South Carolina Books

I loved the pictures, and am extremely proud & happy because this is a beautiful, classy & wonderfully put together collection of pictures of Black South Carolinians during this period in time.

This book was a visual journey into the lives of early 20th century black america. Many of the pictures could be termed as "dignified photo essays" of life in the black community.You feel as though you are right there behind the lenses of these photo's while they're being taken. They almost have an "ethereal beauty" about them. In these photo's you can see the dignity of a race of people who were considered low class at the time of the photographs, but in the way they are portrayed you feel like you're in the presence of royalty. "A visual treat for the eye's" is the best way to describe this book . It is also well worth reading as you enjoy the beautiful photography! I would highly recommended this book to african americans and those who enjoy a look into the past!

Having recently move to South Carolina I was facinated by wealth of history of Black Americans here. I've visited some museums and cultural events as well as book stores. Familiar history of Black in SC is abound. However...I wanted to know more about the history that excluded from main stream. Mr Fordham's enlightened me to several brave and courageous Black South Carolinians. His stories were very relevant and history rich. I like the fact that the stories he presented were of people I've met or descendants of those heroes. Although very informative I wished it was a larger manuscript. I know there many more stories to tell. I'm looking forward to other works for Mr. Fordham.

Mr. Fordham is a compelling storyteller. His "True Stories of Black South Carolina" contains historical accounts of familiar subjects which are wonderfully unfamiliar. This is because of his deep and exhaustive research and his ability to write about this material from a fresh perspective.

I am sixty-four years old and found myself reading "True Stories of Black South Carolina" with the eagerness of a child. Each chapter is a story of African American history. Some stories are personal and poignant; some are humerous and light-hearted. Some chapters relate tragic events in a personal context so that you not only learn about the event, but experience the intense and complex feelings involved.

Each story tells of a shared history of joy and sorrow, credit and blame, wisdom and foolishness. Throughout these stories Mr. Fordham has woven threads of hope and courage.

Whether you read his book for the abundance of history it contains or just for the sheer pleasure of a story well told, this book delivers.

Loved the series ! My only disappointment is that it is over !
Vicky Hunnings is a wonderful author and I look forward to her next book. Hers are books I will keep for years and read more than once.
Chris Sloan

Vicky Hunnings has done it again. In book #3, Hunnings weaves another intriguing tale of murder and deception in the SC lowcountry. From the opening line to the last paragraph, readers are held captive by the trail of blood leading from Paris to Belize to the southern coast. Marissa Langford, a main character from Hunnings' first book, reappears on Hilton Head Island, assuring additional conflict for Shark and Dell. The reader will be amazed at the surprising twists and turns as the story unfolds, but nothing can prepare for the startling ending. A masterful tale, told by a master story-teller.

Naomi Williams' novel is a finely crafted piece that expresses all the rich heritage of Southern fiction through the person of a female protagonist that speaks to a universal audience. The novel's protagonist, Liza, will captivate all those who have ever felt constrained by society through her deeply rooted desire to breech boundaries imposed on her from without, and the novel's other characters wrap Liza in a rich quilt of human responses to her passionate personality that will speak to all readers, regardless of their age or their background. Williams' profound style evokes character and place so that we can almost smell the thick Lowcountry mud that borders the banks of the "Two Rivers" that shape Liza's life.

Naomi Williams's first journey into published prose explodes in the first description of the South Carolina lowcountry she has committed to memory and experience. As Williams's young protagonist, Liza Marion Brown, searches feverishly for a violet among the daisies, we are seduced into her lifelong quest for color in an insular world of bland expectations and bleak hopes. Clinging to her mother's legacy of butterbeans and Paul Scarlet roses, Liza uses the past to secure a future of dreams hard-fought, but realized. This imaginative, resourceful protagonist will seduce you down her river and into her heart, revealing family secrets, shattering expectations, and renewing your faith in the endurance and intelligence of the individual. If you live north of the Mason-Dixon line, you need to embrace this new emblem of Southern feminism and lay to rest the beleaguered and banal Scarlett as your symbol of all this region epitomizes. Two Rivers is not only an eye-opener -- it is the breath and soul of the human journey.

