North Carolina Books

In Environmental Inequalities, Andrew Hurley traces the dynamics of environmental degradation as experienced by three distinct sectors of society in Gary, Indiana, from 1945 to 1980. Hurley devotes a chapter to each of the particular demographics of three social classes affected by industrial pollution and expansion: white, middle class suburban families, working class whites, largely comprised of ethnic minorities including Serbians, Greeks, Russians, Romanians, Bulgarians, Croatians and Poles among others, and finally a large African-American population (over 35,000 African-American between 1920 and 1950) that migrated from the south in search of employment and improved prospects. Each group was affected by industrial waste in a different, though related, way and each took a unique approach to ameliorating problems specific to its particular group.
White middle class activism was largely led by well-educated stay-at-home moms whose primarily concern was preserving their quality of life. Their primary target was containing the spread of industry to their east side neighborhood (Miller) and preventing the spoilage of surrounding natural areas. They focused on extensive research, political lobbying and events (such as picnics) and personal contacts to meet their goals.
White working class families tended to stay close to ethnic neighborhoods and churches which meant that they continued to live in areas heavily affected by air and water pollution. Although the union (specifically the U.S. Steelworkers union) was an important protector of their wages, benefits and job safety and security, the union was not as interested in protecting their environmental conditions, particularly when that protection involved a perceived threat to the industry. Eventually church and worker leadership separate from the union ("labor movement radicals") organized around "ethnic power" in reaction to the civil rights movement to address issues "of immediate concern, ranging from garbage collection to taxes" (p. 105). Unlike, the white middle class population, workers' efforts were tempered by the concern over keeping their jobs.
African-Americans, after decades of employment in the most dangerous and low-paying sectors of U.S. Steel's factory, finally were able to rally around an African-American candidate for mayor, Richard Hatcher, who was able to make some gains notably in the area of housing by securing a $13 million federal grant. Though pollution was not at the top of Hatcher's priorities, over his 20 year tenure as mayor, he eventually became an important component of the coalition that addressed the appalling conditions, both for workers and residents, around the coke plant.
A particularly remarkable effort documented by Hurley, is the concerted effort involving all three of the demographic groups discussed in his book. In 1970, these groups were able to find a common ground of concern and combine their efforts to force U.S. Steel to rebuild coke oven doors and to decrease emissions through improved maintenance and by observing longer coking periods. This was significant not only because the groups worked together but also because for probably the first time, citizens did not defer to what U.S. Steel told them was technically feasible but demanded improvements based on their own research. The unique circumstances that led to this victory included the strength and visibility of the national environmental movement led by Ralph Nadar, a healthy economy (and job stability for working class whites and blacks), and greater interest at the national level as evidenced by increased funding for federal water and air pollution control agencies.
A well-written analysis and important slice of environmental history in the U.S. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the effects of pollution as experienced by different groups of people.

For anyone who is interested in the impact of outside social influences on the way writers write, this is a must read. This book is thoughtful, provocative, and interesting, with enough scholarly insight for the expert and lively and engaging commentary for the lay reader.

My mother gave the book to me as a gift as it is about my hometown of Granite Falls, North Carolina. The book presents a lot of early history of the town, much of it I didn't know about when I lived there. There are a lot of interesting tidbits about a lot of the families there, past and present. It is written in the style of most Heritage books. If you have ancestors from this town, it would be very helpful with genealogy research.

I 'found' this book while browsing in the public library, waiting for my kids as they participated in the summer reading program. Living in NC, the subtitle, 'A Novel of Passion and Mystery in the Blue Ridge' caught my eye. This was a great book. Too bad it's not easy to find as you don't have to live in NC to appreciate and enjoy it. EVE'S MOUNTAIN is about a mountain owned by a wealthy businessman who has promised to keep the place as is, in memory of his wife who went missing there one summer many years before. Now the owner is there trying to recover from a stroke, bringing family members and others who all seem to be trying to escape from something. The mystery of Eve's Mountain eventually involves them all, for better or for worse. Once I got into who was who and what was what, this is one I couldn't put down.

I ordered this book because I know the author, and knew that it would be helpful for churches who are seeking to become open to persons regardless of their sexual orientation. To be frank I have not yet read the book, but knowing the author and his experience with the subject, I am sure it will be very useful.

When my colleagues and I planned the conference upon which this book was based, we wanted to make sure we would come to understand why Hurricane Floyd wreaked such devastation upon Eastern North Carolina in September of 1999 so we could better inform the public as to the causes and remedies. What we found was that many of the disastrous consequences could have been avoided. A series of freakish natural events, combined with thousands of political and individual property development decisions over a 50 year period, converted Eastern NC into a giant bathtub with many of its key drains clogged. Some have described the flooding that occured as "Biblical" in nature. And it can happen again unless community leaders show the courage to make the necessary modest and reasonable changes to their respective communities. This is a book from which scientists, politicians, agency personnel and the general public all can benefit. It is based on research in the physical, environmental, and social sciences as well as "on the ground" experiences. All net proceeds go to projects for improving our understanding of the impacts of hurricanes.

Cabarrus County in south central North Carolina was formed in 1792 from Mecklenburg County and is today situated between Mecklenburg and Rowan counties. Mrs. Marler's new work on Cabarrus County is the first effort we know of to systematically present information on all families in that county from its inception until the end of the War of 1812. The author extracted her findings from the 1790 Mecklenburg County census, the 1800 Cabarrus census, court records, Mecklenburg county deed records, marriage records, wills, and newspaper obituaries. She has arranged the families alphabetically according to the surname of the head of each household, incorporating all available data and its source in an outline format. Whenever possible, Mrs. Marler embellishes the limited content from these early censuses with information such as the name(s) of neighboring families, persons who bought/sold land to the principal householder, details of a marriage, and so forth. In all, the volume identifies 2,000 early families in Cabarrus County and perhaps five times as many persons overall. Can there be any doubt that Families of Cabarrus County, North Carolina must be reckoned as the new starting point for research in this early North Carolina county?

Are cooperatives for farmers like labor unions? Are they like corporate monopolies? Are they another sort of entity? These questions were directly relevant for the raisin growers of California in the early 1900's and for the federal government. Saker Woeste provides detailed analysis of legislation and federal court decisions about the thorny status of the cooperatives--a debate in which the involved parties were creating their own precedents.

Saker Woeste's book has a liveliness beyond what the legal topic might lead us to think. Mixed with these discussions of the law are colorful episodes that few of us outside California realized before. The book features violent night riders, tales of ethnic pressures and prejudices (especially regarding the Armenian- American community), eccentricity and idealism in the characters of the Cooperative's leaders, and the marketing story of how Sun-Maid got lots of Americans to gobble their raisins.

So the book features lots of law with lots of social history, marketing, even violence. And a wealth of pictures helps the reading. Especially interesting are the early Sun-Maid advertisements. Fans of the histories of California, of agriculture, or of American law would enjoy the book.

For Easterners, good comparison/contrasts are studies of Kentucky's Black Patch War--Night Riders among the tobacco farmers.

Excellent book with lots of good information. I highly recommend this book if you're heading to see the beauty of Western NC! And if you're not, why not?! It's beautiful!

This is a well-researched work that's easy to recommend. Doyle is an excellent historian who is well-versed in Faulkner.
The combination makes this fine book both an interesting history of Faulkner's native "postage stamp of soil" and an excellent introduction to Faulkner's world. It also provides a wonderful example of what a historian actually does (although not without some cautions along the way).