South Carolina Books

We have just chosen The Calling for our book club.
I would highly reecomend the book for an intermediate reader.
The author's use of methaphor's is very entertaining and helps to get the point across.
Esta Lea, the main character, has a very interesting lesson to share.
Overall the book is very thought provoking and makes for an excellent discussion.

The Calling was a great book written by Cathryn Clinton. I would give this book five stars. My favorite character was Esther Leah Ridley(Esta Lea)because she went around and healed people. My favorite part of the story was when Esta Lea healed her nana because that is when Esta Lea first realized that she had the power to heal people. I would recommed this book to a friend who enjoys stories that have sad,happy, and some scary parts in it.

This is the first book I read by Cathryn Clinton and I look forward to more from her!

I found myself drawn into the lives of the characters, especially "Esta Lea," who tells the story from her perspective. The book touched the full range of emotions - from laughter, to anger, to tears. At several points, I had to remind myself it was "only a story" because I began to care for Esta Lea as I would my own teenage daughter.

This is a poignant story of the very personal, yet at times very public, struggle we all face in matters of faith and religious convictions. Even those with no exposure to the culture of Esta Lea's world will be able to relate to some of the basic questions of life and faith she wrestled with.

My only disappointment with the book was a desire for more. I hope the author provides a sequel.

I've already selected this book to share as a gift with many friends and acquaintances. Those who have read it share my enjoyment - and I hope you do too!

This is one awesome map. The map really speaks for itself, so take a look at some of the closeups available on the company's website (google the title - the website will be in the first page of results) It does not cover the area towards the Citidel and MUSC, but I found every detail of the coverage area to be highly accurate. Definitely worth the price - the map is pretty large. I actually got the poster version, available on the website, and more suitible for display.

Having grown up in Charleston, I looked at this map first to find the details of the places I knew best. It was almost shocking to find the dormer window of my old bedroom in the upstairs half of the house we rented on South Battery St. Details like this make this map amazing, and the map is filled with them. Hidden gardens, oddly shaped roofs, tiny carriage houses are all revealed in stunning detail. For anyone who loves Charleston, this map is a work that reveals her beauty through the details. For anyone just getting to know the city, it will give you insight to hidden treasures that even locals would normally miss. The overall presentation of the map is first rate. Even the package (a clever heavy paper sleeve that opens like a book) is thoughtfully designed and beautifully executed. I strongly recommend this map to anyone who is visiting Charleston, or to anyone who lives there and loves the city.

I have lived here for 9 years and this is the first map that does this wonderful city justice (besides the historical maps!). While it does not look like the 'old Charleston' maps of the Civil War, it has everything any tourist, resident, or map enthusiast must have. If your visiting Charleston, bring it along as a up-to-date guide to the city. If your a resident, this is actually a contemporary map that is perfect for a wall in your office or home. If your a map enthusiest, take notes on what Morris and Bailey have done to put the Holy City on the map!

This book uses oral history, company, and union archives to tell a riveting story about an attempt by poor (mostly black) workers to build a union against heavy odds. This book tells us so much about twentieth century American history, and it does it with great skill. All the great themes of labor's downfall are here. The inability to organize the South. The racism and anti-communism of high union officials. The failure of Operation Dixie. The vicious backlash of employers and the Democratic party against the movement for working class power. This book is a great example of micro history used to illuminate important national trends. I cannot recommend a book more highly.

This is a terrific book--an important history that brings together a story of race, labor unions, economic change, politics, and culture, but never loses sight of the actual people involved. Very well written--not dry and academic like some history, but also very rich analytically. Buy it and read it!

In this wonderful book, African American tobacco workers tell their own story of civil rights struggle and union organizing. It is long, but so was the struggle, and I couldn't put it down. Oral interviews give us the black workers' own accounts, sending, for once, the white supremacists to the back of the bus.
Read it. You will find a South you never thought you would find.

This book, and a traveling exhibit due at Yale this fall and The Smithsonian in early next year, captures the feelings and human aspect of what happens when a family owned furniture factory is closed due to a hostile takeover. The pictures and accompaning text document from an historical and extremely personal perspective the lives of workers in a small town in North Carolina, dependant on each other and the factory, and the devastation that occurs when big city, outside forces make an impersonal decision regarding people 1000 miles away.

a reasonably balanced view of a factory closing that doesn't make the owner out to be a devil (although some former workers clearly feel that way). Shows the human side of what happens when decisions are made based on the aseptic "bottom line". If anything, the book is not hard enough on the original family, the 1st generation that admirably built the company and the second generation that let it deteriorate (the book details how the 2 family members at the top didn't even talk to one another and used separate entrances to the building! Is it any wonder the financials deteriorated and they had to sell?)

