North Carolina Books

From Catharine Beecher To Martha Stewart: A Cultural History Of Domestic Advice by historian Sara A. Leavitt is a thoughtful and informative overview of the history of domestic advice, gleaned from research into hundreds of manuals written throughout the past 150 years. Cultural themes, the broad appeal of domestic advice across the decades in spite of radical changes in women's rights and roles in America, and the connection between women's homes, and the world outsides the home, mark From Catharine Beecher To Martha Stewart as a fascinating, accessible, insightful, scholarly treatise. Especially recommended for personal and Women's Studies supplemental reading lists and academic reference collections, From Catharine Beecher To Martha Stewart is also available in hardcover (0807827029).

In this volume, Joseph Reidy traces the development of Central Georgia from the period of its earliest settlement following the Revolutionary War through Reconstruction, focusing on economic, political, and social changes. Prior to 1830, most Georgians were yeoman farmers seeking self-sufficiency, owning only a few slaves with whom they lived and worked in a familiar manner. During the cotton boom of the 1830s, large planters moved into the area, establishing the plantation system, large numbers of slaves, and the ganging method of production. The depression of the 1840s allowed the planters to make gains at the expense of yeomen, as they bought up land and slaves at low prices from debt-burdened farmers. The process of planter consolidation and domination continued into the 1850s when cotton prices rose. Reidy argues that to respond to increased demand, rather than practicing scientific agriculture to increase output, planters in central Georgia simply increased the workload of their slaves, hiring additional overseers from the newly dispossessed white lower class. The increased tensions between planters, struggling yeomen, overburdened slaves, and the new landless poor whites played out in the Secession crisis and period of Reconstruction.

Despite their claims that a slave republic was the only form of government capable of producing harmonious social relations, planters were aware that the growing poverty in the region undermined this argument and threatened to turn the yeomanry and poor whites against them. Evidence of this division could be seen in the growth of party politics, with planters, town dwellers, and immigrants preferring the Democratic Party, and yeomen and poor whites turning to the Know-Nothings. Planters hoped to alleviate social tensions by funding poor relief, public education, and internal improvements that would bring new jobs, but the yeomanry, while approving in theory of public works, rejected them out of opposition to the higher taxes such projects would entail. Once the Civil War broke out, planter actions only furthered the destruction of the social and economic relations they had hoped to save, as planters refused to devote all resources to winning the war at the expense of current profits. They continued to plant cotton when grain was needed to supply troops and would not contract out their slaves to war materiel producers at low prices, resulting in rising prices for yeomen families who could not maintain self-sufficiency with their household heads away fighting the war and decreasing purchasing power for white laborers. Planters were unable to feed or protect their slaves from Union troops, destroying slaves' faith in paternalism and forcing them to take care of themselves, which prepared them for independence following emancipation.

Following the war, planters hoped to exercise the same control over free blacks as they had over slaves, but with the help of the Freedman's Bureau and Radical Republicans, free blacks negotiated for more control over working conditions, their families, religious institutions, and rights as citizens. While facing legal discrimination at every turn, they were in many cases able to negotiate contracts as sharecroppers, educate their children, exercise their right to vote (though not to hold office), and establish their own churches and political movements. Yeomen also benefited somewhat in that they now had unprecedented ability to hire black laborers, but were harmed by new laws limiting hunting and fishing on unenclosed lands, which diminished their ability to subsist as much as it did that of freedmen. Both black and white non-planters increasingly turned to wage labor, marking central Georgia's transition to a capitalist economic system. Planters lost a good deal of their political and economic dominance, but maintained as much of their social power as they could under the newly bourgeois order.

Any serious scholar or especially a writer of the American place will find this book to be essential reading. From the Fallen Tree traces foundations of the American romantic tradition from its enlightenment roots up to the nascent romanticism of James Fennimore Cooper and Washington Irving, though it is clear that the argument Thomas Hallock traces extends in a clean line to this day. Along the way Hallock explicates the various ways in which narrative shapes and is shaped by events "on the ground."

One of the more interesting aspects of Hallock's arguments is how aspects of privileged, aristocratic European traditions become conflated with republican ideals in order to create an American literature that can contain both imperial and democratic aspirations. Building and expanding on the work of earlier critics, Hallock's argument is accessible, cogent and convincing; furthermore, the breadth of Hallock's reading and scholarship is impressive.

What is especially appealing is that the book moves forward in an almost linear fashion. Each section builds on the last, which gives the penultimate chapter on Cooper's Pioneers a feeling of roundness, of having completed the book's mission. When Hallock asserts that Cooper's Pioneers completes the translation of the Euro-American into the American place, the reader feels that the author has turned a corner. It is quite a compelling sensation.

