable to resist the lure of an exceptionally well-wrought book.

Who was Christian Frederick Martin? By the time you finish reading "C.F. Martin and His Guitars 1976-1873," you'll have a keen appreciation of and better understanding about the German immigrant, cabinetmaker's son, craftsman, entrepreneur, and guitar maker. Because C. F. Martin left virtually no personal writings, you may not learn much about his personal life, but you will be presented with a fascinating view of American business during the first half of the 19th century.

Philip Gura, historian and Professor of English and American Studies at the University of North Carolina, has a lot of zeal for the history and culture of America's music industry. Gura's interest in the subject was explored in his 1999 award-winning book, "America's Instrument: The Banjo in the Nineteenth Century." Since then, Dr. Gura spent over a year reading and digesting Martin's letters, account books, inventories, and other unique archival documents that had not been previously examined in any thorough manner. Gura sets the stage by explaining the importance of music to antebellum Americans, along with the concomitant public infatuation ("guitarmania") with the guitar and guitarists. Early photographic processes documented the instrument and its players, and this book portrays many excellent illustrations of how Americans embraced the guitar. In fact, the book has 175 illustrations, many in color. Before the mid-1830s, there were few guitar makers in the U.S., and none had contributed significantly to the instrument's development. This changed when 37-year-old C.F. Martin arrived in New York in 1833 to find his opportunity under a free market system without restrictions.

Martin had learned the trade, in the European guild system, by studying for 14 years with Austrian guitar maker, Johann Georg Stauffer. During the 1830s in New York, Martin was a craftsman, importer, repairman, and merchant. It's interesting to read about the custom instruments he built, his business dealings, the kinds of items he stocked, his sources of income, and his expenses. Some of his employees and business acquaintances are also profiled. Martin was an astute and successful businessman, and he moved to Nazareth, Pennsylvania in 1839 to concentrate solely on guitar making. Unfortunately, his first decade in Pennsylvania is not well documented, but author Gura was able to find accounting journals and business letters from about 1850 on. There are interesting anecdotes about such characters as Ossian Dodge and Martin's guitar displayed at the Crystal Palace Exhibition which opened in 1853.

Gura writes about Martin's standardization of his instruments and how the guitar maker adapted to economic conditions and industrialization. By the late 1840s, for example, a steam engine ran Martin's equipment for sawing and shaping lumber. I found it fascinating to read about Martin's emphasis on quality hand craftsmanship and business independence, while other makers (like James Ashborn and William B. Tilton) used other approaches. Another well-researched chapter in Martin's history is the importance of C.A. Zoebisch & Sons, who eventually became Martin's wholesaler for his guitars. The author points out that some unscrupulous people even attempted to build forgeries of Martin's guitars during his lifetime. By the time of his death in 1873, C.F. Martin had built an excellent reputation as a master, and the company continued to successfully thrive under the direction of Martin's son. Today, the company still produces some of the best guitars in the world....under the able direction and oversight of C.F. Martin IV.

There are other fine books that deal with the guitars themselves. Philip Gura, however, has successfully painted an insightful portrait of C.F. Martin, a man with vision and keen business acumen. If only more of Martin's personal letters survived, we would've been given a very unique glimpse at that side of the expert craftsman. There is little offered about his family, pets, hobbies, interests and beliefs. While some biographical information is presented, this book's central theme is a historical one about music business and culture in 19th Century America, as illustrated by one seminal man's involvement in it. Philip Gura's charming book is well-researched, thoughtfully written, beautifully illustrated, and professionally executed.
There is still considerable mystique about C.F. Martin, his instruments and the company he built, but this historical perspective captures the American spirit of this legendary merchant and artisan. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)

In 1934, in the piedmont area of North Carolina, Cammie is turning ten. Looking forward to celebrating her first decade of living, she asks her parents for a hotdog roasting party. The whole family shows up, complete with both sets of Cammie's grandparents, her aunts, uncles and cousin Ben and her best friend Jessica. But the party isn't the focal point of the book. Growing up in the depression, crafting playthings, inventing games, and even being a bunny in the school play are all part of Cammie's life.

Cammie's stories are told in a friendly, easygoing way, which will be a joy to children to read. Every chapter shows this spunky, kind-hearted girl being creative and caring and enjoying life. From taking care of her little brother by playing every game she can think of to being the game master at her family's reunion, it is clear that Cammie knows how to entertain herself and others.

