South Carolina Books

The theme of slave trade dominates the book.
However, it is neither monotonous nor depressing.
In fact, it was necessary to do so, because the book did clearly explain the political factors and social rules of an influential white society that has forged the irrevocable fate of slaves.
After reading the book, one might wonder what decisive role, did the Africans in Africa play in the slave trade?
The book also addresses the issue of the effects of religion on African slaves brought to the United States.
It is fascinating to read about how ethnic African traditions and deep rooted religious beliefs got mixed up with the teachings of a White Church in America.
We see here two divergent Christianities: A white Christianity and a black Christianity.
Equally fascinating is how African slaves tried to preserve their ethnic language, traditions and way of life, later to adopt a new form of linguistic expression stranger and incoherent to both the American white society and the oppressed black community.
The book is a chronicle of the human drama and social conflict; a conflict that one day will explode to create a new identity for African American in a capitalistic and threatening society.

This book is excellent. Like someone said everyone of African ancestry needs to read this book. I had to buy my own copy.

This is an excellent book. I want every one of African descent to read this book. It is fantastic. This book is in my 10 list.

Early on the Africans were well aware of their ethnic identities, but over time, they were forgotten, and a new people emerged. Now this took generations. It was a slow and torturous process.

If you want to educate yourself about black folks in America and where they came from, and how they evolved, read this book.

This book is of decisive importance, for by studying the convergence of an African American nationality out of the various nationalities and ethnicities that people were brought here from Africa, Michael Gomez underlines the function of the African-origins cultures and the construction of an African-American culture in a process of resistance and opposition to the inslavement, dehumanization, and degredation that Africans and their descendants have face.

Contrary to many popular assumptions, Gomez shows that in colonial and early independent America slave holders and slaves were quite aware of the different African cultures and ethnicities represented among the enslaved. Trade patterns, affinities of slave buyers for certain types of ethnicities, beliefs that some peoples were good for some tasks, others for others, led to many concentrations of slaves from the same culture and language groups in colonial America. This ensured that Africans in American tended to preserve very much of their native cultures, religions, and outlooks.

Indeed, Gomez illustrates that in language and religion large sections of the African American people in becoming retained their African religion, and at first retained their African languages, and then began our own African American language (Black English) precisely because the context of the dominant culture and its language and religion were hostile to the human dignity of Africans in America and their descendants.

Gomez's solid research and clear evaluation of massive amounts of original sources upsets many ideas on African American history that were assumptions and not facts. One of the most important is the lateness and difficulty that Christianity had in gaining seizable conversions among Africans in America and their descendants. He suggests that only by the time of the Civil War were African Americans substantially Christian. Gomez demonstrates that except for an overly assimilationist minority among "freed" slaves, Christianity only caught on where African religeous practices were mixed into it. More importantly, Gomez explains the reason for the final victory of Christianity is that it could be manipulated to provide a rationale and hope of liberation from racism and oppression both metaphysical and physical, that the individual African religions could not provide. Gomez illustrates that what occured was the development of an African American religion, rather than the adoption of a European religion.

In the process, the reader will learn new and more accurate views of whence and when Africans were brought to America during the period of slavery. The reader will learn the general political and religious outlooks of the different major groups of Africans who came here. The reader will learn a survey of the historical, economic, and political upheavals in AFrica wrought by the slave trade.

This is a serious and important book, written at the highest level of scholarship. Thus, it is sometimes not easy reading and certainly is not written as a popular entertainment. Yet, even the casual reader who sticks with this book and turns to Gomez's notes and bibliographic material for more to read will be vastly rewarded.

A superb book that is a "must read" for every African African American man, woman and child. This book is the stuff of seminars, workshops and discussion groups at all levels. One of the fascinating positions exposed by Gomez was why it took the diverse ethnic Africans to achieve an African American consciousness. The depth of documentation was monumental. I always wondered why the color "red" had such significance in the African American "red clawt" tales. Gomez' book inspired me to research this aspect of African American tales. Thank you Mr. Gomez!

