North Carolina Books

Henry Wise is an interesting and enigmatic character in himself, but he is brought to life with brilliance by Dr. Simpson. This well written, scholarly work brings the person of Henry Wise into our lives as a real erson, and puts us into Wise's world. We realize the relationship between the "Good Southerner" and the other leaders who populated his world. It offers a fresh look at the period that must be seen as the most interesting and highly influential period. We anxiously await your next great volume, Dr. Simpson.

Professor Simpson's scholarship is an admirable feat. He provides an extensive biography of Henry A. Wise, and the politics of the union, with the purpose of asserting the supremacy of individual agency. Simpson's treatment of the John Brown raid, and the over laying psychology behind it, is of particular interest. The work's oratory and articulation is of the highest quality.

I am doing a paper on the preaching of Whitefield and Edwards during the Great Awakening, so I almost jumped for joy when this book came in the mail! Here you have theological treatises and tracts and narratives from revivalists who witnessed the tremendous workings of God during the time of the TransAtlantic religious revivals. You have Samuel Blair's faithful narrative of the revival in 1744 Pennsylvania, George Whitefield's eyewitness reports from his journals, and even some of the anti-revival literature of Charles Chauncey.

You also have the regrettable reports of the extremism encouraged by James Davenport as well as some of Jonathan Edwards' later reflections.

The bottom line is that this is a treasure trove of primary source data about the years of revival in the colonies. A must have for those interested in this era of history.

This book is put together well; the documents are in a good order that helps give the reader an overview of the Great Awakening. As a Christian, the documents are inspiring and interesting because some of them give a glimpse of people who were fervent for and enjoying the Lord. The freshness of their contact with the Lord as seen in these primary sources is similar to our fresh experiences of the Lord today!

Grits and Glory follows the path of the earlier "Glory" books, which means it's a good mystery, full of characters that you care about, and a wonderful setting - Glory, North Carolina. The authors feature a new character with each book, who has a connection to the characters we read about in earlier books. It makes for an interesting slant for the series, making you feel you're still with old friends but with a new character to root for and worry about. Gentle humor, scenes with excitement, mystery and sweet romance. What more could you ask for?

I first read the Benrey's book Dead as a Scone and loved it so much that I became an instant fan. This series of mysteries set on the town of Glory did not let me down. It was great to visit the town again and get a chance to see how all of the previous characters are doing. The story itself was interesting and did keep my interest throughout the book. I have fun guessing to see who did it. Also the theme of not letting your past dictate the future really spoke to me and I so hope the authors read this and know how much just reading this book has encouraged me. Please keep writing!

As with the other titles in this series by Bishir, they just don't get any better. The three books together offer a complete survey of historic architecture in North Carolina. There are many small black and white photographs included, good maps, essays that place the structures in historical context, addresses and precise dating, all grouped by county and organized around the principal towns in each. Many an AIA guide attempts this format and falls far short.

I liked this series so much I bought it twice--one to save and one to use.

This is a book of wonder and revelation, illuminating the history and splendor of one of America's most magical regions. It will make you want to learn more and more and then drive the Blue Ridge Parkway.

As the author of novels about the Mitchell family who lived on the Guilford Courthouse battlefield,I am meticulous about historical facts being correct.I found John Hairr's book to be one of the most useful and accurate reference books.There are many books written on the American Revolution but few give sufficent details about this pivotal battle. I recommend this book to anyone who wants authoritative information on The Battle of Guilford Courthouse.

As a long time fan of the American Revolution, I happily purchased this title. I was pleasantly surprised. Although it is not a long book, it is very tightly focused on the leading participants, Greene and Cornwallis, as they head toward their monumental battle at Guilford Courthouse.

The background and information provided on the men, strategies, backgrounds, and development of the campaign is outstanding, as are the maps, which are the best I have ever seen on this battle. The writing is also outstanding--very flowing and poetic, and yet scholarly, complex, and fast-paced. The author has a literary "hook" at the beginning and end of every chapter. Indeed, the begins with Greene surveying the field at Guilford and deploying his men--and then goes back in time and marches the armies in place.

