South Carolina Books

After visiting Charleston and meeting this wonderful, talented gentleman, I bought the book to learn more about him. It is well written and describes beautifully the wrought iron gates that he designed and built in this lovely city. If you've seen any of his work either in Charleston or the Smithsonian Museum, this book will add to your knowledge of this very talented African American, now 95 years old.

John Vlach gives us an interesting biographical study of Philip Simmons' blacksmithing in this richly illustrated book. The book begins with Simmons' accounts of his early life in the Sea Islands off Charleston's coast. He then describes how Simmons' life changed when he discovered the love of his life: blacksmithing. Vlach and Simmons provide enough context to show how he began learning the art. The book then gives us a portfolio of Simmons' work, with a special focus on the elaborate gates that epitomize much of his artistry. These photos were selected by Simmons, and Vlach provides fine commentary on each illustration. This commentary gives readers a better understanding of blacksmithing, and it trains the eye to examine this type of ironwork, thereby enhancing one's appreciation for Simmons' skill. One of my favorite chapters is a vibrant presentation of Simmons' work with apprentices. He describes interactions between Simmons and Willie Williams to provide a vivid depiction of the folklife of a blacksmith shop. This chapter reveals the passion that both artists feel for their work. The book's final chapters show how Simmons has been honored for his work, and they provide a fine tribute to his many accomplishments and his inspiring artistic vision.

I am sorry, but I never read the book, but I purchased it as a gift for friend. However I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Simmons on a tour of Charleston, South Carolina in 1998. He is an incredibly lively person who is full of humor and has countless stories to share. I remember one in particular, when he spoke of his years as a boy when there were only horse & carriages for transportation. Then he said the age of the automobile came to be and folks would stop whatever they were doing to watch in awe as the automobile went by. Then he chuckled quietly as he descibed the same behavior today when a horse & carriage goes clamoring through town. There are no words to describe the artistic craftmanship of Mr. Simmons iron works, you simply have to see for yourself. As for Mr. Simmons, he is a proud yet humble man about his craft, his works and his life, you should meet him for yourself.

a stirring and engaging account of a man whose life spans almost the whole century, who grew up in a fascinating environment, regularly crossing between worlds while he served an apprenticeship, and went on to cross between other worlds, a folk artist who is regarded by the art world as a peerless sculptor, whose work is exhibited in museums. THis is a great study by a preeminent folklorist that will interest anyone.

I have long admired the late James Kilgo as a master of the essay. But this remarkable debut novel seems to be the capstone of his esteemed career. I read it with mounting interest, completely absorbed by his description and characterization, and, yes, wondering how anyone can write a novel as good as this one. Someone has said no one--not even the great William Faulkner--could have handled this material better. I could not agree more. The great difference, I might add, is the immensely readable--some have called it "antique"-- prose that Kilgo offers us, rather than a tangle of syntax in sentences that go on forever. I absolutely loved this novel and I so greatly lament the fact that Mr. Kilgo did not live to give us more. But we are fortunate that he gave us his elegant essays and this magnificent novel before his death. Surely anyone hoping to understand the shaky beginnings of the New South in the early twentieth century will long cherish this novel as one of the very best pieces of writing to depict that time and place from the pen of any Southern writer bar none. Surely this novel will take its place among those works of literature that are destined to endure.

James Kilgro's electifing southern antique story, of a house
maid's intensifing relatioship with her white cousin in 1918.
It tells us that they suffered socially as well as privately
in the quest to explore love and intimacy in a era when it
was forbidden. Moving away to escape the discust and terroism
of the community only to find that when she returns married,
the affair would only emerge to confront them both and their
families of both races. It's hard to put down!

Jim Kilgo did well with his poetry, but this novel surpasses all that he has done before. The vividly descriptive prose brings the story to life and evokes images that only someone totally familiar with the landscape and the people could manage. Readers are transported to that distant time when the memories of a brutal war were still fresh on the minds of many Southerners. A time when all the roads were filled with chokeing dust in dry weather, and life sucking mud in wet weather. The intense conflict between whites and blacks is eloquently portrayed by Kilgo, and the reader is forced to feel the anguish of a man torn between his duty to kith an kin, and the feelings of his heart. Bravo to Kilgo for tackling this difficult subject, but even more accolades are deserved for the eloquent way that it was done.

