South Carolina Books

My first introduction to the poetry of Susan Meyers was via a telephone conversation. An "internet" friend in Columbia, SC, called me out here in Cottonwood, CA, and said, "I must share this poet's work with you!" Then she read "A Hat Made of Gold Finches" (I may have the title slightly skewed, as I've loaned my copy of the book to a friend). I ordered the book based on that one poem; I have not been disappointed. Susan Meyers takes the nature that surrounds and creates clean beauty (not always perfectly pretty, just as nature is wont to be) with honest strokes and imaginative genius. A wonderful read, start to finish, over and over again.

"Keep and Give Away" is a very pleasant surprise from a new Southern voice. The imagery is luscious and poignant simultaneously. Meyer's paints a rural landscape of growing up and living in and around South Carolina: wintering loons, koi, hats of many goldfinches, the year she banished yellow from her life, roller skating to Maria Callas, red mountains in October, water--both still and rushing, a mother-daughter dance unto death, sweetgum, Spanish moss, fishing on cool mornings, and a man named Blue.

These poems leave you wanting more, which is what an excellent book of poetry must do to succeed.

I've read this book twice, loving it more the second time. I also just finished reading Claudia Emerson's Pulitzer Prize winning "Late Wife." If you liked Emerson's "Late Wife," you'll love Meyers' "Keep and Give Away." Susan Meyers' voice and vision are strong and clear. She may be the next, great poet of the South.

This work should be of more than passing interest to those who more and more find themselves beset on every side by urban sprawl. The author sets out in many ways to preserve an old family homestead; but, more important, seeks ways to make the place profitable. His attempts are often hilarious, the more so when they fail, and they never lack meaning for others who share his feelings about the need for ways to protect ourselves from the menace of an urbanization that has rapidly got out of contol.

This work should be of more than passing interest to those who more and more find themselves beset on every side by urban sprawl. The author sets out in many ways to preserve an old family homestead; but, more important, seeks ways to make the place profitable. His attempts are often hilarious, the more so when they fail, and they never lack meaning for others who share his feelings about the need for ways to protect ourselves from the menace of an urbanization that has rapidly got out of contol.

Brian takes his stories and makes them fun to listen too! I've heard him telling tales live and when you read the book the stories come alive again.

Get the book for your family and friends. It's an easy read and the stories sound better when they're read aloud!

Mike Miller, author of the upcoming book: "Sweet Tea, Kudzu and Grits"

Yarn-spinner extraordinaire, Brian McCréight has produced the funniest, most intriguing collection of loopy and amazing Southern tales ever. He's the kind of storyteller you'd love to spend all night `round a campfire with. Especially if there was a little `shine to pass around. Here, in The Legend of the Lowcountry Liar, you will find the Un-history of the South Carolina Lowcountry, inspired by puckish predeliction and wanton whimsey; full of mirth and irony, and sublimely unfettered by endless endnotes, appalling appendices, or boring bibliographies. And the type is even big enough for old geezers like this reviewer to read without glasses. --Richard N. Côté, author, Mary's World: Love, War, and Family Ties in Nineteenth-century Charleston.

Margot Theis Raven shares with us a forgotten 1955 event - when adults allowed racism to prevent the African American Cannon Street All-Stars from playing other Little League teams in South Carolina for the Little League World Series.

I'm not a baseball fan. Yet, my eyes welled when reading this book about a team of 14 black boys who wanted nothing more than to play baseball.

Margot Raven captures the 1950s in words. She reminds us of the pride and support the black community had for the Cannon Street All-Stars. Chris Ellison's illustrations transports us to 2nd base, to joyful pillow fights, and to a stadium chanting, "Let Them Play."

Excellent gift for children and baseball fans of all ages!

As a white man born only one year before this travesty of "sportsmanship" took place I cannot begin to tell people how important it is that this story be told not just to my generation who grew up in the begiinings of the civil rights, no the HUMAN rights, movements, but even more important, to the children of today. What could easily become an "oh poor us" story is not. It is a story of a wonderful bunch of kids who just wanted to play. "Let Them Play" is something you won't soon forget. Read it, give one to a kid and put one in a school library!

These letters are written by a young widow during the Revolutionary War. She is quite an excellent writer with astute observations, although at that time in history, women weren't allowed the privilege of expressing their sentiments politically. A wonderful book, but over much too fast!

These letters are written by a young widow during the Revolutionary War. She is quite an excellent writer with astute observations, although at that time in history, women weren't allowed the privilege of expressing their sentiments politically. A wonderful book, but over much too fast!

