Tennessee Books

For people interested in the life experience of Southern civilians in the 1860's, Stephen Ash should be a prime resource. And for those interested in the totality of our civil war, there is no better place to gain a view than in Middle Tennessee. In 1860, Middle Tennessee was one of the most prosperous sections of the South, filled with successful, even rich, farms and farmers, many of them slaveholders. However, the people of the area were hardly of one view, and when it fell to Union forces in the spring of 1862, Professor Ash paints a vivid picture of the section's rapid decline into "utter social and institutional anarchy."

One of the debates among historians over the time since this book came out relates to the question, was the Civil War a total war? Regardless how one defines total war, or the conclusion one reaches, this book brings into view one great cost the people of the South paid when they entered into a war that would be lost. They had a stable government and a safe living situation before the war began. When Tennessee left the Union to join a new government, and that government was driven away and destroyed, the real terrors and scourges of war, terror and anarchy, filled the void. Anarchy was just as sharp an instrument of harsh war as were any official Union policies designed to destroy the war-making capability of the Confederacy.

I can here some of you now: "Well, I'm not interested in social history; I wanna read about the real war." If so, heed the words of Gary Gallagher, who hailed this book as a new and necessary sort of military history, "connecting the experiences of soldiers in the field and civilians on the home front ... providing a social context within which to understand military events." War isn't hell? Look here. You'll think otherwise.

From frontier to organized settlements, the Middle Tennessee homeland and market developed quickly and produced waves of land speculation, great wealth and divisive politics in this precise history.

This is probably the best in the series of the interviews with former slaves done in the 1930s-in this case Tennessee. Here we get info on a long-forgotten lynching that tookplace in Nashville in 1892 and an early look at life at Fisk University. What makes these stand apart from the others is the fact that since Black Students from Fisk University interviewed these ex-slaves in 1929-30 (not to be confused with the later WPA Slave narratives), they felt freer to express themselves than they would have with White interviewers at the time. We get an eyeful to read as a result and a vairutally untarnished view. However, many of these are anonymous since some of the ex-slaves feared retributution for their remarks. All in all, an excellent read and a treasure chest for historians.

There was another book that was written in 1968 from the Fisk University Slave narratives called "Unwritten History of Slavery" that contains some of the same material. Interesting to compare the two.

If you love to cook, you'll love this book. Every recipe I have prepared from this cookbook a has been fantastic. If you have a friend or relative who hails from the 'Volunteer State', they will love the exerpts from each county.

I bought this book to replace a Southern cookbook that has disappeared. It wasn't the one that I wanted, but such a happy find! Just like stepping into my Grandma's or mother's kitchen! At every turn of the page I came across yet another old friend. If you're looking for real Southern cooking in the Carolina-Tennessee style, you can't do better than Miss Mary's.

When we think of the Civil Rights movement we reflect on the efforts of Martin Luther King, Jr. and all of the great challenges of the 1960s and 1970s. Professor Mary Ward takes us through a time before the movement where the foundation for social progress was being realized. A Mission for Justice is a detailed look at the struggles of the African American people by way of the Black church. I have had the privilege of taking classes with Professor Ward at Fordham University. She brought to her classes intensity and impressive knowledge about the African American experience and the Black Church. I believe you'll feel the same in her book.

Having grown up with a grandfather that still knew some of the language, I was additionally enlightened on reading this book.
The theme of the depth of influence of Eastern woodland Indians on the American sub-culture in South has been severely neglected. So much of what is held to be Anglo or "African" factors seem more & more to be native. Food, words, family residential & migration patterns, attutudes of self-preservation & family loyalities all seem to be in part drawn form our mixed-blood heritage. Even with those who are unaware of it.
excellent book.

I received this book as a gift (Thanks Ditty!!) and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It is an interesting history of not only the children's hospital but also of the Junior League and the Shriners. The descriptions of medical care of children with polio was fascinating. How thankful I am that it was eradicated before my day (and my children's!). Mrs. DuBois's writing style is very easy to read with just the right amount of humnor. Even if you are more a fan of fiction you will enjoy this non-fiction book.

This book is excellent if you are tired of the hussle and bussle of the city and looking for a GREAT weekend trip to the mountains. The maps are a little hard to see but the write-ups for all of the Inns are tremendous. Also included is what to do around the town with restuarants included.

John C. Inscoe is probably one of the most prolific scholars on Southern Appalachian History; Mountain Masters is in many ways the work that firmly planted him in the historiographic tradition of Western North Carolina. Mountain Masters relies on many primary sources (not just a wide variety of them, but a thorough use of them as well) to portray what slavery was really like in Western North Carolina through the Civil War. In opposition to many popular notions, in which slavery didn't exist or was marginal in Western North Carolina, John Inscoe revealed that Western North Carolina was not very different from the rest of the south in trading, selling, buying, and working slaves. Though the patterns of slavery were different in many cases, the institution was still very strong in the region and had a profound impact on the politics, society, and cultural values of the people of the mountains. This book ought to be read by every North Carolina scholar, every slavery scholar, and certainly by every scholar who studies the Southern Appalachians. It is beautifully written and engaging.