Highly recommended.

This account of the Highlanders and particularly of my ancestor, Alexander McAllister, and the role he played was most informative. I was not familiar with the details of their mid 18th century migration to America. For other researchers, information can also be gained by accessing the web page for Clan McAlister of America. Of course, the name has been spelled different ways, but this is the same Clan. Thanks so much, Duane Meyer, for your research!

This book has excellent information on where my line came from in the Highlands. The description of the economy, the living conditions, the government and clan disharmony, as well as the religion question, all provide a good picture of where our Scots came from and the conditions of their lives. My McRae family came to Carolina in 1774, so this timeline used in this book covered the years preceding, as well as a few following their immigration. I was very interested in the motives for migration. This provided many more than I had previously read about. Because the years led directly into our revolution, it is especially relevant to read this information on the Scots question whether to serve as loyalist or as revolutionary. This proved, as well as disproved several theories which are in print. I appreciate having this book in my reference library. It has more specific descriptive information about the Scots' living conditions both in Scotland and in North Carolina than any other source I have consulted.

Lookout towers used to be places where rangers could view the forests and spot any problems. Today, they are open to anyone who wishes to visit them. "Hiking North Carolina's Lookout Towers" is a guide for hikers who want to put a destination into their hikes that ends with a great view of the surrounding landscape. An ideal pick for any hiking enthusiast, "Hiking North Carolina's Lookout Towers" is highly recommended for community library travel collections.

Peter Barr has done an outstanding job in combining fire lookout towers, their history, and their current status along with the traditional hiking information. Lots of maps and photos! Peter brings out the plight of the abandoned historic structures and makes a plea for help in saving them! This is a great book for anyone hiking in Western North Carolina or anyone wanting to go there. Even if you hadn't particularly wanted to go there, if you're interested in lookouts and hiking, "Hiking North Carolina's Lookout Towers" will make you want to! A must for fire lookout enthusiasts or anyone interested in learning more about them!

I am drawn to books that analyze the complex relationship between people and places. Brooks Blevins illuminates the Arkansas Ozarks both as a place and as an idea, and shows the tensions that emerge when a place becomes an idea. The book's subtitle suggests that it is a history, which it is, but I found it intriguing more as a history of the idea of place in general than as the history of a specific region.

Blevins shows the Ozarks where 19th century settlers and their descendents farmed cotton, harvested timber, made barrels, and did other work that drew from the region's resources. Yet, none of these economies was successful on a large scale. The real place was too disconnected, with its interruptive hills, streams and hollows, to allow for large-scale production. With the exception of the far northwest plains areas near Fayetteville, the region never experienced significant economic growth. Farming needed to grow in scale to succeed (hence today's agribusiness), but these hills did not offer enough open expanse to make such farming profitable or even technologically possible. Many left the region for opportunities picking apples in Washington state or cotton in the Delta.

Those remaining adapted by marketing the idea of the Ozarks as place--in this case, a traditional Americana of banjos, fiddles, and homespun crafts. Entrepreneurs with an eye on the tourism industry sold Eureka Springs, Mountain View, and other Ozark towns as centers of Americana folk tourism. Tension grows in Blevin's book toward the later chapters when we see the people having to emulate folk music and craft traditions that were steeped in a romantic idea held by a nation that had left such quaintness behind.

Blevins suggests that residents were displaced by immigrants from the Midwest and elsewhere who were more willing than the locals to play the parts required by this idea of folk Americana. Middle class white retirees from troubled cities in the South and Midwest and elsewhere have moved into the Ozarks, perhaps in search of this illusive idea of a more simple life. It is the same comforting world that has lured world weary music buyers to the soundtrack of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?