A compelling storyline full of facinating bits and pieces about North Carolina's coastal heritage. It's a must read for NC fishermen.

This is a very well researched book about the history of charter fishing off Hatteras Island. The author combines archive research with annecdotes collected from his repeated trips to the island. The reader also has a feeling of sadness as the author's wife slowly succumbs to MS while he is doing his research.

Well worth the time to read.

HATTERAS BLUES: A STORY FROM THE EDGE OF AMERICA is part biography and part regional history: it uses the experiences of one long-time fisherman on North Carolina's outer banks to reveal the issues of a fading industry and the development of Hatteras Village in the heart of Hurricane Alley. Tom Carlson's involvement with his subject leads him to the heart of a family and a town's struggles and faith in a warm first-person survey which at times reads with the quiet drama of fiction.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Great book. I love to hear the stories of the people in this book, of course the fishing is always good. The weather and the constant movement of the cape was and is totally intriguing.

I have been visiting the North Carolina outer banks since 1970. I did not think anyone had as much love or reverence of this special place as I, but I was wrong. Tom Carlson in Hatteras Blues has established himself as a true devotee of these narrow islands off the Carolina coast. He captures the lure of isolated and wind-worn beaches and ever-changing off shore waters where fishermen (and women) from the smallest North Carolina towns to the largest international cities have searched for prize bill fish, bull drum, cobia and a host of other species for several decades. The reader is absorbed in the story of the Fosters and others who fought the harshness of life on the outer banks to create a thriving charter fishing industry that today is being challenged by corporations and those uncaring of the outerbanks special culture. Carlson is a waterman by birth and a "Banker" by choice. Hatteras Blues is a heartfelt story of great loss, love, spirit, transformation and hope set in one of the most magical places on planet Earth. Rates with Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea for bringing to life the conflicts, the turmoil and the serenity of what it means to be a part of the sea and the coast. Highly recommended.

Ironically, this book was assigned to me as an undergraduate social studies major in the early 70's and like many lazy students, I tried my best to skim through the volume and to read no more of it than was absolutely necessary to be prepared for class and to pass the exams.

Now, over 30 years later, I have taken the book from my shelf, dusted it off, and actually read it cover-to-cover.

I am happy to report that it is a wonderful study of the period that clarifies the motivations behind the complex series of actions and reactions of those who lived through it.

At the same time I am extremely sad to report that it would have been a great read when I was twenty ... better later than never certainly applies here!

Despite the fact that this was first published in 1965, Freehling's work is still the source for the Nullification Controversy. To be sure, the book is at times tedious and because of the nature of nullification, at times it is very theoretical, but if you want to learn about nullification and the crisis that occurred because of it, read this book. I've read reviews of Freehling's other work where people complain of his writing style, but I thought this book actually read very well and Freehling explained things in a very concise, easily understood manner. At times, I must admit I found it hard to keep the theoretical aspects straight or all the players who were involved, but after reading this book, you will come away with an understanding of the nullification crisis.

"Prelude to Civil War" by William W. Freehling, © 1965, 1966

It seems that there was just not enough to keep these people from fighting. If it was not one thing it was another. This is the story of how South Carolina almost seceded from the Union alone in the 1830's. For some reason, that was not really clear to the participants, as well as me, why citizens of South Carolina got bothered by a tariff instituted by the federal government. There was some real problem with the slaves and the issue of freedom, and that got blown out of proportion by the fear of slave insurrection violence. There were some interesting sidelights to this story. It was a part of this argument in Congress that the famous Webster-Haynes slavery debate took place. It was also noted that slave owners understood Independence Day celebrations were not for everyone and they were troubled by trying to get the slaves to work (like it is any easier to get wage slaves to work either) and by the violence they sometimes used on them.
The problem that I saw through this book was the lack of adventure or other use of the energy the rich youth had: they were spoiling for a fight; as well as getting others to allow them (South Carolinians)to be themselves.

