North Carolina Books

This is such a useful book it compells a statement. If you visit the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area or North Carolina, or if you live there, this book is an extraordinary guide, written with a sensitivity to place, attractions, events, history, excitement of being there, which makes it a stimulating guide. I have passed places often, but only after I read about them in this book did I see them and experience them. She's done a first-rate job of writing about and explaining an area many people think they already know, but will now realize there is more to learn. Thanks.

"Walking Raleigh/Durham" by Rebecca C Mann is a "must buy as a Christmas present" for friends or family currently living in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill region. As a former Durham resident, I would have loved to have possessed the history, culture, geography and walking oppotunities supplied by Mann's little book. The maps are clear and well drawn and include specific distances and safety considerations. The local architecture and lore are fun and enlightening, and it all fits into a coat pocket with ease. While I intend to send copies to Durham and Chapel Hill friends who walk for exercise, I'm also sending my 65+ year old parents a copy. With descriptions of museums, parks, and historic sites one passes on different walks, it will give my parents something to do after they've watched poor Carolina lose yet another football game. If you need to give a UNC-CH, NC STate, Duke, or Peace College bound student a high school graduation present they'll really appreciate, this book would be it. Better yet, buy it for their parents, who are much more likely to use it during campus visits to their offspring than are the students themselves, since the latter spend most of their time searching for on campus parking spaces. On my next visit to the Triangle, I'm taking "Walking Raleigh/Durham" along.

Laura Fleming and her husband Richard return to Laura's hometown in North Carolina to show off their 7-month-old baby and to share in the festivities for her aging Aunt Maggie who just eloped. But the elopement hid something serious. Someone has been trying to kill Big Bill Walters, Maggie's new husband. Laura has a reputation as the best amateur detective in North Carolina. Between nursing the baby and changing its diapers (and frequent sneaking away for private moments with husband Richard), Laura finds time to interview the long list of suspects that a powerful and wealthy man like Big Bob is certain to amass.

Author Toni L. P. Kelner delivers a witty and folksy story with characters that feel real and true. The list of suspects includes Big Bob's fawning son, his bitter daughter-in-law, a hermit with a mother fixation, and a police officer's girlfriend. Any of these are possibilities, but Laura suspects that there is another secret being hidden. And Laura is dogged in her pursuit of secrets. Richard's Shakespear quotes may occasionally seem just a little over the top (does anyone really go around talking like that), and frequent mystery readers will guess the killer, but the entire story is meant to be over the top--these 'flaws' only add to the charm.

WED AND BURIED is a cute and funny story.

It has been seven months since Richard and Laura have given birth to their daughter Alice but they are still basking in the afterglow and are acting like typical doting parents. Laura has no intention of leaving her Boston home and going to visit her relatives in her hometown of Byerly. However, when she gets a call saying that Aunt Margie eloped with the town's wealthiest citizen Big Bill Walters, The Flemings hightail it to Byerly as fast as they can.

When they arrive in the Carolinas, Maggie tells them that there have been three attempts made on her husband's life so they married so she can legitimately watch his back. Laura and Richard, who have solved many a murder case in Byerly, immediately tells them will find out who wants Maggie's husband dead. Over the years, Bill has made many enemies but nobody seemingly with a strong enough motive to kill him so Laura and the local police decide to bait a trap and see what they catch.

Laura has so many relatives living in Byerly that they are each taking turns watching Alice while her parents investigates a crime. Lice steals the show without saying a word. Byerly is a small southern town located in North Carolina with an ambiance of genteel civility and welcome. Toni L.P. Kelner has written another delightfully adorable amateur sleuth tale. WED AND BURIED is a quirky, quaint, and refreshing novel.

Harriet Klausner

I was at NCSU in 1983 and reading this book was like reliving that dream season. Well written and engaging!

It's hard to find a book about the Pack that is bad. It's a good read for any true Wolfpack fan --a good trip down memory lane. The picture section in the middle of the book is nicely done and a good addition to the text. Would recommend for any NC State fan!