The Library of America continues its hallowed tradition of preserving the writings of classic American authors in quality hardbound, ribbon-bookmarked editions with Porter: Collected Stories and Other Writings, an anthology of works by Pulitzer-Prize winning author Katherine Anne Porter. Not only are all twenty-six of her stories included, but also a wealth of her essays, reviews, and other writings, ranging from musings on the act of writing itself to observations about Mexico. Extensive notes and a chronology round out this compact, definitive volume. The definitive edition of Katherine Anne Porter's written works, enthusiastically recommended for both library and private collections.

Katherine Anne Porter's stories, as well as her novel "Ship of Fools," have never gone out of print. They've always been available in some edition or another, albeit mostly in paperback. So it's gratifying to see her stories finally grace the Library of America series, in a handsome new hardcover edition edited by her most recent biographer, Darlene Unrue. The bonus, of course, is the inclusion of nearly all of Porter's finest essays and personal and particular pieces. Most of these have been out of print for decades, and many are masterpieces in their own right. Also, two previously unpublished autobiographical sketches are included. Ms. Unrue has seleced a fine array of non-fiction pieces and provided invaluable notes at the end of the volume.

Reprinted is Porter's beautiful tribute to Willa Cather, as well as her famous caricature of Gertrude Stein. Both essays reveal as much about Porter herself, and her passionate convictions, as their intended subjects. Whether in praise or damnation, Porter's comments about literature, morality, politics, aesthetics, and the role of the artist in society are illuminating of their particular time and place. They are also timeless and thought provoking, even disturbing and downright jolting: in the Cather essay, Porter discusses the preoccupation with experimentation of early literary modernism, then deftly segues into the horrific medical experiments carried out by Nazi Germany. This is classic Porter--the limitless, unfettered human spirit she so admired, as personified by Willa Cather, juxtaposed with the sinister side of human nature. It is precisely these explorations that are the hallmarks of her fiction, and it's no wonder that critics and readers alike continue to marvel at the depths she was able to penetrate in relatively short space. In that aspect she is all but peerless.

Every line written by Katherine Anne Porter testifies to her striking originality. Porter's influences were diverse, but the final distillation of those influences resulted in a voice that is uniquely her own and bears no resemblance to any other master. And "master" she was, triumphantly so. Robert Penn Warren's assertion that her best work is unsurpassed in modern literature holds true as much today as when he first proffered the remark, nearly seventy years ago.

KAP's 1982 biographer, Joan Givner, complained that Porter's stories were being supplanted in anthologies by current favorites that were often inferior to Porter's work. Hopefully, this volume will help rectify what Givner rightly called "an error in judgment." Personal tastes may vary, but no one can objectively say that any other short story master surpassed Katherine Anne Porter. Only the absolutely finest story writers, past and present, are her equals. The 1,100 pages of this Library of America edition--released on the 28th anniversary of Porter's death--amount to a literary treasure. In fact, a national treasure.

I broke my own heart by moving away from the old grandmotherish mountains. But David Yates' Valle Crucis brought it back to me in the Northwest by portraying that mountain community so gorgeously. This is a photographic love story written to Western North Carolina, and also to East Tennesseans (I was one all my life). This book works as a coffee table book, and should be more vastly promoted so that the rest of the world can see what I have always known: Appalachia is the most beautiful region on earth.

We have visited the places written and photographed for this book. The photos are so vivid and realistic. We came across this book in a general store and sat in the rockers enjoying every page.

This is such a useful book it compells a statement. If you visit the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area or North Carolina, or if you live there, this book is an extraordinary guide, written with a sensitivity to place, attractions, events, history, excitement of being there, which makes it a stimulating guide. I have passed places often, but only after I read about them in this book did I see them and experience them. She's done a first-rate job of writing about and explaining an area many people think they already know, but will now realize there is more to learn. Thanks.