It is impossible in history to set a definite time for the beginning or ending of an event large or small. Many 19th century historians believe the Civil War began around 1776. Dr. Freehling is of this opinion but in this book he brings us closer to the main event for a start.
Why is this book important? First, it is written by the foremost historian of 19th century America. Second, while giving credence to the economic issues that covered the real causes of war, Dr. Freehling decimates the theory that the war was mainly a struggle over two unique economies and the support of states' rights. He shows clearly the real issue at hand was the threatened squeeze on the future of slavery. Third and most important the book gives us much to rethink in our evaluations and conceptions, offered in scholarly but very readable prose for which the author has become famous.
Put simply, if anyone is interested in American history and knows the author this book is a must have. No one who reads William W. Freehling wastes time or energy reading his work.

For the Civil War and Age of Jackson aficionado, this is an excellent book to read. One will not be able to fly through the 360 pages, but it is very enjoyable and full of great information about the Ante Bellum south as well as the country's political landscape in that era. We know little today about how close South Carolina came to seceding from the Union. The Nullification Crisis, while a mind-numbing subject in high school and college, is brought to life here in a way that is easy to understand and follow. Freehling did an excellent job of researching and explaining the many dynamics involved in the South Carolina society in determining who was for or against nullification, secession, preserving the union and protecting slavery and why. The interplay was fascinating and, though I couldn't recite it back to you, I obtained a lot of knowledge I had never been exposed to before.

With Ronald Reagan's passing, discussions turned again to our "best" or "great" presidents. Andrew Jackson's name is frequently included among our Top Ten by most historians, yet very few of us could say why he deserves to be so highly regarded. In books like this, we can see why. He is not what I would consider to be a likable man and definitely comes across as somewhat tyrannical (not just in this book), but one has to admit after reading this book that he handled the Nullification Crisis and its aftermath very deftly with a clear vision and objective: that allegiance to the Union comes first and preservation of the Union is paramount. He laid the groundwork for Lincoln's management of the Civil War, some 25-30 years later.

The book is well-annotated and, though more than 35 years old is still relevant in its ideas and also in the sources it directs us to for further reading.

This is a favorite storybook in our home. I enjoy reading this one to our four children, and its one of their all time favorites. Its right next to the nightstand.
I think I enjoy reading Five O'Clock Charlie as much as they enjoy hearing it read to them!

I'm 47 and I still remember reading this when I was a child. I just fell in love with Charlie and have always wanted a horse like him that would stick his head in the kitchen window. I went on to read Misty and Stormy, Misty's Foal when I got a little older but Charlie never left my heart. A great read with terrific illistrations your kids will remember for years to come!!

Five O'clock Charlie was my favorite book as a child and I read it to my children when they were little. It became such a favorite of my children that when the oldest got married and moved out of state the kids argued over who would keep my original copy. Well she took it with her against the wishes of the others. I have read this book to kindergarden classes and they have all asked that it be read again and again. I have ordered it for every child I have on a gift list and their parents love it as much as the child does.

Five O'Clock Charlie was my favorite childhood book, and it still has a special place on my shelf and in my heart. A must for anyone who loves horses, regardless of whether you're young or just young at heart! A great gift for anyone.

Charlie,the work horse was retired by his master who said Charlie was too old to work. In fact, everybody said he was too old. Everyone, that is, except Charlie. He is lonely in his pasture where nothing grows but thistles and chickweed. He is bored and hungry. He remembers the old days when he used to get treats from the tavern cook, Birdie, and escapes from his pasture each day at five o'clock to return to the inn. There he finds that he can still be useful and important, even though he no longer can pull wagons or a plow.

I've just finished this book, and loved it. I laughed out loud many times, and was also saddened many times.

The book is written in the first person by someone other than the central character, and the storyteller was a very kind and gentle soul. He was basically a wonderful human being, and someone I would love to have known. I actually liked him much more than Jenny Dorset.

Just one thing: I don't understand why the book jacket shows a brunette of only average looks. Obviously the artist didn't read the book - it clearly mentions, and many times, that Jenny was uncommonly beautiful, and had golden-blonde hair...