I really enjoyed this book since I grew up in Lexington, NC...a lot of history in Lexington I didn't know. I also gave copy to my best friend since we grew up together and were neighbors in Lexington.

I gave this book to my mother-in law who is from Lexington NC and she loved it! There are a lot of pictures to think of good old memories.
I think a book like this is very special.

Little Muddy Waters is a sensational book. It is one of my personal favorites. I have read this book over and over and over to kindergarten and first grade children at my school and they absolutely love it!! All the adults that hear it love it too. This is about a little mischievious boy who learns a big lesson. Ron Daise does an excellent job integrating old wives tales and remedies in this story. Lots of interesting gullah culture! I wish I had more books by Ron Daise. This one is a keeper!!

The book has a great story line and when listened to the cassette tape with Ron Daise reading it in the Gullah accent makes it even better. The illustration and use of colors are fantastic. Barbara McArtor does a great job with color selection and keeping a childs eye captive. She uses bright, vivid colors. She also continues her story (picture) line throughout the book. You will notice the cat numerous times and her characters are always carried from one page to another keeping in uniform with the previous page. This is a must buy for your child. I'd like to see a list of more books illustrated by Ms. McArtor.

The 1950's South was both a time and a place of contradictions. On the one hand, there was a cultural revolution going on that fused both white and black musical tastes into one revolutionary music genre (rock 'n' roll) and a political revolution that went on (integration) which made the cultural achievements seem to pale in comparison. In essence, the South of the 1950's was a confusing maelstrom of contradictory policies and failed opportunities for peaceful change.

So argues Pete Daniel in his book "Lost Revolutions: The South in the 1950's". Daniel's thesis is that the South offered ripe opportunities for change during the immediate post-World War II era but these opportunities were overlooked by the fact that warring factions between African-Americans and whites prevented to make important cultural revolutions make a difference in the political spectrum. These important cultural revolutions consisted of: the importance of rhythm and blues in forging feelings of appreciation between blacks and white country and western singers, the rise of NASCAR as a unifying factor among lower-class whites to challeng the hegemony of the white middle and upper-classes, and, finally, the rebeliousness exhibited by both white and black youth to forge a new consensus for political change. Daniel's book does an excellent job of explaining both why there were contradictions in Southern society and how these contradictions contributed to a painfully fought battle for integration and equal rights. This is a battle which is still being fought today but more on a state's rights and regionalistic front than a racial front.

Daniel's book is a true lesson in primary source research and his endnotes clearly demonstrate this. Interviews, 4 pages of manuscript collection sources, and numerous prominent secondary sources fully back up a thought-provoking thesis. This book is a welcome addition to southern historiography.

Read this for graduate American history course. Lost Revolutions by Pete Daniel is a book that looks at the South during the 1950's. More specifically, it is a cultural history of the American South from the end of World War II until the Freedom Summer of 1964. Daniel's thesis is, "The South that evolved in the twenty years after the war emerged out of displacement, conflict, and creativity - not tranquility" (1). Daniel covers many themes that support his thesis. Among these themes are the migration of small farmers to cities, the advent of NASCAR, Rock n' Roll, and the lost occasions to give full citizenship to African Americans. The author's intention for writing this book is twofold. First, Daniel explores the cultural achievements of the "Lowdown culture" (91). He does this by looking at how the displaced farmers kept their rural roots, despite the fact that they lived in urban areas. Second, Daniel delves into the reasons why the middle-class and upper-class South did not want to desegregate. Lost Revolutions is a fascinating cultural history that sheds light on many current issues.

Daniel discusses numerous issues that surrounded the South after the end of World War II. Primarily, the author looks at a multitude of reasons that massively shrank the number of farmers in the South. "Over a million farm operators left the land in the 1950s" (60). Ezra Taft Benson was a major contributor in the displacement of small farmers in the South. Benson was appointed the secretary of agriculture under
Eisenhower in 1952. This is about the same time that farm machinery, such as tractors, began to replace labor-intensive farming techniques. Additionally, since the Great Depression the majority of southern farmers relied on Government subsidies. "Calculations, allotments, and regulations - not hard work - determined whether farmers succeeded or failed" (46). In 1959 a seventy-one-year-old Alabama farmer named E. Spech said, " ... now we can't move without a handout ... Each morning the men headed for some local restaurant for a cup of coffee while their wives sleep till noon" (59). It was obvious to many that Benson did not want to support the small farmer, but rather Agribusiness and the large farmer. Many of the white southern landowners bought more farms, machinery, and became wealthy with the support of the government. Conversely, small farmers, tenant farmers, and sharecroppers, both black and white, left their farms for the cities.