This is a gorgeously told story about possibly real people - simple people whose only complexity is their love, which defies properness. Kilgo's setting is so rich (and dear to me because it is my home and the home of "my people") I can actually see the shabbiness of the postwar southern landscape, and feel the invincible pride of the otherwise defeated southerners. Call me a sap, but I swooned over Hart's "poor man's Shakespeare" description of Jennie on page 159, and clutched my heart (and my Kleenex) when he said it was an honor to die for the woman he loved. This is a simple sweet tale, and was a complete joy to read. I suspect this book will be a great hit with southern women - we don't see many heroes like Hart Bonner around here anymore.

This is a really cute book for anyone who loves a Boykin Spaniel.

This is a great book to share with your children and adult friends who are boykin enthusiasts. It tells of the history of the boykin spaniel in South carolina. My family has always loved boykin spaniels and had them around their houses but none of us knew the exact story of how they came to be. The Story of Dumpy and Singo is definitely worth purchasing and reading. It also makes a great gift for family and friends. It is lighthearted and well written and gives a true depiction of why we Boykin lovers adore these dogs so much.

What a welcome book for those of us who love Boykin Spaniels. To learn the history of this wonderful and loving dog is something we can pass on to our family and friends. The illustrations are great and help to bring this story of Dumpy and Singo alive to our children. I knew that the Boykin Spaniel was bred in South Carolina but had never heard the story of how it all got started or that Gov. Riley made it the "Official Dog" of S.C. Thanks to Mr. Kelley I now know "the rest of the story".

We have owned several Boykins and I have read several books about them. The other books mentioned their beginnings, but until I read this book, I wasn't sure how true the rumors were. It's a wonderful book for adults and children. Great for someone thinking about getting a Boykin. They are exactly as described in the book. I call them my forever dogs, because once you own one, you'll remember them forever.

If you are interested in the hurricane history of any special state or region, this is probably the finest work of its kind written to date. Following a superb introduction to our subject, the author describes every significant or noteworthy storm to hit Florida since the 1700's. Each entry includes a map showing the storm's track through the state. We learn of the unique impact each had on the sunshine state. Some hurricanes, of course, like Agnes, had major impacts outside of Florida, and Barnes writes of these as well. Looking through these pages also shows us the cyclical nature of storms. In some years disaster hit several times, while other periods (like the 70's), saw little activity of any kind.

I found this edition to be much better than the author's NC one, if for no other reason than Florida's more active history! While some hurricanes listed in the other book may be of interest mostly to locals, the ones here, like the Labor Day and Miami storm, are truly important historically. I would hope Barnes is writing on the hurricane history of other states as well.

My earliest memory was Hurricane Donna, and I have been intrigued by hurricanes ever since. This book offers a considerable amount of historical data along with fascinating accounts. Highly recommended to anybody who would like to learn more about the history of hurricanes in Florida.

Great photos, and all the detail you could ever want on Florida hurricanes. The survival stories are frightening! All the weather data is there. It's a great resource for us hurricane junkies!

What a great book. We've enjoyed the stories of the memorable storms like Donna, Andrew, and Opal and the effect theyve had on generations of Florida residents. The 1926 Miami and 1928 Okeechobee are well covered. Also very interesting reading on those storms we've never heard of. The photographs are stunning-and frightening. Its organized well, and the reading is not too technical. It stays on our coffee table.

These are rare, beautiful poems. Her images breathtaking. I love this book.

Octavio Paz said once that to read a poem is to let "words enter through our ears, appear before our eyes, disappear in contemplation." This is what Marissa de los Santos offered us. And in its various incarnations. In her poems, the writer also allows the words to enter our eyes, appear in contemplation and to never disappear from within.

What a lovely, beautifully written book. . . a real joy.

Lightness and grace permeate the words in this book. Throughout, the reader can sense a warm heart and compassionate eye. A joy to read for observations on family, on history, on nostalgia, on desire...the poems create a beautiful presence and experience for the attentive reader. I thank the poet for her words.

_The Girl Who Ate Chicken Feet_is a collection of touching "coming of age" stories. Set in the south in the turbulent sixties, it paints a realistic picture of how one young girl gradually becomes aware of the world outside her own. Wonderful characters, lovingly drawn.

I fell in love with Sissy from the very first moment she prissed across the page. Her escapades with Deloris take me back to the days of my childhood and the relationships I formed with my own cousins.