This book is a treasure to read!! Very funny, full of wit and charm. I fell in love with this book while on vacation in South Carolina and read it in a 12 hour marathon!! This book is a delight!! Thank You Mr. Phillip Lee Williams for writing such a gem of a book!!

This book is funny and I loved it.

Mr. Williams' story is filled with rollicking humor, wit, and wisdom. Vividly written, the reader is drawn into 18th century Charleston, and into the lives of two families, the Dorsets and the Symthes. Each and every character is memorable. You will laugh and cry reading this book. It has a permament place in my personal library. I loved it so much, I rushed out and bought several copies to give to friends and family. Mr. Williams deserves far more credit for his writing genius!

Williams' ambitious novel The True & Authentic History of Jenny Dorset is a refreshing medley of life in Charleston's 18th century, seasoned tastily with charming wit and intriguing characters. A truly enjoyable read, the tale is written with a sincere flare and comes alive to the reader.

More notably is the method in which Williams characterizes each member of the families involved in the story's plot - from the dueling heads, Mr. Dorset and Mr. Smythe, to Old Bob in his amusing stages of senility, and the ostentatious Jenny Dorset herself.

The reader will undoubtedly find the rich story line is highly entertaining, and written in a very lively manner. The tale is penned from the perspective of Henry Hawthorne, the Dorset's discerning and subdued family man servant. Hawthorne patiently abides by the family's somewhat eccentric and unruly lifestyle, and writes about his experiences first-hand, in memoir-like style.

Indeed, this novel is a great story-tellers' delight! The True & Authentic History of Jenny Dorset manifests very engaging humour with every flip of a page - more than once have I been in the throws of violent chuckles over it's whimsical comments and situations. It has quickly grown to be one of my favorites. I highly recommend it.

I remain fascinated by Gullah and Daufuskie cooking. This book is a welcome addition to my ever-expanding collection. I'm glad I found it.

I have tried to catch Ms. Robinson's t.v. shows when I was able. Having grown up poor and having to make ends meet by stretching the food, you appreciate any attempt to liven up the meals. Ms. Robinson has done this very well. I enjoy her, and I enjoy the book.

I grew up in St. Helena Island (Frogmore). Having and using this book brings back those memories

One of my favorite episodes of Sara Moulton's cooking show featured the author and included a visit to her childhood home. I was THRILLED that Ms. Robinson washed her green leafy vegetables in warm water. What a shame such wisdom (do Americans even know the term "nightsoil" anymore???) has been disregarded in the wake of carnival barkers who demonstrate their cooking ability by ripping open a bag of greens (prewashed, My Aunt Fanny!) and cooking raw meat straight from their styrofoam and plastic packaging. Ewwwww, you know no amount of cooking heat can clean that up. EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

Thank you, Ms. Robinson.

This was the perfect gift for my sister who lived on Dafuskie island for several years. She personally knew Sallie Ann and was sad to leave her east coast home and the lovely people she met there. The book brought back memories of a delightful period in her life.

This book provides excellent information on the sites, restaurants, accomodations, and history of South Carolina. I enjoyed reading it immensely because not only was it was humorous and well written, but it has a lot of interesting historical details and unique suggestions for things to see and do.

So far, I had never bought a tourist guide. Maybe it's because I never traveled before just for the pleasure of traveling, for the excitement associated to discovering new people, new places, new cultures. When I decided to spend my week of vacation last August in Charleston, South Carolina, I supposed that, to make the most of it, I should get a guide. After taking a look at the different guides of South Carolina and Charleston in my local bookstore, reading the online reviews at Amazon.com, and listening to the advices of Dary, a good friend and a seasoned traveler, I decided for Moon's South Carolina. And I wasn't disappointed. The book provided me with an excellent background on history, culture and geography. Also, as some people already pointed out in other reviews, the author is funny, so the reading is most pleasant. But what really caught me was the feeling that he was talking directly to me, that he was by my side. While I was enjoying a peaceful walk in the old streets of Charleston, the book helped me to understand better and, as a consequence, to experience more deeply the beauty of the Old South. But I'm digressing. If you are looking for a guide to South Carolina, this one definitely will work. Accurate information, plenty of details, many places to visit. In summary, a good investment. I think that my visit would had been much poorer without the help of Sigalas's book.