In this book, Ash analyzes the Southern experience in areas invaded by Union troops during the Civil War. Whereas most other studies on this subject deal with a specific town or locality, Ash's book presents an inclusive synthesis that examines the commonalities of the occupation throughout the South. Three main themes direct his study of occupation. One examines how Northern policies regarding the South during occupation developed over the course of the war. Another theme appraises how three different geographical segments of the South experienced occupation (garrison towns, the Confederate frontier, and no-man's land). Finally, Ash looks at how occupation by Federal forces led to internal conflicts between Southerners of varied political, social, and economic groups.
In Ash's study, three important hallmarks of the South were its social hierarchy, its rural communalism, and its race relations. These elements worked in combination to create a unique society that Northern invaders perceived as both backward and foreign. Because of the cultural disparities between the North and the South, the arrival of Union occupying troops was a greatly feared occurrence by Southerners. However, initial Southern interactions with Union troops proved to be less volatile than was originally thought. Despite Northern attempts to remain equitable and lenient within occupied areas, Southern recalcitrance persisted. The continuation of these rebellious attitudes forced Union troops to adopt a harsher policy in their administration of the occupied South, leading to further antagonism between the Union military and Southerners. The "hard policy" of Union occupation also increased existing internal conflicts in the South, such as those between slaves and their masters, Unionists and their secessionist neighbors, and poor whites and the propertied elites. Thus, with the Union control of the South and the disruption caused by this occupation, the established elements of Southern culture (social hierarchy, rural communalism, race relations) could no longer provide a completely cohesive society.

A very interesting view of the other side of the Civil War. Ash takes the reader on a trip to the South and shows how life changed after the Union Army invaded. The book gives an overall look at the entire South, showing exactly how different regions were effected. Also includes many quotes from actual residents and cites from Southern newspapers, each giving the reader a true vision of what it was like to live there during the Civil War. A wonderful addition to a Civil War collection, especially if you are interested in the South.

The paintings by John Cody are wonderfully realistic, lively portrayals of some of our most beautiful insects. The moths are not shown pinned but in flight or real poses with real and appropriate plants and flowers. A must for any admirer of Lepidoptera!

When I first stumbled onto this impressive book in the store, I could not put it down! John Cody's paintings are masterful. They are full of the most delicate brilliant colors and light. Page after page features the loveliest images of these wonderful creatures from around the World. Attention to detail is second to none, his accurate and perceptive portrayals demonstrate an intimate knowledge of these ethereal insects in a spectacular fashion.
My brothers and I avidly collected these moths at night, in the rural North Carolina mountains. It was thrilling to see them dart around the street lamps like fiery jewels. Unfortunately, most books on this subject feature photos of pinned, faded samples. I've always felt it was a shame people couldn't experience their enchanting magic like we did. John Cody's book does that.

This book was interesting from the start. I couldn't put it down. I laughed and cried with the main character and was totally taken into the personal problems of the family and the cultural climate the story was written in. The main characters growth and struggles as a young boy touched my heart and opened my eyes to a totally different world of poverty, discrimination, and what it must have been like growing up in the South during the years before world war 2. I passed this book along to many friends who all are waiting with great anticipation for another book from this author.

I thought this was a fantastic book. The end of each chapter makes you want to read the next one. When the author writes another book, I'll be first in line to get an autographed copy.

Enjoyed reading about Flora Macdonald. Wonderful period in history and this part of it well presented. Wish the author had more books on the subject.

The author of this book does such a wonderful job.
You should buy it!

Excellent information about healing, herbs, and African American midwives in the antebellum period. Highly recommended for readers interested in health, birthing, and midwives in the African American community during that time. Unexpectedly, also great art!

