Book Description
This collection of nineteen original essays on selected topics and epochs in North Carolina history offers a broad survey of the state from its discovery and colonization to the present. Each chapter consists of an interpretive essay on a specific aspect of North Carolina's history, a collection of supporting documents, and a brief bibliography.
Selections cover historical periods ranging from Elizabethan to contemporary times and examine such issues as slavery, populism, civil rights, and the status of women. Essays address the tragedy of North Carolina's Indians, the state's role in the Revolutionary War and the Confederacy, and the impact of the Great Depression. North Carolina's place in the New South and evangelical culture in the state are also discussed.
Designed as a supplementary reader for the study and teaching of North Carolina history, The North Carolina Experience will introduce college students to the process of historical research and writing. It will also be a valuable resource in secondary schools, public libraries, and the homes of those interested in North Carolina history.
Average customer rating:
- History, Mystery and Mysticism
- Ghost Riders
- Beautiful Story with Real Civil War History
- About the audio...Outstanding!!!
- Sharyn McCrumb is the absolute best!
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Ghost Riders
Sharyn McCrumb
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0451211847
Release Date: 2004-05-04 |
Book Description
The latest ballad novel from Sharyn McCrumb tells the true story of the Civil War in the Appalachians, where neighbors became enemies, and the half-life of violence keeps soldiers' ghosts abroad in the modern wilderness. For frontier lawyer Zeb Vance, the war was an odyssey that leads to the Governor's mansion. Malinda Blalock, who followed her young husband into battle, becomes a Union bushwhacker, making war against confederate sympathizers in the mountains.
Customer Reviews:
History, Mystery and Mysticism.......2006-05-09
McCrumb's books are noted for the blend - but in this one, history figures more prominently. As is true of most of her 'mountain books', there is a prevailing feeling of calm. Bloody killing, maiming, Civil War reinactors, history, mystery and a ghost story - all are there, but still there is that feeling of calm inevitability. (Perhaps I'm misusing the word `mystery' since this is not a traditional mystery at all).
The front of the hard cover edition has two compelling photographs - a man and a woman - each with intense eyes. Zebulon Vance and Malinda Blalock. They appear to be inordinately handsome people for the era. Exactly who are they and why are they pictured? These are photographs - after all - and this book is a novel, as its sub-title points out.
Do an online search on those names and find out for yourself - there is a lot of material on the two. Sharon McCrumb has taken the liberty of imagining herself into the heads of actual characters - one of whom attained a considerable degree of prominence, but her account is faithful to the facts as presented in my online `research'.
McCrumb highlights, by inference, the feelings and events that led to some of the fabled mountain feuds. One can even find a parallel to the long simmering hatreds of the Middle East. It is one thing to be part of an organized army in a war won by one side and lost by the other. It's quite another to fight for a cause which makes near neighbors and relatives your enemy. The Civil War is often characterized this way - `brother against brother - North versus South' - but for some people it was more personal than that. I really didn't know, until I read it here, that there was a strong pro-Union movement in the mountain country of Tennessee and North Carolina. For these people, `brother against brother' was not an abstract term and the hatred engendered lived on.
I loved 'Malinda' and her matter-of-fact approach to the dreadful crises that the war brought to her life, the unique way in which she handled them. If you look at the picture of the older Malinda, holding a picture of her husband in her hand, you can see where the author got her inspiration for Malinda's character in the book. (If your copy doesn't have the photos - you can find them online in Google Images).
If you're interested in history, you'll enjoy this book - but even if you're not - it will hold your attention.
Ghost Riders.......2006-03-15
I love Sharyn McCrumb in general and her books are always fun, but this one was especially grand. I love the way she weaves history into the present and throws in plenty of supernatural phenomena as well. Her books always inspire me to check out the historical facts and learn a bit more about the events she writes about. The characters are realistic, the events are perfectly interwoven and the ending is never predictable. Well worth reading.
Beautiful Story with Real Civil War History.......2006-03-02
Beautiful Story with Real Civil War History
McCrumb's Ghost Riders tells the story of how the Civil War in Appalachia was fought not between strangers from far away lands, but among families. For the mountainous regions of NC and TN, it was not unusual to have family and neighbors fighting on opposing sides. As Melinda, the tough mountain woman thinks, "it's (war) always personal and hard to forgive,..maybe it's because we never left home to do our fighting, ...we weren't making war on strangers....it was personal, all right."
Through the lives of the characters, McCrumb brings to life Civil War stories of how the mountain people were affected and suffered; regardless of which side they supported. And as in any war, the uneducated and poor suffered at a greater rate than those who could buy their way to a better position.