If you're touring South Carolina, Sigalas knows it's probably for one of the following reasons:

Myrtle Beach
Historic plantations and houses
Small town getaways
Food

That's what you get here. It's very well done and irreverent, sometimes humorously so. There's enough sophistication to this guide to keep amateur historians and architects happy, but it is by no means a complete catalog of historic landmarks and locations. Rather, we're really talking about the highlights. The thing I like most about this guide is its attention to small towns off the beaten path which make for pleasant discoveries. It encourages you to find the time for places like York, Georgetown and Camden, for example. The thing I like least about it is its very summary coverage of the State's greatest place, Charleston. While Sigalas does a lovely spread of Columbia, he concentrates his attention on the far south-eastern tip of the peninsula in Charleston. Forgivable, I'd say, since there are many, many resources that cover Charleston more thoroughly.

A lot of fun to read. I've just finished the first chapter and I already feel like an expert on the state.

I'd definitely recommend this book for anyone wanting to know more about South Carolina. It's got all the information you could want, lots of interesting background, and on top of that, it's a joy to read. Sigalas cracks me up all through this book. Seriously, my wife came in a half-a-dozen times while I was reading to ask me why I was laughing so hard; she couldn't believe I was reading a travel book. A good read even if you're not going to S.C., and a great book to bring along if you are. It's like traveling with a friend who knows all the spots and has a good sense of humor.

I cannot write a review as I bought the book for a gift for my 99 year old uncle for his birthday.

Zimler's book is a triumph of modern fiction: an absolutely gripping narrative of love and loss set against a backdrop of fantastic historic drama. Zimler rises to the incredible quality of his bestselling The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon. The characters are rich and fully realized, and their conflicts are vital and real. They grow throughout the book, so that by the end you feel a real intimacy with them. The period setting is elegantly realized; you feel as though you are living in these far-away times, going to the bird market, observing the early forms of racism, encountering the ravages of the Inquisition. This is a story of family too, and the close bonds of the central characters are extremely vivid. I loved this book. Read it at once.

As an avid reader who has been ritually disappointed by the so-called "literary" sensations of the past year, it is a true joy to find a book with a heart and soul, written by an author at the top of his game.This mesmerizing, beautifully written tale of the friendship between a freed African slave and a bereaved child will make you weep on every page, such is the realism of emotion Zimler packs into each page. He is distinctly not an author given to mawkish sentimentality. This is the unputdownable book of the year that thoroughly deserves a wider audience. It is, as the flap copy suggests, an out-and-out masterpiece.

Richard Zimler's second novel, Hunting Midnight, casts as its central character a descendant of the title character in his first novel, The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon. The new work is set in Porto, Portugal, in the early 19th century, 300 years after the first novel.
Because it contains a wide range of ingredients - a South African Bushman, a Scottish winegrower in Portugal, South Carolina slaves, child abuse, characters' artistic pursuits, Beethoven, reverence for nature - it is perhaps more universal in its appeal than the first book.
But it also has its Jewish (and Kulanu) components, such as the narrator's discovery that he is descended from Jews, and the occurrence of an anti-Jewish pogrom in Porto.
The author writes skillfully as the voice of the young Scottish-Portuguese half-Jew as well as that of a slave girl in the American South. He also imparts a seemingly deep knowledge of Bushman belief and culture, in addition to snatches of Portuguese and Hebrew, and departures into Jewish philosophy and Scottish song and literature. The story-telling style is tight, with straightforward prose that builds up tension and suspense effectively.
These disparate elements might seem a bit too much, but it all works well together, and Hunting Midnight is a great read of almost-epic proportions. While The Last Kabbalist was also a mesmerizing, suspenseful experience, it was more parochial. The first novel was a best-seller in Portugal and did well internationally. The second novel, being truly universal, may well do even better.