"Walking Raleigh/Durham" by Rebecca C Mann is a "must buy as a Christmas present" for friends or family currently living in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill region. As a former Durham resident, I would have loved to have possessed the history, culture, geography and walking oppotunities supplied by Mann's little book. The maps are clear and well drawn and include specific distances and safety considerations. The local architecture and lore are fun and enlightening, and it all fits into a coat pocket with ease. While I intend to send copies to Durham and Chapel Hill friends who walk for exercise, I'm also sending my 65+ year old parents a copy. With descriptions of museums, parks, and historic sites one passes on different walks, it will give my parents something to do after they've watched poor Carolina lose yet another football game. If you need to give a UNC-CH, NC STate, Duke, or Peace College bound student a high school graduation present they'll really appreciate, this book would be it. Better yet, buy it for their parents, who are much more likely to use it during campus visits to their offspring than are the students themselves, since the latter spend most of their time searching for on campus parking spaces. On my next visit to the Triangle, I'm taking "Walking Raleigh/Durham" along.

I was at NCSU in 1983 and reading this book was like reliving that dream season. Well written and engaging!

It's hard to find a book about the Pack that is bad. It's a good read for any true Wolfpack fan --a good trip down memory lane. The picture section in the middle of the book is nicely done and a good addition to the text. Would recommend for any NC State fan!

In this book, Ash analyzes the Southern experience in areas invaded by Union troops during the Civil War. Whereas most other studies on this subject deal with a specific town or locality, Ash's book presents an inclusive synthesis that examines the commonalities of the occupation throughout the South. Three main themes direct his study of occupation. One examines how Northern policies regarding the South during occupation developed over the course of the war. Another theme appraises how three different geographical segments of the South experienced occupation (garrison towns, the Confederate frontier, and no-man's land). Finally, Ash looks at how occupation by Federal forces led to internal conflicts between Southerners of varied political, social, and economic groups.
In Ash's study, three important hallmarks of the South were its social hierarchy, its rural communalism, and its race relations. These elements worked in combination to create a unique society that Northern invaders perceived as both backward and foreign. Because of the cultural disparities between the North and the South, the arrival of Union occupying troops was a greatly feared occurrence by Southerners. However, initial Southern interactions with Union troops proved to be less volatile than was originally thought. Despite Northern attempts to remain equitable and lenient within occupied areas, Southern recalcitrance persisted. The continuation of these rebellious attitudes forced Union troops to adopt a harsher policy in their administration of the occupied South, leading to further antagonism between the Union military and Southerners. The "hard policy" of Union occupation also increased existing internal conflicts in the South, such as those between slaves and their masters, Unionists and their secessionist neighbors, and poor whites and the propertied elites. Thus, with the Union control of the South and the disruption caused by this occupation, the established elements of Southern culture (social hierarchy, rural communalism, race relations) could no longer provide a completely cohesive society.

A very interesting view of the other side of the Civil War. Ash takes the reader on a trip to the South and shows how life changed after the Union Army invaded. The book gives an overall look at the entire South, showing exactly how different regions were effected. Also includes many quotes from actual residents and cites from Southern newspapers, each giving the reader a true vision of what it was like to live there during the Civil War. A wonderful addition to a Civil War collection, especially if you are interested in the South.

I purchased this book to gain knowledge of the "true" lives of the Palmer, DuBose, Gaillard, Porcher, Ravenel families living in the "low country" of South Carolina along the Santee River. If you are interested in this type of history -- you will not be able to put this book down. It is a collection of letters and writings that will give you a true glimpse into these families lives during their prosperous years as well as those following the civil war.

I purchased this book because it references several of my husband's ancestors. It is very fascinating to have an insight to how they lived and what other people thought of them as it is a compilation of letters written by real people. I recommend this book to anyone interested in real history and real life in those times.