Poetically written in a back and forth style between the war and present day, Ghost Riders looks at how Appalachia is still 'haunted' by scars that run through generations of southern families.
About the audio...Outstanding!!!.......2005-07-02
I am a fan of McCrumb and was delighted to find this recorded on tape and unabridged. I HATE abridged audio versions so this was a real find. Other reviewers have discussed the text but I felt compelled to mention the narration. Rarely do I ever prefer an audio version to the book itself but this one is the exception. While I would have enjoyed this book by reading it, it was made superb by the narration. Read by Dick Hill and Susie Breck, this is the best audio I have ever heard. Both render the voices, past and present, in a unique and splendid way. The tone, the accent, even the volume, are all modified to fit the characters. This was so well done that I had no trouble identifying each voice and character. This is phenomenal and McCrumb should insist that this pair of especially gifted readers do every audio for her novels. Fantastic and well worth a listen.
Sharyn McCrumb is the absolute best!.......2005-06-13
I loved this book! Even though I'm a native Atlantan, I've never been interested in the Civil War (or The War Between The States) but I am very interested in Appalachian history. It is Sharyn McCrumb's talent that made me care about this particular chapter of the Civil War - Sharyn explained a lot about the complexities of the issues that led to the war and the people who lived through it. It's not black and white (no pun intended) and really made me think about what choices I would have made if I had lived then.
The only drawback to the book as far as I am concerned is that I wish the Ghosts had been explored more. Why are they still riding? They knew the war was over during their lifetimes. Also, the character of Tom Gentry was unnecessary in my opinion -I don't really understand why his character was needed. But, all in all, I loved this book and I highly recommend it and all other Sharyn McCrumb books. If you're at all interested in Appalachian history - she's the best!
Average customer rating:
- Ghost are for real!
- The Scariest Battlefield
- Ghost Soldier
- -Awesome-
- Ghost soldier
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Ghost Soldier
Elaine Marie Alphin
Manufacturer: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0805061584 |
Amazon.com
Alexander has always been able to see ghosts, but no one except his mom--who left suddenly three years ago--has ever believed his stories. So when his dad drags him off on a trip to North Carolina to visit the woman he intends to marry, and Alexander begins to see visions of Civil War soldiers, he tells nobody--not his father, nor his hostess Paige, and certainly not her teenage daughter, Nicole. Instead he devotes himself to being unpleasant, clinging desperately to the belief that his mother will return.
The visions grow more and more real. Alexander even finds himself participating in a battle in the trenches, with mortars whizzing overhead. In the midst of his own terror, he witnesses the death of a young Confederate soldier his own age. Later that evening Richeson, the dead boy, appears again to Alexander, appealing to him for help in finding his sister, who was driven from their farm by Sherman's Marauders, but who has left a message for her brother in a metal box hidden in a tree trunk--a box that a ghost cannot open. In the course of solving Richeson's mystery, Alexander finds answers to his own problems. Middle-grade readers will enjoy this story that straddles three genres, and teachers will find its grounding in the actual events of the Battle of Fort Stedman a useful curriculum tie-in. (Ages 10 to 14) --Patty Campbell
Book Description
The ghost of a young soldier from the Civil War haunts a troubled teen.
"I sat up. The jagged trenches were only soft grassy depressions in the sunny battlefield park. I felt tears burn my eyes, the relief was so strong, and then the misery of losing the ghost hit me."
Alexander has the ability to see ghosts. But it's been several years since his last encounter. When he reluctantly joins his father on a long trip away from home, a surprise awaits him. In the unfamiliar territory of North Carolina, Alexander is confronted by the ghost of a young soldier who lost his life in the Civil War. As an unusual friendship develops between the two, Alexander is drawn into a new reality where he comes face to face with the haunting past of his soldier friend. But can Alexander help this troubled ghost, and can he, finally, come to terms with his own disturbing past? With deftness and insight, Elaine Marie Alphin tells a gripping story that weaves the supernatural with the historical. Ghost story fans and Civil War buffs alike are in for a real treat.
Customer Reviews:
Ghost are for real!.......2006-04-24
In this book a boy named Alexander, from Indiana, and his dad go to North Carolina to met Mrs. Hambrick. They live with her and daughter Nicole and son, Charleton. While Alexander is down there they all go to a Civil War, or what the south called it The War between the States, battlefield. It is Fort Stedman, which the north took and won the war. While Alexander was there, he fell and woke up to a battle. There was a young man there named Richeson Francis Chamblee or Rich for short. Rich kept telling Alexander to help him. When Alexander gets back to the real world, he meets the ghost of Rich. Only Alexander can see, and talk to him. Rich needs him to trace his family so he knows that his family survived. If you want to know if his family survived, and Alexander helps, Rich you will have to read the book.