Zimler's book is a triumph of modern fiction: an absolutely gripping narrative of love and loss set against a backdrop of fantastic historic drama. Zimler rises to the incredible quality of his bestselling The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon. The characters are rich and fully realized, and their conflicts are vital and real. They grow throughout the book, so that by the end you feel a real intimacy with them. The period setting is elegantly realized; you feel as though you are living in these far-away times, going to the bird market, observing the early forms of racism, encountering the ravages of the Inquisition. This is a story of family too, and the close bonds of the central characters are extremely vivid. I loved this book. Read it at once.

This is a great book all fans of UNC basketball will enjoy. Jimmy does a great job of sharing an "inside" look of that championship team!

super insider information gives a real life perspective to players and team--great book for UNC and basketball enthusiasts

This is a great book for Tar Heel fans everywhere who are old enough to remember that magical year 1982 when the Tar Heels captured Dean Smith's first National Championship. Great stories and memories from a great player who many of us think was the driving force behind that Championship. If you are a Tar Heel fan and 1982 was one of those great years for you and you have not read this book, then buy it and read it right now!!

If you graduated from UNC in 1982, this is second only to the Bible as the best book you'll ever read. If you're a Tarheel, this is a MUST HAVE!
Scott Fowler's (of Charlotte Observer fame) writing is the best. Jimmy "Bossman" Black proves he can write as well as he can lead a championship team.

How 'bout dem Heels, they are the NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!

A pleasure to read. As a Tar Heel who knew Jimmy, I am not surprised by the candidness and honesty of his writings. The '81-'82 Tar Heels were an amazing team. Jimmy's book provides a personal perspective that brought back many memories. Any fan of college basketball should read this.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this candid assessment of contemporary politics. Really wish that he would have been able to share such wisdom/ that such wisdom would have been heeded while yet in elected office. Highly recommended for those who are deeply concerned about the future of our country & how corrupting money has been to the "body politic".

This book is almost like having a conversation with Sen. Hollings. I really miss him and hope we'll have Senators more like him in the next two elections.

Every so often while reading Fritz Hollings' autobiography I had to stop and ask myself a question: Was there really ever such a person in American politics? Someone who actually ran for office with the intention of making his city, state and country better places? Someone who would admit to mistakes -- and even to a little political expediency -- and who then tried to make up for it? Someone unafraid to make fun of Sam Donaldson to his face on national television?

This book should have been published by a mass market imprint and renamed to sell to a larger audience. But it's part of Hollings' charm that he hides the fascinating and candid narrative of his political life behind a practical and well-meaning title. He really wanted government to work for the people -- as a state senator, governor and U.S. Senator -- and often he succeeded. Unfortunately, he never made it to the White House, but that's an American political story best told by a historian of our locked-up, frequently suffocating two-party duopoly. There isn't quite room for a Fritz Hollings in a system that requires the president to be the leader of his party before he is the leader of his country.

I first met Senator Hollings when I was writing a book about NAFTA and there is no more intelligent, or acerbic critic of "free trade" dogma than he. But Hollings' book is replete with other engrossing stories where his honest differences with the mainstream of his constituency and of the Democratic Party placed him in the role of dissident. From racial integration in the early 1950s to Iraq in the early 20th century, we get the always forthright account -- sometimes first-hand -- of how political reality in America conflicts with political honesty. And through it all shines Hollings' utter lack of cynicism -- his determination to make the system work, no matter how corrupt it may be.

Making Government Work ought to be read by anyone who wants to know more about Brown V. Board of Education (the little known story of the Summerton 60 was particularly enlightening for me), trade politics, campaign finance, and the Senate vote to authorize the invasion of Iraq. But even if you're not a student of recent American history, or if you disagree with Hollings on his positions, you'll enjoy his sense of humor. A great politician tries to inspire, of course, but a truly effective politician knows just when to make his audience laugh. Along with Robert Dole, Hollings is the best I've ever heard, with or without a script.

