North Carolina Books

Excellent research material. Well organized and of much benefit for those who are looking for ancestors who owned land in early Rowan County of North Carolina.

As new transplants to the Triangle area, we bought this map to keep in the car and the 4th Edition Street Map book to keep at home. It is easy to use and even had our new street on it (which I can't say for any of the online map services). Has an inset map of downtown Durham, but not downtown Chapel Hill. A little big for use in the car, but that's necessary for the amount of coverage and detail provided. Overall, highly recommended.

Compiled and written by Albert E. Sanders, Additions To The Pleistocene Mammal Faunas Of South Carolina, North Carolina, And Georgia is a scholarly and specialized paleontology study that systematically analyzes several dozen mammal specimens. Black-and-white photographs of fossilized evidence combine with a meticulously detailed text to make Additions To The Pleistocene Mammal Faunas Of South Carolina, North Carolina, And Georgia a welcome addition to Paleontology Studies reference shelves and reading list.

Mia Dery's Adventure Guide To The Triangle refers to North Carolina's Triangle area, who enjoy a range of outdoor activities from mountain and road biking to hiking and sea kayaking. Visitors and residents alike will find plenty of sports and outdoors-oriented suggestions, including clear directions and line maps for locating the area, difficulty ratings, and reviews of back roads and byways.

The Adventures of Molly Whuppie and Other Appalachian Folktales is a collection of brief yet enjoyable tales blending the spirit of traditional Appalachian folklore with modern-day awareness. Featuring an extroverted young girl named Molly Whuppie, the stories include encounters with witches, giants, an ogre who refuses to do housework, cornbread-baking mice, unwanted boyfriends, Molly's sisters, and even the Appalachian hero Jack. A handful of simple black-and-white illustrations enhance this rip-roaring fun storybook with a brave and clever heroine. Especially recommended for young girls.

I bought this book at an airport used book store for a flight. My constant chuckling eventually irritated my wife to the point I had to put it away and finish in private. But I've reread it many times and eventually sent it to my father. I will be replacing it again in my collection when available. It is not a joke book, but a collection of true stories, some of which were depicted in the movie, "Tin Cup".

Each chapter is like taking a pleasant walk in an interesting place with a friend who is knowledgable and sharing but never didactic. The clear, clean writing flows smoothly and pleasantly thoughout.

Stories of the Blue Ridge Mountains have always been of interest and this one is especially interesting because it explores the clash of cultures when a Florida woman marries a mountain man. Any woman who needs someone to tell her to "go for it" before it's too late will enjoy Cassie Jean's story. Read it, then "chuck it all" and live the life you've dreamed of living.

The period just before I came to awareness of the politcal world--and I came to some such awareness by 1936, when I was eight--has always fascinated me. I remember when I read Frederick Lewis Allen's classic, Only Yesterday (on May 21, 1946), how enthralled I was by the account of the years just before my ken. Much of the same fascination fuels my appreciation for this book, which considers the forces in the Democratic Party in the Twenties and early Thirties and the struggles between them. The author's thesis is that the Democratic Party was at least in the Conventions of the 1920's controlled by the conservative wing, and we know that some of those conservatives left the party in the New Deal days. I found the book full of interesting things, such as a clear explanation of why after the 103 ballots in 1924 the Houston convention in 1928 naminated Al Smith on the first ballot--a result which might mystify but which this book explains convincingly. Anyone who enjoys political history will be caught up by this carefully researched book--I was.

The Civil War is one of the last bastions of the amateur historian, and has given rise to a lot of amateurish work--but not in this case. Author William Marvel has cast aside many of the hackneyed myths that surround the Alabama and her last battle and has gone back to primary sources. Using these obscure logbooks and diaries, he alternately describes the lives of both the Alabama and the Kearsarge and particularly their crews. What emerges from Marvel's combination of conscientious research and lively writing is a tale both scholarly and enthralling, a detailed and fascinating slice of Civil War life at sea. I have read no other account of the Civil War-era sailor that gives such a vivid and convincing picture of his origins, thoughts, work, fights and ultimate fate. To back up the narrative there are a few interesting photographs (no plans for modelers, though), plenty of footnotes, a complete bibliography, a glossary and crew rosters. This book stands head and shoulders above the standard glory-mongering Civil War tales of derring-do, and will delight the armchair historian or naval history buff.