There is hardly anything in a book I did not like. It has all of my favorite kinds of stories put into one. It also goes to different things, and is not caught up in one thing.
In a book there is a battle so, if you like action books this would be a good book for you. If you like, mystery books this is a good book for you because new things always pop up, or things happen when you do not expect them to.
The Scariest Battlefield.......2005-09-28
Ghost Soldier
By: Elaine Marie Alphin
4 out of 5 stars
THE SCARIEST BATTLEFIELD
In the book Ghost Soldier a boy named Alexander lives in Indiana and is on a trip with his dad to North Carolina to visit a woman that his dad wants to marry. Alex's real mom just picked up and left many years ago. A couple of days into the trip they go to see a battlefield, and Alex falls into the past and experience something that you could never even imagine! When Alex gets back into his time there is a ghost that just won't leave Alex alone! This Ghost name is Rich, and he insists that Alexander must help him or he will haunt him in a way for the rest of his life. Rich also starts to haunt the people around Alex.
I thought that this was a pretty good book. A reason that I liked it is, because it was always right there keeping me on edge convincing me to keep on reeding. The main reason that I liked this book so much, is because it was about the Civil War, and I have always found books about wars to be quiet interesting. There was also a lot of action in this book.
If you like books about action adventure and a ghost every now and then this is the book for you! Gary Paulsen is a great writer, and I enjoy his books, I liked this book even more, so if you Like Gary Paulsen books you'll love this book.
Ghost Soldier.......2005-02-12
Ghost soldier
By: Elain Alphin
The book Ghost soldier is about a boy named Alexander. Him and his dad are going to North Caroline. They going there because Alexander's dad is wanting to meet a lady he likes, Paige. During this trip Alexander finds himself going through time windows. In one part of the book he goes into a time window. Alexander doesn't know if it is real or if he is imagining it. He meets a ghost who needs his help. While trying to decide if he wants to help he realizes he is has a problem of his own.
The parts I really like that Alexander becomes closer to his dad. This story reminded me of how I felt growing up with out a dad. This book almost mad my cry. The book isn't just sad it is funny too. This book is for children or adults who like fun and interesting facts about history. The book would be perfect for ages 9-14.
-Awesome-.......2004-10-04
Ghost Soldier was definitely among my favorite novels I have read in my freetime. Alexander, a somewhat lost thirteen-year-old, is forced to spend his Spring Break with the Hambricks, a family consisting of a hyper seven-year-old boy, a stubborn teenage girl who can't seem to cooperate at any costs, and a mom who is deeply admired by Alex's dad. Alexander's vacation takes a turn when he ends up in Petersburg, an old Civil War battlefield, expecting to see nothing more than a few trenches and a historical reenactment--when he finds himself witnessing the famous battle in the very time period it took place. Richeson Francis Chamblee, a ghost drummer boy and persistent soldier who died for his country, won't seem to leave Alexander be, until he finally gives in to help the ghost solve the mystery of his century-old family. As time goes on, Alexander learns the meaning of teamwork when he makes some pretty unexpected friends, and realizing sometimes, the answer to a problem could be right under your nose.
I found this as an excellent book because of the time period that the story refers to (I believe I'm the only twelve-year-old girl that obsesses over the eighteen-hundreds), and the part of the story that relates to the main character's supernatural powers to see and communicate with ghosts. If you're interested in the Civil War, paranormal, or are just looking for a good kid's read, Ghost Soldier is a perfect match.
Ghost soldier.......2004-05-07
Ghost Soldier
There is a boy named Alexander whose Mom left him many years ago, he still waits for her day by day year by year to come back. He expects her to just come walking down the street one day but that hasn't happened yet. So Alexander is forced to live with his Dad in North Carolina, that is the last place he wants to be. The one-day Alexander finds himself in the center of the Civil War battlefield. There is where he meets Richeson, the ghost of a Civil War soldier. Richeson has problems of his own. Alexander doesn't care at all. Alexander can barely take care of himself let alone ghost from the past. Alexander is put into a mystery 100 years old. I didn't really enjoy this book because I don't really like ghost stories and it was kind of hard to follow. Him and his dad are trying to get along with each other through about the whole story. It gets hard to follow. I wouldn't really recommend this book to everyone.