A literature major finishes the book feeling that he has gained a clearer sense of what is uniquely American (and what is not) about American literature; a history buff leaves with a better understanding of what shaped Teddy Roosevelt's environmentalism; a geography enthusiast leaves with a keener sense of reverence for the connection between cartography and letters, and how they shape culture; finally, any writer interested writing about America leaves with a sense of "this is where to begin."

"Amreica" is spelled incorrectly (i hope)! (And I haven't read the book, so don't publish this review, please!)

Raw Deal

Once in a while you read a book chock full of information you didn't know that you didn't know, or more importantly that you didn't know you needed to know. "The Fruits of Their Labor," by Cindy Hahamovitch, is such a book. The subtitle - Atlantic Coast Farmworkers and the Making of Migrant Poverty, 1870-1945 - only hints at the breadth of the subject matter, which stretches to include an economic and social history of agriculture in states from Maine to Florida and the Deep South. Though the author traces the changes in farming and truck-gardening that resulted from the partial mechanization of the 19th and early 20th Centuries, the focus of the book is on the conversion of traditional year-round farm-hands into seasonal laborers, and thus to the lowest-on-the-totem-pole migrants whose welfare was of minimal interest to ever-larger farm businessmen. More than half of the book deals with the twelve years of the New Deal and the Second World War, revealing how ineffective the "reformers" were in the face of opposition from racists and conservatives of both parties. It's no surprise to learn that FDR threw farm labor to the wolves, excluding it from the benefits of collective bargaining. Likewise, it's hardly shocking to realize how little understanding of rural realities the urban reformers of the era were, in their hopes that paternalism and a little health education would restore the agrarian paradise envisioned by Tom Jefferson. The value of this book comes from observing the mechanisms of interest groups - owners, to be blunt - in turning the efforts of government at all levels to the service of their selfish interests. It's also quite astonishing to observe how capitalistic farm-owners and government at all levels colluded, first in the callous exploitation of recent immigrants from Italy and then in the cultivation of the harvest of easily manipulated "undocumented" workers from Mexico, the Caribbean, and Asia, which the same people are still hypocritically ranting against. And finally, at the broadest level, this text is a study of the malfunctional interaction of federal and state governments at cross purposes, with the worst outcomes invariably befalling the humblest citizens.

I know something about the history of agriculture in the Far West, from the days of the Southern Pacific "Octopus" to the heroic struggles of Cesar Chavez and the UFW. I know it academically, but also personally. During my high school summers in California in the late 1950s, I was a "fruit picker" - trailer court white trash - with most of my earnings going to feed my family while my father blew his paychecks on another recent-model car. I picked string beans, hops, tomatoes, and prunes. It was filthy, fatiguing, and unhealthy work, and a source of shame when my classmates heard of it. The idea that bringing in the harvest is healthful and noble was and is cow flop; breathing dust and pesticides in the hot sun for ten or twelve hours a day is not a pleasant interlude. I finally looked old enough to get a job picking apples from a ladder, the cleanest and most profitable sort of field work, if not the safest. At age eighteen, I was legally old enough to work in the cannery. It was still back-breaking; as the freshest face, my task was to lift boxes of apple sauce from a conveyor belt to a palette, and I estimate that I handled as much as thirty thousand pounds of apple sauce a night. But it was a union cannery! For work that was if anything less skilled than picking, I got paid an hourly wage that was eight times higher than I ever earned on the ladder. It was the Teamsters' Union, by the way. I kept my membership all through my four years at Harvard College, where two of my classmates were Richard Darman, Bush I's budget director, and Boyden Gray, the Bush Family legal counsel.

The history of farm labor and thwarted unionization east of the Mississippi is, if anything, even more dastardly than that of the West Coast. It's not a story that makes for pleasant reading, though Ms. Hahamovitch writes clearly and unpretentiously. Perhaps the best way to capture your interest will be to offer a few snippets.

Page 165 - Discussing the market-place economics of farmer labor, she writes: If labor prices are taken as a measure of farm labor supply , then it is difficult to explain why truck farmers complained of labor shortages when they were apparently well supplied with labor. [This was in the years just before WW2.] However, the notion of a "labor market" that operates according to rules of supply and demand ignores the impact of custom and culture, of deeply held assumptions about what labor is "worth." [The assumptions she refers to are the racial and class prejudices which have shadowed every aspect of labor history in the Land of Equality.]
Page 178 - Discussing the WW2 importation of workers from the Caribbean and Mexico, managed by the federal government, she writes: The WFA was reluctant to include Puerto Ricans in the program because, as U.S, citizens, they could not be "repatriated" at the end of a contracted period. The solution...was to withhold a portion of each worker's pay and deposit in a Puerto Rican bank. The workers.... could not withdraw these funds until they returned home....
On the next page, she describes the use of POWs to oversupply the labor pool in order to keep workers from successfully demanding higher piece rates: POWs represented a particular challenge to federal authorities, because although enlisted men could be forced to work...they could hardly be fired or deported. They were in some ways in a position analogous to that of slaves, but unlike slaves they could neither be whipped nor sold.