One of the themes that Daniel discusses in Lost Revolutions is the role of the government on the southern environment. As machinery cut down on the need for workers on a farm, so to did the use of chemicals. Interestingly, after World War One, two the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) teamed up with the Chemical Warfare Service to combine their chemical research. These organizations researched
chemicals like DDT, which could be used against humans or insects to shut down the nervous system. DDT and other similar chemicals were used to dust crops by plane, but usually this was done by hand to save money. The USDA even funded the dusting of private property with dieldrin, which is 20 times more toxic than DDT in order to eradicate Argentine fire ants. This supposed scourge was built up by using "Red propaganda" in order scare Americans that an invading insect was going to ruin their land.
The government would eventually spend $156 million dollars to extinguish the Argentine fire ant. This resulted in ruining the environment in many places and actually caused the ...fire ant to speed up its evolutionary cycle and spread throughout the country. The picture that Daniel paints of organizations like the USDA and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) helps to support his thesis that the South was changing out of conflict.

Lost Revolutions gives the history of displaced southerners who banded together, despite having different skin colors. " ... when it came to exchanging something offensive to the upper class, racial barriers collapsed" (92). The Lowdown culture of the South thrived on being unruly, unrespectable, hard-drinking, and rough. The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) has roots in bootlegging and quickly became something that the Lowdown culture gravitated to in the 1950s. The drivers, mechanics, and fans typically put pleasure over values by their bad behavior on and off the track. Additionally, the Lowdown culture produced, "jazz, blues, country, gospel, rhythm and blues, rock On'roll, and soul music" (122). People like Elvis Presley, B.B. King, Willie Mitchell, and Otis Redding were the sounds of the 1950s and the music had no color barrier. The culture that the displaced southerners found joy in reflected their beliefs and could have helped to end segregation in the South. The author describes the South in the 1950s by looking at the continuation of segregation as something that came from the white middle class and the elite. Daniel argues that the working-class southerners were typically not fighting against integration in the South. This is seen through the crisis at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Daniel describes why many whites and blacks feared integration at Central High School. The nine black students who attended Central were kept from major physical harm by the 101st Airborne, which was sent by President Eisenhower. Segregationists saw this action as a threat to state rights and a throwback to
Reconstruction. The strength of Daniel's account of this well-known event lies in his telling of the rest of the story. He tells how the "Littlerock Nine" were subjected to being hit, having hot soup dumped on them, seeing racial words written in the bathroom, and having to be submissive. In the end, Daniel notes the opportunity for positive integration was lost when, "Segregationists policed the color line with a vengeance and intimidated and white person who deviated from their code" (283).

Lost Revolutions is a book that looks at the driving forces behind the Southern culture in the 1950s. The author focuses on segregation as a major topic, but also looks at the cultural collision brought out by the upper-class, middle-class, and the Lowdown cultures. After WorId War II many people in the South favored integration, civil rights, and a positive change in culture. However, "The white elite engineered agribusiness, migration, and massive resistance, a counterrevolution that poisoned both the environment and race relations" (305). The damage done to race relations is to take many years to heal, and in many places is still waiting for resolution. The Blues and NASCAR are proof that race relations in the South could have come from positive cultural influence. Daniel does not look at the South as being predominantly full of segregationists. Rather, he points to lack of leadership, ignorance, and fear as the major reasons that the South had an uneasy end to segregation. Daniel claims that the working class
people of the South were swept away in the racial tension that embattled the 1950s. Segregation in the South ended through laws and intervention rather than a belief in equality. "Before they [the working-class] were divided or tamed, these people redefined the South and established enduring cultural monuments" (305).

As a graduate student in philosophy and history, I recommended this book for anyone interested in American history, civil rights era history.

As I read this book and enjoy the beautiful photography of rivers, trees, flowers, and wildlife it is for me like taking a visual vacation through the South Carolina lowcountry. It has just enough information to satisfy my curiousity about the environment. I appreciate all of the talent and knowledge that went in to compiling this prize possession.

Blagden's artistic photographs truly capture the spirit of the South Carolina Lowcountry. They're divided into six sections: Tidal Rivers, Upland Forests, Swamp Forests and Freshwater Wetlands, The Salt Marsh, Barrier Islands, and The Coastal Edge. Highly recommended for anyone who loves the beauty of one of our most biodiverse states. Would make a great gift.