It is a simpler life than today's children are used to and the stories bring an air of innocence to the reader from those days gone by. Elizabeth McMahan has once again carried me back in time to more close-knit families, honest hard work, putting up stores for winter and the enjoyment of a hayride. "Cammie Turns Ten" stands alone, or could be read as the first, second or third in the Cammie series. In any event, readers aged 9 -12 will adore the books and if parents are allowed to share them it will bring back memories of their own childhood.

Review by Heather Froeschl of BookReview.com

Colorfully depicting a year in the life of a country girl growing up in the 1930's, Cammie: A Girl For All Seasons is a delightful read for all ages. There is something special about growing up on a farm and reading about 10 year old Cammie's adventures is something special in itself.

Follow Cammie through a year of ups and downs, trials and triumphs, smiles and sighs. Her life is full of lessons including being mindful of chicken hawks, bullies dressed as hobos and the dangers of hay forks. There are joyful stories of babysitting moments, adventures in the woods, and bug zoo success. Lessons are shared in making friends with roosters, being a friend to those in need and having a friendly day spent with a city cousin.

The bond of family is clearly demonstrated through out the book and seemingly simple country values are shared and exhibited. Parents will enjoy the positive role model that Cammie is and readers ages 9 and up will love the stories of a simpler time and place and a girl that they can relate to.

The author is gifted in descriptive writing and brings the world of a southern rural community to life. Look for more from Elizabeth A. McMahan in the future.

Review by Heather Froeschl of BookReview.com

Cape Hatteras: America's Lighthouse is a treasure to all of us who love what is arguably the most famous lighthouse in the world. The authors should be commended for writing not only a fascinating look into the past and future of this great beacon, but also a damn fine tale of passion, perseverance, intrigue, romance, grand schemes, utter calamities, and vast heroism.

This is an important bit of American history but it is not a dry text. This book is a real page-turner, one that will illuminate your mind as surely as the Hatteras lighthouse on a frightening, dark sea. Like the mariners which once depended on the light to skirt a dangerous coast, after you finish reading this book, you will be grateful for the experience.

Author James Brooks has turned out a fascinating book about slavery among American Indians and the Spanish colonists of New Mexico. We see through his eyes the cultural synthesis in New Mexico that took place over a period of three centuries among Indian tribes and Spanish colonists.

Slavery worked in many ways in the borderlands. The Indians vied among themselves for captives that could be traded among themselves, put to work, or adopted into the tribe. Spanish captured Indians and made of them family members, slaves, or soldiers. Indians captured Spaniards with the same aim. The result was an ethnic stew.

What makes this book much better than the average scholarly endeavor is Brook's use of primary sources to come up with precise information and fascinating stories of individuals impacted by slavery. For example, we often hear authors talk in generalities about the Comanches as a warlike, raiding nation. Brooks quantifies their impact. He tells us that from 1771 to 1776 that Indians, mainly Comanches, killed 1,674 people in Mexico and stole 68,256 head of livestock. That gives us a vivid picture of the scope and scale of Comanche depredations and a reason to believe that the terror they inspired was not exaggerated. (He also includes extensive footnotes so one could check the sources of his information.)

Moreover, Brooks tells us about the fate of individuals swept up in Comanche raids. One Mexican boy, for example, was captured by the Comanches when he was eight, enslaved, and then sold to the Wichita when he was twenty. He then became an employee of the Spanish to deal with Indians on their borders and when last seen by history had amicably rejoined his Comanche enslavers and was enroute to New Mexico to visit his parents from whom he had been stolen twenty years before. Another woman abducted by Comanches in New Mexico ended up as a French matron in St. Louis. The ethnic stew boils and bubbles.

Brooks also looks at the internal New Mexican society and the relations among its social classes, including slaves, descendants of slaves, Christianized Indians, mestizos, and Spanish grandees. He examines slavery among the Navajo and describes their pastoral economy, as well as that developed by the New Mexicans. Along the way he looks into tidbits of Pawnee religious ceremonies, Kiowa society, the Ute and Apache, and the epidemics of European diseases that brought the high-flying Comanches down to earth.

Brooks concludes his book with a look at the coming of the Americans to New Mexico in the nineteenth century, the society they found, and their impact. He tells briefly a story about an American woman who, in 1909, found that she had inherited 32 Ute slaves -- perhaps the last slaves in the United States.

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