Book Description
Sheila Kay Adams brings us a novel inspired by the ballads of the English, Scottish, and Irish. These long, sad stories of heartbreak and betrayal, violence and love, have been sung for generations by the descendents of those who settled the Appalachian mountains in the 1700s. As they raised their children, they taught them first to sing, for the songs told the children everything they needed to know about life.
So it was with the Stanton family living in Marshall, North Carolina, during the 1800s. Even Larkin Stanton, just a baby when his parents die and he's taken in by his cousin Arty, starts humming before he starts talking. As he grows up, he hungrily learns every song he can, and goes head-to-head with his cousin Hackley for the best voice, and, of course, the best attentions of the women. It's not long before the two boys find themselves pursuing the affections of the same lovely girl, Mary, who eventually chooses Hackley for her husband.
But, just as in the most tragic ballads, there is no stowing away of emotions. And when Hackley leaves his wife under his cousin's care in the midst of the Civil War, Larkin finds himself drawn back to the woman who's held his heart for years. What he does about that love defies all his learning of family and loyalty and reminds us that those mournful ballads didn't just come from the imagination, but from the imperfections of the heart.
Customer Reviews:
A masterful story!.......2007-09-27
This is a book I could not put down, and it haunts me still, months after reading. The characters are so real! This is southern fiction at its best.
An Awesome Story- My New Favorite Book.......2007-01-02
Not since Lee Smith's Fair and Tender Ladies, has there been a book as touching as this one. Other reviews have said what the story is about, so I won't repeat all that, but will say this is a fantastic book.
From the first page, I was hooked. It was the first page-turner I've read in quite awhile. I couldn't put it down. Every page was exciting to read, without a lot of fillers and descriptive junk. I love it. Love it. Love it.
Great Read - American Heritage at its Best.......2006-12-30
I loved this book. My people are from Tennessee and it brought to mind my grandmother and her siblings used to sit and tell for hours. Lordy, I plumb enjoyed this book.
A surprisingly good read..........2006-03-03
My Old True Love was chosen by my book group. The blurb on it left me unsure of investing my time in it, but oh my, I'm glad I did. Sheila Kay Adams is a master at characterization. Her protagonists were solid, real folks indicative of the time, Civil War, and place - the mountains of North Carolina. The conflicts of war, unrequited love, and betrayal are no different today than a hundred and fifty years ago. These families are imperfect, but that's part of what makes the reader care about and relate to them. Folk music lyrics are interspersed within the story, and become caught up in the tale itself. By the way, a CD is available if you want to actually listen to the music, some performed by Adams herself.
I felt that the ending was a bit rushed. I needed a little more time to ease out of the story, but that is a small comcomplaint and shouldn't hold anyone back from devouring this small gem.
Arty's Song.......2005-11-13
Arty grew up fast as she cared for her cousin Larkin Stanton after his mother died during birth. Even when Arty married at fourteen, Larkin moved with her. As her own babies were born, Arty raised Larkin as her own. He decided to move in with their Granny to get away from Arty's growing amount of children. But still Arty loved Larkin as her own.
Arty, Larkin, and another cousin Hackley grew up to the ballads of their people. Singings and frolics were well attended. People found any excuse to get the fiddle playing. Hackley became an accomplished player and Larkin, a powerful singer. As Larkin's voice changed, he struggled with the singing but after a few months, he fell into his new voice.
As Larkin and Hackley grew up, they both fell in love with the same woman, a beautiful girl named Mary. Hackley, who had his choice, wanted her most because she never fell for his advances. Hackley eventually married her but his playing ways never changed. Larkin was always there when Mary could not find Hackley but he never wanted to bring hurt to the woman he loved.
As the Civil War began, the life of their small community changed. Arty's husband and Hackley left for war. Since Larkin was too young, he stayed and helped Arty and Mary. His feelings never changed. Eventually Larkin went off to war and the woman were alone with all of their young ones. The war hardened both women and the end of the war brought many changes.
My Old True Love is a sad tale of a small community. Readers will be drawn to Arty and her breeding ways. They will feel for young Larkin as he watches Mary choose his cousin to marry. The war brings many changes and Adams tells the stories of this small community so well. Written as a poor American, readers will be brought into the tale. The songs are incorporated into both the lives of the community and the novel.
Amazon.com
Although not a single cannon is fired in Josephine Humphreys's quietly ambitious Nowhere Else on Earth, the lives of the inhabitants of Scuffletown, a poor Indian settlement on the Lumbee River in North Carolina, are in every way affected by the Civil War. The demand for turpentine, their principal industry, has dwindled to nothing. When they are not fending off or involuntarily "supplying" Union soldiers and marauding gangs, they are hiding their sons from the macks, their hostile Confederate neighbors (pink-faced Scottish farmers with names like McTeer and McLean), who are rounding up Scuffletown boys for forced labor in forts and salt works, from which few have returned.