The only thing missing is an interview with the capitalist that closed the plant. If they tried and he refused the book ought to say so, otherwise it seems that at least a few pages could have been devoted to his side of the story.

All in all, though, a great book to read, as a counterbalance for all of us that invest thru our 401Ks and retirement accounts expecting great returns and divorced from how those returns are obtained (and at what cost to some people).

This book does an excellent job of demonstrating the effects of a factory closing in a small southern town. As a former resident of the town (childhood home) and a former worker in the machine room and rubbing room of White's Furniture Factory, I was amazed at the depth of analysis and truthfulness in this book. This book demonstrated how the closing of a factory not only affects the workers, but prior workers, and the entire population of the town. I was surprised to see the pictures that were included that told a story all to themselves. This book is highly recommended for college professors wishing to pursue the effects of a factory closing and other downsizing efforts on a small town's population. A great story line supplemented by outstanding pictures as the authors take the reader through the last years of a 100+ year factory that the entire town centered their lives around. Highly recommended for those interested in the effects of a closing on the local population.

A landmark book, Coastal Waters reflects the creative genius of a natural photographer in complete harmony with his world. Not since Ansel Adams's indepth studies of the dynamic and ever-changing landscape of the West has another artist been so in touch with the life and images in his daily world. Please give us more of this talented young man's work.

His best work since "Seashells of North Carolina." A talented photographic tribute to a treasured coastal area.

A "picture book" of the highest calibre. This is one of the most calming and beautiful books I've ever purchased. Mr. Taylor's hauntingly insightful photographs portray the true nature of Coastal Carolina and give the reader/viewer a true insight into the ways of life "Downeast." The Introduction and Forward are as comforting and peaceful as the photos. A book to dream through after a harried day. I'd move there in a minte if it weren't for the fact that (I'm proud to say) I already have. Heaven is truly closer here by North Carolina's "Coastal Waters."

Kilgo's use of seemingly simple words and turns of phrases paint a deep and emotional album of memories of a life well worth recalling. And in doing so, he stirs long-forgotten memories of your own life. There are MANY sentences/paragraphs/pages that are simply powerful. On more than one occassion, you will find yourself re-reading passages and connecting them to experiences of your own. The rare times that you do not find a common experience, Kilgo writes in such a way that you can't help but see the moments unfold. Much more than just "hunt club stories", this book respectfully looks at wildlife and friendship... and how the combination of those two elements made them both more substantial. If you read this book once, you will read it again and again. What a wonderful book by such a gifted author!

I have loaned this book to several of my best friends, the ones I shared the best and worst times with. This is the type of book many will relate to because it reminds us of the value of friendship and honesty. If you have a close group of friends who have seen you at your best and worst, this book will add a new wrinkle to the emotional bond between you. I have loaned out my copy of a lot of books, most I never get back. This one I always track down. It is mine.

I had this book on my shelf for a long while and finally pulled it down a few days ago. I should have done it much sooner! Jim describes experiences that awaken memories from long ago. When I lay the book down and reflect on his story there always is an afterglow.

Mr. Young has outdone himself. His book not only offers well-argued insights on the subject matter, but his prose is sharp, funny and beautifully crafted. I recommend this book not only for historians, but for anyone looking to take an adventurous ride through our nation's earliest years. Mr. Young is clearly a young historian on the rise. I eagerly await his next work.

Mr. Young has outdone himself. His book not only offers well-argued insights on the subject matter, but his prose is sharp, funny and beautifully crafted. I recommend this book not only for historians, but for anyone looking to take an adventurous ride through our nation's earliest years. Mr. Young is clearly a young historian on the rise. I eagerly await his next work.

Young has managed to combine many factors in this work. He cogently explains how costal planters could perceive themselves as paternalistic masters protecting their slaves while at the same time literally driving those slaves to death in the name of profit. Even more cleverly, he traces the spread of this paternalistic, anti-capitalist rhetoric of the planters through their growing network of commercial capitalism. A revealing read.

I've lived in Texas for 24 years and found out recently that I love South Carolina cooking. This cookbook has some real winners in it. The shrimp and artichoke casserole was a big hit at my last dinner party. My Texas friends really liked the corn\black bean salsa.

This was a well written cook book with great recipes and easy to follow instructions. I definitely recommend it. In addition, the young lady I got the book from was gorgeous.

