North Carolina Books

I love this book about my many times great grandfather. It is very well written (although deep) and tells the story of one who is never really appreciated outside of CT (and Dorcester, MA)

When I first learned a few months ago that a biography of Lucy Holcombe Pickens was going to be published I anxiously awaited its publication. I was not disappointed. This is a first class biography of a significant person in the history of the Confederacy that has been overlooked too long. Several years ago I wanted to learn more about this interesting lady; but I found the sources about her few and far between. She does not have her own separate entry in the Encyclopedia of the Confederacy. She is only passingly mentioned in John B. Edmonds, Jr.'s book "Francis W. Pickens and the Politics of Destruction" published in 1986 and this is only because she was Picken's third wife. I could not find much information about her life after Pickens death. He died in 1869 and Lucy lived until 1899. So what happended to Lucy from 1869-1899? This beautiful biography fills in the blanks and Elizabeth Wittenmyer Lewis deserves our thanks for writing it. It is carefully researched and well written. The photographs show Lucy in her later years as well as her younger years when she enjoyed the reputation as the most beautiful woman in the Confederacy. This book is a true treasure and one that I would put on the same level with Elizabeth Muhlenfeld's biography of Mary Boykin Chesnut first published in 1981. A superb work and a significant contribution to the history of Confederate women.

This book is a must have. It gave excellent information about doctors in my state. The information was clear and concise, telling what, when and why the doctors where disciplined and if it was by a state or federal agencies. This book gives consumers the basis to make better decisions when choosing a doctor by knowing if they have ever been disciplined and why.

although this is not a huge book, it contains a wonderful collection of late 18th through 19th century bdecoverings, from woven to embroidered to quilted. the examples are generally beautiful as well as historically interesting.

the introduction is brief but informative, defining the various terms used for bedcovers over time and including fascinating evidence of the value owners put on their textiles. there are also short biographies for the makers of some of the bedcovers, and even portraits in whatever medium was contemporary. also included are a few photos of textile tools, some handwritten weavers' draughts (and cloth woven from them), and a handwritten notebook for embroidery stitches.

the only drawback for me is the book's brevity--i wanted more, more history and biography, and details of the bedcovers, more of the collection.

quilters, weavers, those interested in textile and social history will find this book informative, enjoyable and inspiring.

I gave this present to my aunt and uncle for Christmas as they have recently purchased new bikes and begun riding trails in our area. They have planned a trip to Florida next month and told me this book has been a great source of information in planning their trip. They really enjoyed this gift.

In 1934, in North Carolina, on a sorghum cane farm, ten-year-old Cammie learns what it really takes to be a member of a farm family. Nothing could be better and the air couldn't be sweeter than it is filled with the aroma of boiling molasses.

Through nearly a year of honest hard work, Cammie learns the ropes of raising cane, and in the process, so does the reader. In the early spring days, Cammie's dad readies the fields and Cammie finds a perfect quartz arrowhead. In a classic childhood fantasy tale, she and her cousin Ben create a buried treasure, complete with map. In the process they dig up an even greater treasure: an Indian axe head. Cammie and Ben help her father to thin the long rows of tiny plants and earn a good bit of money. Cammie opens a bank account for the first time and later uses some of her own money to put herself through 4-H camp.

All through the year Cammie learns the different jobs required on the farm and becomes a reliable family partner. This demonstrates the tight knit relationship that farming communities had and shows how families who farmed together really relied on each other. It makes the reader nostalgic for such opportunities.

The stories woven into the book are full of family times and strong characters. Children will love reading about Cammie's adventures and parents will enjoy the wholesomeness of the tales. In a plot that grows as the cane does, the reader will feel a satisfaction when the cycle is complete. Look for more from Elizabeth A. McMahan and young Cammie.

(...)

This is a romantic historical novel about hero Adam Rutlege's growth from a North Carolina planter actively disinterested in entering politics in the mid-1760's to a devoted participant in the American Revolutionary cause who both loves his native North Carolina and loves the new country as a whole, as well as some of the western lands it will someday include. This is also a love story about Adam Rutledge and his neighbor, Mary Warden, who keeps her love secret from most people, as Adam keeps it secret for a long time even from himself, because of Adam's loyalty to his invalid wife and Mary's to the much older husband she married--apparently in name only--before meeting Adam. Adam and Mary's story, the early subplot involvign the Regulator movement that draws Adam into politics by giving him a specific group of people's problems to care about (a group that Fletcher deals with in _The Wind in the Forest_, where Adam and Mary make appearances), and the author's careful attention to details that appeal to the reader's senses, all kept me reading long stretches of this novel, sometimes when I knew that I should be reading other things for my college classes; it was only with difficulty that I made myself postpone reading the second half until catching up on class reading. I have since reread _Raleigh's Eden_ and again enjoyed it.

Everything you wanted to know about rape in early America but were afraid to ask. Where did the colonists draw the line between consensual and coerced sex? Where did they draw the line between coerced sex and the crime of rape? In answering these questions, Sharon Block shows how race and class determined the power that men had to avoid prosecution, and the power that women had to seek protection. She knows that study of the legal records is necessary but not sufficient, so she explores how early Americans wrote about rape in diaries, fiction, political propaganda, travel writing, and humor. In short: a brilliant book.

Melendez's research in this fascinating book highlights the dinamic nature of cultural identity construction of the colonial subject and explores the elements of race and gender as components of the author's own colonial agenda (15). The first chapter of the book provides an overview of the book's contents and a detailed look at Carrio de la Vandera's life. The second examines the author's view of the indigenous peoples' otherness, which Melendez argues, is exploited by a discourse that underlines the indians' sexual deviance and lack of language mastery. The third chapter focuses on the author's assessment of the "sistema de correos" between Buenos Aires and Peru and how that assessment is overshadowed by a critique (and subsequent reformatory proposal) of the indigenous people observed during the journey. The fourth chapter focuses on the social and cultural anxiety caused by the African slaves and how the author attempts to eliminate social uneasiness through linguistic maneuvers that underline their inferior nature. The final chapter is devoted to the narrators' view of colonial women as social disruptors (threats to colonial order). I found myself reading the entire book over a period of four days. I recommend it to any reader who is interested in literature of the Spanish-American Colonial period. Footnote: Mariselle Melendez was a professor of mine at Purdue University several years ago, and every publication of hers that I have read has been outstanding.

This book offers the reader an evaluation of the early years of football and the press' role in popularizing football for the American consumer. A must-read for anyone who loves football.