Sixteen-year-old Rhoda Strong has seen both her brothers disappear into the woods to join this gang, headed by the handsome, charismatic Henry Berry Lowrie, the hope of Scuffletown--who keeps the young men alive through a series of crimes that inevitably escalate to match the cruelties of the macks. To her mother's distress, and to her own, Rhoda finds herself falling in love with Henry Lowrie, so obviously a marked man. When he notices her, and returns her love, she too becomes marked, dubbed the Queen of Scuffletown by her enemies and drawn into a larger history of suffering and revenge.
Writing from the vantage point of middle age, Rhoda resurrects the past, "hot as coals," in an obsessive act of remembrance, having studied and pondered her story for over 20 years.
One dog tooth is gone, and my monthly flow has dwindled to a spatter. I'm not as full as I used to be, my wrists are skinny, my knuckles are knobs. I'm starting to wear thin. This is the price of the years of thinking, the casting and recording of events and the frantic pen scratching past midnight, the hoarding of paper, the loneliness, the pages accumulating while I myself shrink down.
Rhoda's richly detailed and beautifully sustained fourth novel will recall, in the best ways, Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain (also set in North Carolina, the most "Union" of the Confederate states), although Humphreys has given her heroine a fresh, strong voice, and in turn given a voice to Scuffletown. --Regina Marler
Book Description
"A novel so compelling works a kind of magic, casting a spell. . . . She has distilled to a splendid coherence the complexities of history and the human heart." (The Washington Post)
"With fluid writing, nuanced characters, and a suspenseful pace, Humphreys blends historical romance with a meditation on the ambiguities of race and morality." (Time)
In the summer of 1864, sixteen-year-old Rhoda Strong lives in the Lumbee Indian settlement of Robeson County, North Carolina, which has become a pawn in the bloody struggle between the Union and Confederate armies. The community is besieged by the marauding Union Army as well as the desperate Home Guard who are hell-bent on conscripting the young men into deadly forced labor. Daughter of a Scotsman and his formidable Lumbee wife, Rhoda is fiercely loyal to her family and desperately fears for their safety, but her love for the outlaw hero Henry Berry Lowrie forces her to cast her lot with danger. Her struggle becomes part of the community's in a powerful story of love and survival. Nowhere Else on Earth is a moving saga that magnificently captures a little-known piece of American history.
Download Description
In the summer of 1864, sixteen-year-old Rhoda Strong lives in the Lumbee Indian settlement of Robeson County, North Carolina, which has become a pawn in the bloody struggle between the Union and Confederate armies. The community is besieged by the marauding Union Army as well as the desperate Home Guard who are hell-bent on conscripting the young men into deadly forced labor. Daughter of a Scotsman and his formidable Lumbee wife, Rhoda is fiercely loyal to her family and desperately fears for their safety, but her love for the outlaw hero Henry Berry Lowrie forces her to cast her lot with danger. Her struggle becomes part of the community's in a powerful story of love and survival. Nowhere Else on Earth is a moving saga that magnificently captures a little-known piece of American history.
Customer Reviews:
Nowhere Else on Earth.......2005-03-29
In somewhat of an anomaly for Humphreys, this work of historical fiction is set in North Carolina in 1864, where the Lumbee Indians (descendants perhaps of Raleigh's "Lost Colony") are being harassed by Southerners to help build Fort Fisher. A local band known as the Lowrie Gang rebels; in addition, there's a love interest between Lowrie and Rhoda Strong, an Indian, who foresakes Lowrie for her people. I felt Humphreys's strenghths as a writer, especially her strong characterizations, were weakly displayed here; historical fiction does not seem to be her forte. Much better are her contemporary novels.
True to the Tales of the people of Scuffletown.......2004-02-13
I was eagar to read this book after living amoung the Lumbee Indians for ten years (and marrying one). This book is wonderfully written and carefully researched. I found it to be so true to the way the " Old Timers" in Robeson County tell the tales of Henry Berry Lowrie and his gang. The discriptions of the area and the feelings of the Lumbee come through loud and clear as Humphreys tells the tale through the eyes of Rhoda Strong Lowrie.