Joseph Tyson is professor emeritus of religious studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and in his latest book, Luke, Judaism, and the Scholars: Critical Approaches to Luke-Acts, surveys the history of critical scholarship on the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. Professor Tyson draws particular attention to the interpretation of Luke's treatment of Jews and Judaism as he notes that the Holocaust was a major turning point in the history of New Testament scholarship, including the study of Luke's writings. Professor traces the evolution of scholarly view of the text over the past two centuries and examines the work of leading New Testament scholars, both European and American. Luke, Judaism, And The Scholars is a splendid contribution to the growing body of New Testament scholarship focusing on the writings of Luke and the study of Christianity's Judaic roots.

I fully agree with the previous review of this book by Midwest Book Reviews. I find their reviews succinct, accurate, and extremely useful. That being said, I hope that I can amplify and flesh out their contribution. It should be noted that this work does not spend much time with scholars emphasizing source critical or historical critical analysis. It is largely a study of how attitudes brought to the text have shaped theological scholarship regarding Luke-Acts. If your primary interest is in the historical content of Luke-Acts and the sources of material included by the author, this book will provide you with some information but not as much as you might wish. Furthermore, my academic specialty makes me extremely aware of the conundrum of writing about the past while weighed down by the baggage of the present. While my primary interests are not addressed in this volume, please note that I still gleaned much of interest from this study. Also, Tyson is to be commended for writing a book that is accessible to all literate adults which provides a road map of where we have been and where we seem to be going in scholarship regarding Luke-Acts and Judaism.

Starting with F. C. Bauer representing the "Tubingen School" in the eighteen-thirties and running through Harnack, Schlatter, Heanchen and Conzelmann into the nineteen-fifties Tyson finds that these German scholars read a rather unremitting stream of anti-Judaism into Luke-Acts. One wonders if the results might have been different if scholars from another nation were queried? The short answer is probably not as anti-Jewish sentiment has existed in Christian circles since circa 40 CE right through the Augustine-Ambrose debates on the topic and thereafter. With the Crusades, this sentiment turned ugly and violent. Modernity which was ushered in during the sixteen hundreds was viewed by the Roman Catholic Church as a direct attack on its authority. And, as if by habit, the "evils" of modernity were blamed on the Jews. It was but a short leap to the political anti-Semitism of the nineteenth and early twentieth century which culminated in the Holocaust. In nineteen sixty-two, Jacob Jervell, a Norwegian scholar, started questioning the pervasiveness of anti-Judaism in the New Testament. The publication in nineteen seventy-two of his book, "Luke and the People of God," opened a floodgate of revisionist scholarship on Luke-Acts. The degree of anti-Judaism displayed in these scriptural texts has been an important topic in later works.

Once again, this should remind us of the dictum "that what we write about the past tells us much about our present." Tyson rightly and frankly sees the Holocaust as a pivotal event in the here and now that changed the scholarly treatment of anti-Judaism in the N.T. However, historical revisionism, new left historiography, and deconstructionist literary criticism have also contributed to this reassessment. These later factors have been instrumental in the weeding out of cultural bias from scholarly work in a number of fields. Regrettably, religious studies, theology, and related areas have lagged in their attempts to implement value free objective goals as well as rigorous methodological criteria. After Jervell, Tyson considers the work of three late twentieth century American scholars. They are Jack T. Sanders, Robert L. Brawley, and Robert C. Tannehill. In short, Sanders finds the ultimate closure of the mission to the Jews in Acts and the triumph of anti-Judaism in the text while Brawley finds in Luke-Acts a primarily positive attitude towards Judaism with a still open mission to the Jews at the end of Acts. All three of these scholars find ambivalence towards Jews and Judaism in Luke-Acts, but it is Robert Tannehill who emphasizes it most. At the end of Acts, he finds the mission to the Jews to be closed and replaced with the mission to the gentiles.

On the one hand, the earlier German scholars found a Christianity triumphant over a moribund "late Judaism." For them, Judaism earned the reprobation it received by its obdurate rejection of repentance and salvation through Jesus Christ. On the other hand, Tannehill sees a tragedy steeped in misunderstanding and ambivalence. An historical reading of Luke-Acts goes a long way to explain the ambivalence of the early Church regarding contemporary Judaism. On that topic, one might wish to consult a bibliography published by Joel B. Green on the historicity of Luke-Acts. A fine short closing chapter by Tyson indicates some of the future directions the study of Luke-Acts might take. The author deserves enormous credit for his evenhanded and objective approach to the material covered in this book. Even though Tyson lets you know his opinions, they never interfere with his careful explication of the scholarship of others. And, while Tyson dates Luke-Acts at a very late date, you would never suspect that from this book. There is much to be gained by reading this work. It is a model of objectivity. It should challenge and inform all but the most advanced students and scholars of the matters considered.