Rarely has Senator Fritz Hollings used his renowned wit to more devastating effect than when he was interviewed in 1990 on the ABC program, This Week with David Brinkley. Some weeks earlier he had reportedly bought a bargain-priced Korean-made suit on a field trip to Seoul. Given his role as a leading critic of Korean dumping in the American textile market, the alleged purchase was the sort of trivia that passed for news in some quarters. Although Hollings had arrived at the ABC studio expecting to talk about the federal government's worsening budget deficits, the interviewer Sam Donaldson lost no time in getting to the nub of the matter: whether or not Hollings was at that moment wearing the notorious suit.

"Senator," Donaldson said, "you're from the great textile-producing state of South Carolina. Is it true you have a Korean tailor." Before Hollings could respond, Donaldson pressed on: "Let's see the label in there. What is the label in there?"

"I bought it," Hollings replied, "the same place right down the street where, if you want to personalize this thing, you got that wig, Sam."

The entire studio erupted. The blustery -- and bewigged -- Donaldson had had, if not his head handed to him, at least his tonsorial codpiece. But he was to exact a terrible revenge. Although Hollings had previously been a favorite on the program, Donaldson made sure that the courtly Southern Senator (and a man who still sports a full head of hair -- all evidently securely attached to its owner) was never invited back. Hollings had insulted a vain and not overly intelligent member of the new aristocracy of Big Foot media interviewers and for punishment he would be cast into outer darkness.

In "Making Government Work," an autobiographical account of the steadily worsening problems that have engulfed the American political system in the last six decades, Hollings tells this anecdote as an illustration of how America has lost its way. Politicians, he writes, "are failing people because journalists too often are in the business of pursuing sideshows and not looking at the big picture." His point is, of course, irrefutable. But there is a deeper moral here that Hollings is too polite to state explicitly: while, by the standards of his trivia-obsessed profession, Donaldson might claim to have been within his rights in bringing up the alleged purchase, his insulting tone was utterly inexcusable. No decent person should have been addressed in such a way. That a member of the U.S. Senate should be so addressed bespeaks a degree of decay in the American body politic that bodes ill for the entire future of American democracy.

In dissecting what has really happened to the American empire since its zenith in 1945, Hollings enjoys an unrivalled command of his material. Few if any political actors have played at such a high level for so long. A life-long Democrat, he was elected to the South Carolina legislature in 1948, became governor in 1958, and entered the U.S. Senate in 1966.

Hollings's place in history rests on his leadership role in addressing three of the most serious policy problems of the era -- the federal budget deficits, the trade deficits, and the depradations of the K Street lobbying system. Readers of this book will not be disappointed in the space he allocates to each.

Hollings is perhaps best known for his efforts to rein in the U.S. budget deficits. He had been a budget hawk since his days as governor of South Carolina and in the U.S. Senate in 1974 he hit the theme hard. He returned it to again in partnering two Republican Senators Phil Gramm and Warren Rudman in pushing through the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings balanced budget legislation of the 1980s. The legislation was severely weakened by a constitutional challenge in the Supreme Court. Remedial efforts have not worked because, in Hollings's account, successive presidential administrations -- Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II -- have "brazenly violated the law."

The soaring budget deficits have been a contributory factor in an even bigger and less tractable problem, the trade deficits, but the main cause of the trade deficits, as Hollings shows, is a fundamentally wrong-headed American trade policy. He identifies fellow Democrat Jimmy Carter as the President who did most to put the United States on the the course to industrial emasculation and ever-increasing foreign indebtedness. The basic problem is that the present policy is merely "one-way free trade." America may open its markets all its wants but if other nations do not reciprocate, the net effect is that American industries bleed to death. With the American current account deficit now running consistently at around 5 percent of gross domestic product or more, the Bush administration has daily to go hat in hand to other nations, most notably China, to scrounge the finance to make ends meet. For somebody who remembers as clearly as Hollings does how things used to be, America's predicament is truly unbelievable. In 1966, the year Hollings entered the Senate, America enjoyed a _surplus_ of 0.4 percent of gross domestic product. Indeed the United States did not incur a single deficit in the 1960s and trade deficits did not become "baked in" to the American economic structure until the Carter era.