The most obvious characteristic of the postmodern time in which we live is that image is reality. The idea of France as portrayed in Disney theme parks, for example, is as real as France itself and less messy. This is an age of simulacra. Blevins' book does not directly make such cultural critiques, but leads the reader to them. Having just spent a relaxing week in the Ozarks, soaking up the music and culture, I then was left to question what I had experienced. The three musicians I played guitar with in front of the grocery store in Marshall-were they doing so because they wanted to or because a larger idea of place engulfed them and tacitly directed their behavior to conform with its folk tourism economy?

In the end perhaps it doesn't matter. My new friends seemed genuinely happy and invigorated by their region's musical identity. A region could be known for worse things than great music. And the Ozarks is the home of Wal-Mart, perhaps the most obvious example of mass marketing economic success.

For contrast, go to the Florida Keys and watch the bored pseudo parrot heads churn out plastic versions of old Jimmy Buffet tunes. Here the idea of place becomes stifling, preventing the natural evolution of a society. And the sheer number of tourists landing for an hour or two on cruise ships has driven locals to the role either of acting out Buffet-like parts or hiding. Blevins' book makes us aware that regions that become too closely identified with a particular mythology can become prisoners of that mythology. He implies that such has happened in the Ozarks, but I see enough vibrancy and cultural authenticity (whatever that may be) to feel comfortable with this idea of place. It is one I will return to, albeit with a slightly more critical ear and eye.

Hill Folks: A History Of Arkansas Ozarkers And Their Image by Brooks Blevins (Professor of History, Ozarka College, Melbourne, Arkansas) is an informed and informative cultural history of the Ozark region that ranges from northern Arkansas down to southern Missouri, and the people who have settled and lived there since the early nineteenth century. A detailed portrait of a land and its people, filled with subtle nuances of daily life through the centuries, Hill Folks is a fascinating study and very enjoyable reading, and a highly recommended addition to Ozark and Arkansas history supplemental reading lists and academic reference collections.

I picked up this book after it was cited as a reference in Richard Rhodes "The Making of the Atomic Bomb", a book I highly recommend as well. Hiroshima Diary is written in such a frank, simple yet detailed manner that I found myself unable to put the book down and read it in a single sitting. It only covers a rather short period of time following the Aug. 6th bombing and ends with a description of a few interactions with the Allied occupation officers visiting the Communications Hospital. I highly recommend this very personal account written from one individual's view of one of history's most significant and terrible moments. There is no flag waving. No political rhetoric. No attempt to rationalize the weapon's use. Just the thoughts and at times emotional observations of a Japanese citizen grappling with the complete loss of his home, all his possessions, national defeat, and the fear of Allied occupation. All the while trying to solve the frustrating puzzle of radiation sickness afflicting his patients and friends. This book provided a very different and personal perspective to the nuclear "option" and makes for a very strong case against their use.

In "Hiroshima Diary," Dr. Michihiko Hachiya recounts his experience as both a victim of the atomic bomb and a first-responder.
Hachiya's account graphically depicts the confusing, terrible weeks that followed the atomic attack on Hiroshima. His matter-of -fact interpretation revels how little modern portrayals of the bombing compare with reality.
The destruction wrought upon the Japanese people at Hiroshima is not to be underestimated, however, Hachiya bares facts that today seem unbelievable in light of the vast devastation.
For all his suffering and all he has been witness to, Hachiya demonstrates little resentment towards the Americans who completely altered his way of life.
A profound book that is both troubling in its imagery and beautiful in its language. No less poignant today than so many years ago.
REVIEW EVERY BOOK YOU READ! AUTHORS DESERVE YOUR OPINIONS!

Native Tarheels and anyone who has visited North Carolina will enjoy this collection of photos.

I bought this book for my father, who is from the mountains of North Carolina and spent the last 20 years as a professional photographer. He was thrilled with it. The pictures are beautiful and you truly get a sense that Hugh Morton was a man who loved his state.