Pow! Did you know that the USA used forced labor during WW2? Actually, that's not nearly as shocking as the laws passed in several Southern states that required men to work in the fields or be immediately drafted, and women to work in agriculture or be jailed. Black men and women, of course. There were also laws during both World Wars that required agricultural workers to remain in specific counties, and those laws were enforced by local authorities even when various federal agencies tried to recruit workers to save crops in truly labor-short areas.

To recount all of Ms. Hahamovitch's amazing revelations, I'd need to quote the whole book. One further thought: States' Rights was born as a tactic to defend slavery, and States' Rights has remained inextricable from racism ever since. If that thesis seems unpalatable to you, then you are one of those who don't yet know what you don't know, and you'd better start informing yourself by reading "The Fruits of Their Labor" before you denounce me as a spawn of liberalism.

I recieved this book for Christmas and read it right away! This book has many sections that discuss famous players including Michael Jordan, Eric Montross, and Sean May! The book also discusses famous coaches, of course including the almighty Dean Smith! It talks about all the ACC and NCAA tounramnets and championships we have won! It also discusses the rivalries, of course including UNC vs. DUKE and NC State!

One thing that I really liked about the book was that it told how UNC got its colors, mascot, and name, TAR HEELS!

This is an awesome book for any Carolina fan and I really do think that true UNC fans should get this book to learn the history of their college they love so much! I hope my review was helpful to you!

Gene H. Bell-Villada won me over in the first few pages of "García Márquez: The Man and His Works" when he wrote, "to this day I have not forgotten the sheer excitement I felt on first reading Cien años de soledad in 1968, and my utter bedazzlement on reaching its concluding paragraph. Since then the idea of writing on the great South American author for his North American devotees has been one small dream of mine."

To that end, Bell-Villada, a professor of romance languages at Williams College does not disappoint. This comprehensive and engaging book is a well-written study of García Márquez and his work. The research in this two-part book is meticulous. Part one is background on Colombia, the writer's life and his politics. Part two is a stimulating history of Macondo and a strong examination of the works. Both parts are filled with valuable information that helps explain Colombia and its long history of violence.

Bell-Villada is a good teacher. He patiently goes into great detail describing the expert use of fantasy, humor and satire. He also examines literary technique and structure in a simplistic fashion. The bottom line of this beautiful book is that it enhances the understanding, appreciation, and respect of the work of Gabriel García Márquez...the greatest living novelist in the world.

This is a beautiful book you can trust to provide solid guidance on growing not only perennials, but companion annuals and vines that tolerate hot, humid conditions. Sullivan also presents lots of ideas for creating beautiful gardens in a range of sites, such as deep shade or at the beach. One of my favorite sections is called "Don't even think of growing these plants here," in which she shares wisdom on plants that are doomed in this climate. Every coastal gardener should have this book.

I knew nothing of Michael Miley before I found this book in a library. The title hinted that Lee's photographer may have been a Southern counterpart of Mathew Brady, but no, Miley became a photographer after the Civil War and made portraits of Lee in Lexington, VA. His most famous was of Lee on his horse Traveller, made in 1868.

Miley was also a pioneer in color photography. The book features a few color prints, as well as many black and white photos taken in the Lexington area. Portraits of Lee, Lee's wife, two of his daughters, his three sons (in 1885), Lee's office, the Lee Chapel, and four pictures taken on the day of Lee's funeral (1870) are included. Miley believed Lee to be the greatest man of his time, and even made photographic copies of early pictures that the Lee family brought him, of which the book shows a few including a portrait of Mrs. Lee's mother (granddaughter of Martha Washington) and an 1845 picture of Robert E. Lee with his son Rooney, then eight.

Miley had been a Confederate soldier during the war, serving in the Stonewall Brigade. He made sketches of the countryside but the book does not indicate if any of them survived the war. Miley was captured at Chancellorsville and spent the rest of the war at Fort Delaware.

Miley was born in Rockingham County and settled in Lexington after the war. Eventually his son joined him in the photography business. In 1907 many of their images were destroyed in a fire but the older negatives survived. In 1940 the Rockefeller Foundation provided funds to purchase the extensive collection of negatives made by Michael Miley and his son Henry, and approximately 15,000 negatives were movied to the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond.

This book is out of print but it is a rich source of historical images relating to Lee and the Lexington area.

A highly technical, comprehensive review of the geology of the Carolinas, this book is not an easy read, nor should one expect it to be. Prepare by having a good glossary available, and perhaps a good basic text in geology as well. Then brace yourself - the geology is extraordinarily complex. These authors provide good insight.