A hero to enrich our story.......2003-09-03
"Under the swamps and barrens of Robeson County there is no bedrock, and in Drowning Creek no stones." Yet every few years the earth brings forth seemingly from nowhere a strange stone large enough to be prized as a grave marker. So Josephine Humphreys tells us in the voice of the narrator of Nowhere Else on Earth. The earth gives birth to stones, and history brings forth legends. One with considerable basis in fact is that of Henry Berry Lowrie, the hero of the novel. Lowrie was a latter-day Robin Hood, a man who did much to rebalance the scales of justice in favor of the marginalized in the lawless aftermath of the Civil War. Humphreys tells his story and in the process sheds light on a period, place, and people neglected in mainstream historical accounts, overlooked perhaps because the people involved are too solidly centered in themselves to make much of a fuss. But adding Henry Berry Lowrie to the list of heroes school children know as well as they know Daniel Boone would do much to enrich the story of America.
A Civil War Pembroke.......2003-07-09
Excellent work of historical fiction. A very enjoyable book to read. I grew up in Pembroke and really enjoyed reading about Henry Lowrie during the civil war period. I heard the story as a young boy from my father and was very happy to read a more detailed and accurate account. Everyone with any interest in the history of Eastern North Carolina should read this book to better understand the Pembroke area..
One Woman's History.......2003-01-24
Review by Jillian Abbott
Nowhere Else On Earth by Josephine Humphreys is an historical novel with equal emphasis on history and fiction.
In terms of history, the book stays close to known facts. But Humphreys doesn't stop there. In inventing a first person memoir, she creates a subjective, indeed, feminine, history. "Mine is only a single and limited testimony, one woman's version. . ."
There is mischief in her narrator, the curious Rhoda Strong. She is game even to examine and question the true nature of history, racial prejudice and scapegoating, all described in such a way as to render today's incidences of ethnic violence comprehensible: ". . . it wasn't an English that sliced him . . . [it was] his own neighbor! . . . We were neighbor against neighbor."
In fictional terms the characters and events are portrayed with grace, subtly, and depth. Gaps in the story are filled by citing period newspapers. Yet there is an irony here as when, after drawing considerably from the press, Rhoda points out the divergence between the life she actually leads and the one portrayed by the media.
But in creating this personal history, Humphreys is again playing with us. What is the line between the personal and the political?
In the Prologue, supposedly written on November 3, 1890, the feisty and wise Rhoda sets out her intentions and hopes for her narrative and outlines her view on the nature of history, stating that nobody will ever be able to render the story of Scuffletown complete and objective, "just as a soldier can never describe a whole battle - only his piece of it . . ."
In choosing the words, "us and our times" to refer to her story, Humphreys is telling us this is a political work, as much about the society that denied the Scuffletown Indians justice, as it is about one particular Indian woman.
Rhoda is a Lowrie by blood and marriage, and "the Lowries are Indians. The whole place is Indian. And that's the answer to who we are."
But is it? Dr. McCabe, a member of the Scottish Confederate overclass, isn't so sure. He studies Rhoda and her people, measures their heads, and invasively probes their origins. By the second half of the book McCabe is sure there is more to the Lowries than anyone suspects.
As the true origin of the Scuffletown Indians dawns on McCabe, the Civil War is almost over. It is a desperate lawless time. To the Scottish Confederates, the source of their defeat, and all that has gone wrong in their lives, is clear. Their demise is not the result of Union soldiers or their own bad ideas; rather, it is the Lowries and Scuffletown who are responsible.
Again Humphreys uses subjective truth to make her point. McTeer, the brutal Deputy Sheriff and a leader of lynch mobs, spells out why the Lowries are guilty, and even how they differ from respectable white folks: "The noble morals is bred out. Your makeup is what they call bestial . . ."
Using simple prose Humphreys evokes the times in hauntingly powerful images. As the Civil War drags towards its end, and as the defensive gang formed by Rhoda's husband, Henry, nearly matches the Confederate whites in brutality, Scuffletown can't even manage to fill its belly. The inhabitants have neither food nor money, which hardly matters because the stores have no food to sell. Desperation pervades: "There was gunfire every night, everywhere, and just about every farmer's watch dog was shot. Some were eaten."
Yet despite the harsh times, Rhoda is a woman with a great capacity for love, and it is her love for Scuffletown and its people that motivates her. After all, for Rhoda, there is, Nowhere Else On Earth.
Customer Reviews:
The only professional work on Lumbee history.......2003-03-17
Evans is the only author ever to conduct historical research on the ancestors of the present-day Lumbee tribe at a professional level of ability and accomplishment. Other authors writing on the Lumbees have been either anthropologists (such as Sider and Blu) or else amateurs in either status and/or ability. Evans researched a plethora of primary sources, and his historical fact-finding will probably never be surpassed. Evans has written a competent and well-sourced narrative.
