North Carolina Books

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.

Imagine New England and one thinks of rocky beaches, bucolic towns, grassroots democracy, intelectual, and progressive ideals. Imagine New England and one wants to be taken back to a purer, simpler, and more ideal time; a better life of white houses and steeple churches where one is apart of the history of who are and want to be as Americans and patriots.

In "Imagining New England," Joseph Conforti deconstructs the creation of the regional identify of New England in exquisite historical detail. In a blend of history and sociology, Professor Conforti searches for the "real" New England. The New England he had heard of but not seen or experienced as child growing up in the most un-New England of New England of cities, Fall River.

This book is a substantial contribution to American history. New England, the cultural invention, the concept, represents the best we want to be as Americans. It is a concept the country and the region itself continually reach for as an anchor to our roots despite the fact that the region itself long ago left it behind. Joseph Conforti captures the essence of this complex identity, both real and manufactured.

This is an exceptionally well researched and beautifully written book which, for me, opened up all kinds of new ideas about the nature of "region" and "place" in general, and New England in particular. I was fascinated from the earliest section describing how the "second generation" in New England inherited the region from their parents and tried to "reinvent" the place for their own purposes, all the way to the wonderful discussion of Frost and the evolution of Yankee magazine. Conforti develops the theory that the locus of New England moved from Boston, with a brief recapture by Plymouth, on to Connecticut and now to northern New England. (Anybody see the Boston Globe magazine last week about "Magnetic North"? It fits perfectly into Conforti's theme.) What happened to Lawrence and Fall River and the immigrant population; you'll have to read to find out. If you love New England, this book is highly readable, profound, and worth the price!

This is a great book about the Haitian Revolution it is different essay about this revolution impact on other nations in the Atlantic World. It not only gives various historians thoughts and ideas but a more rounder view of what this revolution really did for the atlantic world.

Like most of the recent work of David Geggus, this book provides a good frame work and introduction for a much-needed academic study of the Haitian Revolution and it's world-wide impact.

THE INDEPENDENT CAROLINA BASEBALL LEAGUE... is a masterpiece of regional history. Sure, it's about baseball and the almost religious nature of its practice during this time and place. But there is so much more in the details about social structure , convention and the fine line between the public and private.

Utley and Verner were quite diligent with their research. The collection of photos and the league statistics corroborate the many anecdotes and colorful player profiles. The linear narrative is perfect and puts some rails under what might have otherwise been a haphazard assembly of good yarns. I highly recommend this book to anyone who cares about baseball, the pioneer spirit, and well-documented history.

This is a wonderful book. Not only is it a story of baseball, but it is a story of the Depression-era South and life in the textile mill towns of North Carolina. Incredibly well researched and full of great photographs, this book will appeal to anyone with an interest in history even if they are not a baseball fan. As a baseball book it relates the great stories and legendary expoits of small town heroes from the Golden Era of the sport. As a social history it shows how textile mills were the lifeblood of dozens of small towns, a part of Southern life that is all to often forgotten today.

Excellent. We use it each time we go...the pages are worn...recommendations on places to stay, dining, etc. have been right on target. I know that using this book helped introduce us to the Outer Banks in such a way that our experience kept us coming back. Thank you Insiders' Guides for wonderful publications.

I was too long in purchasing a guide to the Outer Banks. I'd been going for years so what was there that I could learn? Certainly I'd learned all there was to learn in my visits. What was left? This book proved that the answer was plenty!

Even if you purchase this book to discover new restaurants, you won't be disappointed. I learned that there were restaurants off the beaten track, on roads that I thought had led nowhere, which actually curled around to an island and to a wonderfully intimate and wonderful restaurant. I learned what restaurants specialized in gourmet, which needed reservations, sometimes a year in advance, and which catered just to family.

Also, where could I take my pooch? Which beaches would accomodate us during the summer? Where were tennis courts and other facilities? Where were nature walks? What's to see where?

The pages have become dog-eared. Notes have been scrawled in the margins. This book has become indispenable for us, and I'm certain that if you are a visitor to the Outer Banks, it probably will be indispensable to you as well.

I had an old copy of this guide when we were vacationing on the Outer Banks. It was very helpful, but I loved it so much I bought the current copy to update, both were worth every penny. I could only wish all travel guides were as good as this one

This guide was extremely accurate and helpful in planning our trip the Outerbanks. It continued to be useful when we arrived. We used it to find affordable resturants and activities for the whole family. We highly recommend this book.

Gallant's book was the first clear and concise treatment of nonlinear statistical regression models. It provided general theory, examples of applications and was very well written. The book by Bates and Watts came out one year later and added measures of the degree of nonlinearity of a problem. Still the first source that I would go to when implementing a nonlinear model.

Gallant's book was the first clear and concise treatment of nonlinear statistical regression models. It provided general theory, examples of applications and was very well written. The book by Bates and Watts came out one year later and added measures of the degree of nonlinearity of a problem. Still the first source that I would go to when implementing a nonlinear model.