Ms. Richardson portrays life in the rural South during the fifties with accuracy and charm, and has given her characters voices that are hauntingly authentic.

This book is a delightful read for children and adults as well.

THIS BOOK CAN BE READ BY ALL AGE GROUPS. THE CHARACTERS ARE VERY TRUE TO LIFE IN THEIR EVERYDAY ROLES. FOR ANY ONE WHO HAS SPENT TIME IN THE COUNTRY, ESPECIALLY DOWN SOUTH, THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU. I'M WAITING FOR SISSY'S UP-COMING ESCAPADES.

Richardson's book is NOT for children ONLY!! Adults and children alike will laugh and cry over the escapades of Sissy and her friends....should be required reading for all middle grade students! Heartwarming and charming!

So much of what Charleston is now has been the result of whitewashing its past more than its historic buildings. With a depth and criticism, Yuhl establishes a balanced understanding beyond what most visitors see in the water-colored myths available for purchase and the selective memories handed down to native Charlestonians and like-minded transplants. A complex and contradictory reality behind the fabrication of Charleston's historical mythology is revealed with wit and scholarly directness. This is a must read for anyone looking to know more than what gets promoted by the tourism industry. Perhaps Yuhl's book will be considered a milestone in bringing present Charleston, though maybe kicking and screaming, in to a more accurate understanding of past self.

Stephanie Yuhl's study of Charleston is a great read, organized brilliantly with metaphors from theatre, and wonderfully well written. As a newcomer to Charleston but a long time South Carolinian, I was fascinated by her account of how Charleston has marketed itself. Her analysis of the literature of the Charleston Renaissance is extremely insightful as is her critique of Charleston's most well known painters. But perhaps most astute is her analysis of class and race relations. This book is definitely a prize winner!
Carolyn Matalene
Distinguished Professor Emerita
University of South Carolina

When you visit Charleston for the first time you are impressed and at times overcome by the sheer beauty of the place. The charismatic churches, cobblestone streets, and preserved homes seem almost movie set like in their ability to transport you to another time. Stephanie Yuhl's book very adeptly explores the phenomenon that is Charleston. This capitol of the south has been able to preserve itself like many European cities have done for centuries. An effort that is largely ignored in most other American urban areas. I wish I had "Golden Haze of Memory" when I first went to Charleston, as it explores how and why this Southern Belle of a city has sought urban renewal through preservation of a romanticized past.

Stephanie Yuhl's book on the "making" of historic Charleston, South Carolina during the 1920s and 1930s -- the era of "Porgy and Bess" -- is fascinating. Yuhl deconstructs the mythmaking that artfully ignored some of the city's less heroic features and transmuted them into a placid, controversy-free image of a way of life at once locked in the past but also looking forward.

Stephanie Yuhl's book is a great read for historians and layman alike. I loved it. As a native Carolinian(North), adopted Charlestonian, historian, and community college instructor, I found the book fascinating. The research and conclusions are thorough and thoughtful. I have used it as a reference for my own research on memory and cultural association. The sources and notes are extensive. Yuhl's book, as any good history, creates new questions for debate. Those people who consider themselves versed in the history of the city should read it and have an opinion. This book is "about Charleston" and "FOR Charleston". But it is also for the rest of us who visit and study the city, and care about its special place in the history of the South.

This book is full of very specific information about Smoky Mountain trout fishing. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to fish the area.

Ian did a great job of presenting the information on the park and identifying great placed to fish for trout. A highly recommended reading.

A tribute to concise writing, Ian's book imparts exactly the amount of information needed to plan and fish the Smokies. I'm a dedicated fly fisher from Northern California who travels to Tennessee each Spring, and while there are other guide books describing the park, Ian's is the best at capturing the flavor of each stream and river.

What shines through all the information is Rutter's obvious love for these streams, rivers, and typically smallish trout. Indeed, he's widely regarded as a leading expert on the Brook Trout of the park, and even helps the scientific teams gather data about the range and recovery of the native Brook trout.

Adding a love of fly fishing to that level of knowledge - and wrapping it up in a direct, friendly writing style - and you've got a winner. Thumbs up.