Underlying the budget and trade problems is the lobbying problem. The Supreme Court again has much to answer for because, in the Buckley v. Valeo decision of 1976, it vitiated a major Congressional effort to stop dirty money polluting American democracy. Hollings is undoubtedly right that this ruling has not only utterly corrupted the American political process but has undermined the collegiality that once characterized the Senate. As Hollings points out, in earlier times when money played a less important role, Senators frequently spent the weekends in Washington and socialized with one another. That helped encourage a spirit of bipartisan cooperation in which Senators worked together -- much of the time at least -- in the national interest. These days they have no time anymore. They are on the road every weekend scrounging funds for their next campaign -- and in any case they are too busy outdoing one another's soundbites to focus on the sober task of legislating wisely.

While the policy issues provide the meat in this important book, many readers will particularly relish Hollings's recollections of the fascinating personalities he has known over the years. He devotes a chapter, for instance, to the Kennedy family. Having met Robert Kennedy as far back as 1954, he forged a close relationship with the Kennedys that among other things resulted in his delivering his crucial anti-Catholic state to John F. Kennedy in 1960. Such was the degree of intimacy he enjoyed in the Kennedy circle that, as he records in this book, he more than once was treated to the off-color side of JFK's wit.

He also has much to say about Robert Kennedy, whom he refers to throughout as Bob rather than Bobby. (Although that may seem slightly strange to the younger generation, Robert Kennedy generally styled himself as "Bob" in notes to friends. The press's preference for "Bobby" appears to have been inspired by JFK.) The Fritz-Bob relationship was evidently generally very cordial. But JFK's all-elbows younger brother more than once got Hollings's dander up. One telling episode concerns Robert Kennedy's run for the presidency in 1968. As a preparatory move, Kennedy decided to go on a tour of the nation publicizing some of the worst slums. One destination he planned to hit was in South Carolina -- at least it was until word reached Hollings's ears.

Hollings writes:

"As soon as I heard of Kennedy's plans, I picked up the telephone and told Kennedy I was working to do something about hunger in South Carolina.....He responded that everything had been arranged. I didn't understand the problem, he added....At that point I had had enough. 'Now look here,' I shouted. 'You go down there there, and I am going to get on a plane and go straight up to Harlem [in New York state, which Kennedy represented]. I am going to call every TV station, and then I am going to walk right through Harlem for four or five days, everywhere I can, and find every rat eating every child's eye out. And everywhere I go, I'm going to say why isn't Kennedy here? I am going to have a New York hunger expose at the very time you have yours in South Carolina.'"

South Carolina was dropped from Kennedy's itinerary.

Kennedy had learned what Sam Donaldson was to discover in 1990 -- that Fritz Hollings is not someone to tangle with lightly.

"Making Government Work" is a wise, well written, and consistently absorbing analysis of the epochal crisis now facing the American nation.

That's the title of the most practical "political" book you'll ever read. It is a user's manual for representative democratic government, written by former Senator Ernest F. (Fritz) Hollings of South Carolina, who spent six impressively productive decades in public service.As a reporter and campaign worker, I've known Fritz Hollings since he was the movie star-handsome "boy governor" of South Carolina in 1960 and JFK's invaluable ally in rounding up southern votes to gain the presidency. "Fritz" is a master politician; even more, he is a tireles public servant who truly tries to make government work for everyone he represents. Hollings has a razor sharp wit and a natural gift for memorable story-telling. He takes the reader behind backroom closed doors and into dark corners of political intrigue and describes how vitally important things get done. Hollings, who has been called "a visionary workhorse," focused throughout his career on putting government on a sound financial basis and promoting economic development and job creation. In a half century in Washington, he sponsored legislation on the budget, telecommunications, defense, trade, the environment and space exploration. In 1975, he pushed through the Automobile Fuel Economy Act and tried to launch an energy conservation revolution. In his presidential campaign a decade later, he sounded the earliest warnings against "outsourcing" and the loss of essential American manufacturing jobs overseas. Americans need to read and embrace his practical messages in this remarkable book and follow Fritz's lead. Richard J. Whalen www.richardwhalen.com