But there are serious flaws. By beginning the book with the murder of the Lowry relatives, Evans contextualizes the gang's story as a revenge tale. The book's organization thus obscures the fact that the Lowrys had already committed two murders themselves, prior to their enemies' murder of their father. Obviously there is more going on than a simple revenge motive. Evans fails to make clear that the Lowry gang episode is really about Radical political terrorism in opposition to the Conservative political terrorism of the KKK. While Evans does report elements of the Lowrys' political motivations (although he missed a number of sources that would have expanded this aspect), he emphasizes the revenge motivation. Ultimately, Evans has succumbed to and is reproducing stereotypes of "Indian" violence. Evans never acknowledges that there is little to no evidence that the Lowrys saw themselves as Indian warriors. In fact, the Lowry gang was a multiracial political coalition--not an outbreak of ethnic conflict.
Those caveats aside, this is the most professional work ever done on Lumbee history, and certainly the best researched. All the pieces of the story are here, and it is a fascinating story indeed.
Book Description
An unforgettable epic novel of the Civil War South from an award-winning author.
From Joanna Catherine Scott comes a sweeping tale of the Civil War, unique in its perspective and exquisitely woven, in which three young Southerners worlds apart are joined in a quest for something greater than themselves.
Eugenia Mae Spotswood, the daughter of a failed aristocrat, longs to regain the life she lost. The slave Tom wants one thing: freedom. After becoming the property of Eugenia Mae, a dangerous affection grows. But he learns freedom is not something she can give him-he must fight for it himself.
Clyde Bricket, the farm boy responsible for Tom's capture, has always believed in the South. But he soon learns that sometimes the only way to redeem yourself is to fight against everything he thought he believed in.
Customer Reviews:
viewing injustice without anger, telling horror softly. .......2007-05-29
I was fascinated by how strong a sense of place I got from The Road from Chapel Hill. I've never been in the South, and my image of it was based on cliches, antebellum mansions falling down, Spanish moss on soggy trees, and I'm sure all that is true, or it wouldn't be a cliche, but Scott's South has a tangible reality that has stayed with me. The character of Tom is the most amazing part of the book. To write about a figure burdened with horrible injustice, to write without anger or political intention, but by simply observing and reporting the situation, gives an even more profoundly horrifying view of life in slavery in those times. That's what makes the novel so powerful.
An Outstanding Novel.......2007-03-14
The Road From Chapel Hill is one very fine book! After reading it I see why it is getting such well deserved attention. Joanna Catherine Scott is a master storyteller who writes like the poet she is. As a former journalist who always enjoyed the research as much as the writing (if not more than), I'm impressed with her attention to detail. I can hardly wait to read the sequel. Bravo!
One not to miss.......2007-01-24
War stories can be both stimulating and daunting. This story of the American Civil War with its graphic, sometimes tender, sometimes violent, encounters highlights an aspect of war that portrays the emotional side of battle and conflict without glorifying the actions. As an Australian I found much of the rationale contemplative and I appreciated gaining an understanding of an alternative view of slavery and events of the time that led to the Civil War. As an aside, it was intriguing to read the fleeting reference to the copper miners chasing new wealth and settling in Australia at Kapunda.
A Damn Good Read.......2006-12-20
The Road from Chapel Hill dazzles with its range of ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances in the border state of North Carolina during the Civil War. The author's subtle yet constant attention to accurate, historical, details help bring the reader deeply into the story while feeling as though revisiting a familiar time period. The horrors of war, the endurance of love, the repercussions of slavery and the human ability to understand and change--all push the story forward at an exciting pace. A damn good read!
Gripping -- Couldn't put it down!!!.......2006-12-11
There is something about Ms. Scott's writing that makes you feel like you are right there. It transports you into this other world she's created for you and before you know it -- your own worldly responsibilities are out the window and you're a slave to her tale.
I felt Tom. I felt Eugenia. I felt I was right there in the tale. And then I felt really bad that I couldn't write as well as Ms. Scott. I can't wait to read her other books.
Average customer rating:
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To the Sea: A History and Tour Guide of the War in the West Shermans March Across Georgia, 1864 (The Civil War Explorer Series) (The Civil War Explorer Series)
Jim Miles
Manufacturer: Cumberland House Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Similar Items:
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Fields of Glory: A History and Tour Guide of the War in the West, the Atlanta Campaign, 1864 (Miles, Jim. Civil War Explorer Series.)
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The March to the Sea and Beyond: Sherman's Troops in the Savannah and Carolinas Campaigns
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Forged in Fire: A History and Tour Guide of the War in the East, From Manassas to Antietam, 1861-1862 (Miles, Jim. Civil War Explorer Series.)