So many people attribute African American healing to other cultures, particularly European Americans or Native Americans. While there were bound to be cultural sharing, Professor Sharla Fett makes it perfectly clear that enslaved Africans brought their own wisdom with them concerning farming and healing, as well as certain medicinal plants, with them to the Americas during the Middle Passage. "Working Cures" is an outstanding contribution to understanding distinctly American contributions to healing made by African Americans. Fett also presents the history of conjure, root doctoring, midwifery and a great deal more as it relates to medicine and healing in the African American community. Fett also illustrates the mind/body/spirit, holistic approach of African healing employed by African Americans. "Working Cures" is essential reading for those interested in learning the unique aspects of African American healing in the United States.

This is an informative (and nicely written) look at 19th century American literature in terms of the ways it understands the ideas of deafness and hearing. The theoretical matrix of DuBois's color line may be less necessary and less useful here than the social historicist theory Krentz is developing as a base for reading both deaf and non-deaf authors in their negotiations of the imaginative--and perhaps the real--space of deafness. May be engaging to anyone appreciating American literature and/or interested in concepts of deafness, as well as to academics in these and related fields.

This is an original and provocative book. Addressing W. E. B. DuBois's concept of "the color line" in the 20th century, Krentz argues that 19th century American literature grappled with a "hearing line," i.e. a contested boundary between hearingness (the author's coinage) and deafness. He examines how this hearing line appears in work by deaf authors and also in the canonical authors of the century. The readings of Melville, Twain, Cooper, and others open new perspectives on their works that should be of interest to anyone concerned with the construction of American identity. The deaf authors included are contextualized in their literary and social locations as they articulate a deaf "I" or "we."

Throughout the work, Krentz engages current literary theory on gender, race, class, and colonialism. Deaf American culture intersects with these theories, but also presents challenges to them. The similarities and differences between deaf experience(s) and those of other oppressed groups deserve serious thought by anyone interested in the dynamics of self-definition for oppressed groups. Krentz emphasizes the positive sense of deaf identity and community that emerged in the 19th century, as authors responded to the complexities of American identity at that time.

I have read (and reviewed on Amazon) quite a number of the McFarland regimental histories, and have found just about all of them fascinating pieces of detailed historical scholarship. Without disparaging the best of them for a moment, this book on the "Two Horse" brings the series to another level: the depth of scholarship and the comprehensiveness of the material brought forth for the reader are beyond just about anything I'm familiar with in this field. Not only does Roger Harrell relate every major and minor action the unit was involved in (even those they didn't actively participate in, like Fredericksburg), he's also placed the 2nd in context to events around them. He's consulted all the different source materials available, and has included many excerpts from cavalrymen's letters and diaries. The book is a wonderful achievement.

Interestingly, just about all the authors in this series have expressed a personal interest in the regiments they wrote about when they learned that a relative had fought with the unit. Harrell is no exception. The 2nd Carolina Cavalry got off to a disastrous beginning. Formed in the summer of 1861, trained at Camp Clark near Kittrell Springs, it saw it's first major action at New Bern, NC, in March 1862. After a disorderly retreat from there and what was perceived as cowardly behavior a month later at Gillett's Farm, some thought the regiment so incompetent that they wanted it disbanded. Instead, it regrouped and began a gradual ascension to respectability and finally very high regard. How the regiment achieved this hard-won acclaim is Harrell's major concern in the book.

Most cavalry units in the Civil War were involved in small skirmishes or in shielding the movement of the army entering or leaving a large battle. Often they did not participate in these larger battles. Harrell is concerned, however, with the small fights and details them with care, trying to illustrate how they fit into the larger scheme of things. He is also interested in the day-to-day trials and tribulations of the common soldier, his worries about food, the weather, death and disease, and boredom, too, and, of course, the loneliness of being away from home and family. Harrell does a magnificent job of dealing with all of this. My only concern is that some might find the amount of detailed information presented by Harrell overbearing, which would be a shame. There IS a lot of minutiae here, but anyone truly interested in not only the 2nd North Carolina Cavalry but of cavalry units in general and their role in the eastern theatre of the Civil War, will find much to appreciate in this excellent book.