Down By The Water is a fabulous collection of recipes complete with seasonal menus, a wine overview and a resource guide for ordering stone-ground grits and other unique ingredients. There are over 300 triple tested recipes using fresh ingredients. Featured selections are Piedmont Punch, Blueberry Pound Cake, Black Bean Lasagna, Charleston Chicken Salad and many more. Recipes include selections from area chefs as well.

The book is a durable, easily cleaned hardcover and lies flat for convenient use. Friends have mistaken this book for a coffee table book rather than a cookbook because it is so beautiful! Down By The Water is a must have!

We recommend this book to any film fan living in or visiting NC! Add another dimension to the streets you see. As an NC bookseller we have yet to find a better researched, more user-friendly or more helpful guide. Thank you both!

Great hits... near misses ... big stars... a unique look at a cool state... A few classics and new faves "One Tree Hill", "Dawson's Creek" et al... Good Stuff!

How many times have your out-of-town visitors whined: "Take us to the waterfall in The Last of the Mohicans (1997), or the train wreck in The Fugitive (1993)? Why doesn't somebody come out with a North Carolina travel guide that spotlights our Hollywood connections?

Cue the applause meter-Film Junkie's Guide to North Carolina has finally arrived. The 430-page glove-compartment-sized winner is comprehensive (160 mountain-to-sea locations!), masterfully written (a perfect mix of scholarly insight and insider gossip), and beautifully laid out in a simple reader-friendly format, full of photos, maps, sidebars, and enough movie trivia to make you want to read the book from cover to cover even if you're a stay-at-home couch potato. And bargain-priced at $16.95, even film students can afford it.

Guide is divided into three geographic areas: The Coast, Piedmont, and The Mountains. "Locations" in each area list the places where films and TV shows were shot, including great maps on how to get there. "Star Tracks" list the restaurants, stores, hotels and other places where celebrities used to hang out, or they still do.

Keep a copy of the book in the glove compartment of your car for spontaneous tourist adventures.

I knew most of the stories in the book and bought it for my GF b/c she isn't a NC native. She really enjoyed the book and now her mom is after it.

Nancy Roberts has long been a favourite of mine. This is one of the first books I can remember reading as a child and I was fascinated with the tales of ghosts and spirits roaming the countryside. Of course, growing up less than 10 miles from Maybinton and the "Hound of Goshen" site, I was incredibly intrigued with that story. Ms. Roberts always brings a wonderful viewpoint to her stories and unlike many "ghost" authors, she doesn't stop with the eerie tale, she takes you to the history of the tale. That aspect is what I think intrigued me most...combining history with ghosts. This book is sure to delight young and old alike and there is no better reading on a cool and blustery Fall day waiting in prickly anticipation of Halloween. Trust me, you'll love it!

There are ghost stories, and then there are Ghost Stories. Some ghost stories are fiction, while others are real. This book deals with those that are real. If you have even one iota of belief in the paranormal, you will be fascinated by this book. I own it along with two other of Nancy Roberts ghost books, namely, "This Haunted Land Where The Ghosts Still Roam" and "Ghosts Of The Old North State". Just to give you an example of the validity of Nancy's books, please allow me to share with you the story of the Brown Mountain Lights. These lights (which I have seen myself) can be viewed by anyone on just about any night, on Brown Mountain, which is nestled near the Pisgah National Park's main highway. The famous mountain is registered as a historical landmark in North Carolina, and at one of the look outs along the Pisgah highway there is a sign, placed there by the State of North Carolina, detailing the story behind the mysterious lights. So folks, these stories are REAL. These are not Nancy Roberts "made up" ghost stories, these are actual accounts of real ghosts. As for what the Brown Mountain Lights look like, let me say that they look like huge balls of fire. They suddenly appear on the mountain in different locales, and move slowly up the mountain, then simply disappear. They have been seen for centuries, and scientists cannot explain what they are. Years ago, Tommy Fayle (I hope I spelled his last name right) put out a song called "The Brown Mountain Lights". So this is no isolated story, this is a Legend. And this is just one of the many horrifying stories you can read about in Nancy Roberts books. The Hound Of Goshen is terrifying, and so are all the stories in her books. Ghost Of The Carolina's is a book you can read to your family or to yourself. It's a great one for Halloween, or anytime you want a good "spooky" story. Be WARNED, Nancy shares her stories in an expert manner. Heck, when it comes to terror, she could give Stephen King a run for the money. So if you're a person who gets terrified easily, you may not want to read this book. If you want to read true accounts of hauntings in the South, I challenge you to purchase this fascinating book.