North Carolina Books

This book took me through a wonderful pictorial journey- through the history of one small southern town that rightfully claims its own special niche in Georgia's rich cultural heritage. This collection of photographs shows how one small community maintained its beautiful southern charm but also prospered when the rich mineral content of the town's seven springs brought visitors to enjoy the water's medicinal powers. For anyone who marvels at southern history, architecture, or culture, this book is a gem. Whether you are intrigued by spiritualism or scandal, Hannon includes something to please any enthusiast. The photographs are complemented by informative captions that reflect a depth of research. Also: thanks to the author for avoiding a shortcoming in some historical works by including a lovely assortment of African-American scenes.

I guess this is out of print, because I picked it up at a church sale. This author is a talented writer, nice and clean, keeps action moving, no factual errors that I could see, no unnecessary elements. A great story of a North Carolina tobacco town that is destroyed by a leveraged buyout of the main employer and plunged from prosperity to depression. This is not just backdrop but becomes an integral part of the plot. The main character stops to help a woman after a car accident and becomes more and more involved with her, without knowing her past or her identity. He risks his job, his marriage and maybe his life as he becomes obsessed with "helping her." One secret after another is gradually revealed with a tremendous momentum building to the end. I think this is excellent writing, and I would hope people would still be able to get this book. It was written in 1995, and it definitely works as a period piece from the events that were taking place at that time. It works just as well today.

"Susanna Rowson was the famous writer of the best selling novel, Charlotte Temple. Marion Rust writes a wonderful narrative about why Rowson was an important woman and the impact that her writing had on the early U.S. Republic."

this book carries you on a city by city tour of professional baseball in N. C. Once the capital of minor league professional baseball (in the forties) N. C,fans saw the early careers of hundreds of future major leaguers Eddie Mathews, Richard Culler, Hoyt Wilhelm, Billy Goodman, the real Crash Davis ( not the character in Bull Durham) and hundreds more. The photographs are vintage. Any baseball fan that is interested in the history of minor league baseball will find a gold mine not only about the players but also community leaders and the efforts they made to keep minor league baseball alive. The book is in good readable form and baseball fans, social and cultural historians will find it enlightning as well as enjoyable

Dr. Cox has written a very well-researched account of the differing lifestyles, and attitudes towards, officers and enlisted person during the American War of Independence. Without the historical background, it is nearly impossible for people with today's sensibilities to understand the dichotomy. We have long left behind the life when a "commoner" was expected to doff a cap in the presence of a gentleman, or the fact that such individuals were really not held to be as "equal" as some of our documents from the periods would seem to indicate. "All men are created equal" clearly did not apply to everyone. In fact, the breaking down of the the distinction between the gentry and "the common herd" was something that many revolutionary leaders neither anticipated nor advocated (see S. Gordon Wood's The Radicalism of the American Revolution or Revolutionary Characters, for example). Washington himself, as Cox notes, was a huge proponent of the distinction and believed that the accepted superiority of the character and intelligence of "gentlemen" was necessary for military order. Cox makes this accepted distinction crystal clear and shows the implications for how the troops were treated and were considered by the population at large. To our eyes, the distinctions between how officers and enlisted persons were treated seems arbitrary and most unfair. Cox's careful historical analysis allows us to understand this better by understanding the thinking of the day regarding the make-up of the people involed. I would recommend Freeman's Affairs of Honor as excellent supplemental reading.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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