Up front I have to say that I have had the author guide me on three separate occasions. On one of those trips, he taught my wife how to fly fish in the Smokies and she caught some nice trout on dry flies. So he doesn't just write about fishing - he really fishes. If you are looking for a guide book that will tell you precisely where to fish and gives away all the prime spots; this isn't it. The author tells you where the streams are and how to get to them. He tells the equipment you need and some techniques. If you already know a little bit about trout fishing this is a perfect guide book. It has enough information but it isn't a kiss-and-tell book. Having read the other available books on the GSMNP, I can say this is the best of it's kind. If you want to really get the inside scoop hire Ian as a guide for a few days. He is a great guy and this is a great book!

great- excellent information in an easy to use and understand format- highly recommend to anyone with an interest in oldest mountains on earth or just in visiting western north carolina.

This is an excellent and actionable guidebook. It introduces aspects of area history, geology animal and plant life in an accessable format. Plenty of specifics are provided to help you find the exact place being discussed, and you are warned in advance how long or hard the hike will be.
This is the only regional guidebook I have found that divides the area along its prominent geologic areas, and discusses the topology, history, flora and fauna from that perspective.
It took me a little effort to get oriented, but with the help of my local topo map book, I was soon understanding in greater depth the beautiful area in which I live. I love to hike and trout fish, and this book is helping me plan my outings. This Sunday, you will find me fishing on Spillcorn Creek.

As a child of Asheville, I found the book very good. I learned details about the area I was born and raised in that at 56 I did not know. Anyone that wants to know lots about this national treasure of outdoors must get this book!

The Highroad series of guidebooks is a blessing to anyone wanting to explore the mountains. The North Carolina guide is no exception. The author includes detailed, up-to-date information on trails, camping, rivers and other areas of interest for lovers of the outdoors. The book includes not only the well-known places but also out-of-the-way, obscure sites well worth a visit. The maps are a plus. If only I had this guide when I lived in North Carolina!

Having hiked extensively in the Carolina Mountains for 40 years, I open new trail guides with a weary skepticism. With this book my skepticism was unjustified. Ms. Bernstein's book does not attempt to be exhaustive, but it covers a wide variety of trails in two states. In it, you will find a trail for any hiker in any season of the year.

The trail descriptions (at least for the 35 or so I have hiked) strike a nice balance between length and detail with no sacrifice of relevant accuracy. The maps are uncluttered and well integrated with the text.

This is an easy to use guide to some great hikes here in the Western Carolinas. I live here and hike with a club. Until now, I've usually been following the leader and haven't really known what the hike "looked like" or where exactly I was going. I don't have great map reading skills and I don't use a GPS. In fact, I'm a person who couldn't take my relatives and friends from out of town on a moderate hike here in the Carolina mountains. And I'm not the only one with that problem. But that will change. For each hike, the book provides detailed driving directions and a simple map. For the actual hikes, there are very clear trail maps with text that describes exactly what I'll see along the way, shows which path to take at each intersection and notes what landmarks I'll see along the trail. I did a 7 mile hike this weekend using the book and felt totally confident. It was a new experience to not only complete the hike but also to know exactly what it had encompassed. Happy Trails.

This pocket guidebook to the best day hikes in the Carolina mountains deserves the highest praise. Each entry provides detailed, straightforward directions for each hike, accompanied by clearly presented maps and pictures of landmarks. While the book offers valuable resources for experienced hikers, it would also be an excellent choice to give to a friend who may be just beginning to explore the outdoors, as the introductory material explains the essentials of hiking safety and includes a checklist of necessary equipment. The lively essays placing local points of interest in their historical contexts are another major strength of this guidebook. I would never have guessed, for example, that the North Carolina and Georgia state militias fought a battle over the boundary between the two states--fifty years before the Civil War (see page 145). Milestone Press should also consider producing mp3 audio narrations of the hikes and the accompanying essays to enjoy while on the trail.

The mountains of the Carolinas are an embarassment of riches for hikers, with literally thousands of miles of trails. The problem has been choosing the most interesting hikes. There are several trail guides, but unless you are willing to spend a lot of time studying maps to create your own circular route, you'll be stuck hiking in and out on the same trail. Hiking the Carolina Mountains solves that problem by providing details of 57 hikes, most of which include loops. The book is also the first that I've seen that covers areas such as upland South Carolina and DuPont State Forest in North Carolina. Hiking the Carolina Mountains also provides detailed information on how to drive to the trailhead, interesting sidelights on the history of the area, and readable maps, all of which are usually missing from trail guides.

This is the book need to hike the Carolina mountains.

WNC Hiker