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Paths to Victory: A History and Tour Guide of the Stone's River, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Nashville Campaigns (Miles, Jim. Civil War Campaigns Series.)
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A River Unvexed: A History and Tour Guide to the Campaign for the Mississippi River (The Civil War Campaigns Series)
ASIN: 1581822618 |
Book Description
In November 1864 William T. Sherman burned Atlanta and took an army of eighty thousand hardened Union veterans on a campaign that crushed the heart of the Confederacy. When he reached Savannah a month later, an ugly scar three hundred miles long and sixty miles wide had been burned across Georgia. Along the way the armies had destroyed factories, mills, and agricultural produce. Thousands of civilians—mostly women, children, and the elderly—had been left hungry and destitute.
To the Sea captures every aspect of the March, from Sherman's strategy to the brilliant methods he used to execute it. Here readers travel from Atlanta to Savannah on a journey in which soldiers and civilians, heroes and opportunists, men and women alike fought for their lives. Included is a series of driving tours that enable readers to see firsthand the path the armies took.
In addition to the lively history of the march, To the Sea includes more than one hundred photographs, maps, fascinating tours of the routes, sidebar articles on military strategy and biographical sketches of generals as well as a chronology of important events, sources for additional travel information, an index, and a bibliography. HISTORY; CIVIL WAR ILLUSTRATED; PHOTOGRAPHS AND MAPS 8” X 10”, 336 PAGES PAPERBACK
Customer Reviews:
Great book.......2003-04-21
Miles has done a great job with this book. He includes countless examples, both good and bad, of encounters between Yankee soldiers and the people of Georgia. If you want to know more about the personal side of the March, as well as the dates and places, this is certainly the book for you.
A teacher could easily use "To the Sea" as a text for a course in the March alone. The margins are wide to provide plenty of room to write notes. Thank you Jim Miles!! I will not hesitate to buy another book by this author.
Book Description
The Battle of Monroe's Crossroads, fought March 10, 1865, was one of most important but least known engagements of William T. Sherman's Carolinas Campaign. Confederate cavalry, led by Lt. Gen. Wade Hampton and Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler, launched a savage surprise attack on the sleeping camp of Maj. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick, Sherman's cavalry chief. After three hours of some of the toughest cavalry fighting of the entire Civil War, Hampton broke off and withdrew. His attack, however, had stopped Kilpatrick's advance and bought another precious day for Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee to evacuate his command from Fayetteville. This, in turn, permitted Hardee to join the command of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and set the stage for the climactic Battle of Bentonville nine days later.
Noted Civil War author Eric Wittenberg has written the first detailed tactical narrative of this important but long-forgotten battle, and places it in its proper context within the entire campaign. His study features 28 original maps and 50 illustrations. Finally, an author of renown has brought to vivid life this overlooked portion of the Carolinas Campaign.
Ohio Attorney Eric J. Wittenberg is a noted Civil War cavalry historian and the author of some dozen books and two dozens articles on the Civil War. His first book, "Gettysburg's Forgotten Cavalry Actions," won the 1998 Bachelder-Coddington Literary Award.
Customer Reviews:
Knowledgeable, but..........2006-11-08
"Battle of Monroe's Crossroads and the Civil War's Final Campaign" is the work of an author who had done a great deal of indepth research. Unfortunately, he needs a new publisher. The book has a suprising number of typos and, in one place, has a whole paragraph that definitely seems out of place. The maps are detailed to the point that they are difficult to read. (We don't need to see every stream in a black/white map.) Overall, the book has a lot of good sections but seemed somewhat disjointed to me. However, I would still recommend it for info on a battle that is typically overlooked.
Battle of Monroes Crossroads.......2006-08-26
THis is an original topic and Mr. Wittenberg has done a fine job. His knowledge,writing and presentation are excellant. This book can be read and enjoyed by a novice or scholar alike. This book made me wish I could view the actual battlesite. I own five of the authors books and he is without a doubt one of the best Civil War writers today.
Easily Five Stars!.......2006-07-21
As someone who lives in Lexington, South Carolina, a town where Hugh Judson Kilpatrick availed himself of our "hospitallity" in February of 1865, I quite naturaly try to keep up with the literature on Sherman's March through the Palmetto State and the Old North State. Indeed, Kilpatrick is well-remmebered here, for the 1840s house where he was headquartered still stands and is well-cared by present-day family members, descendants of the original owners. With so much focus on the Georgia "March to the Sea" segment of Sherman's campaign, this has naturally translated into a literary shortchanging of the events that comprised the passage of Sherman's army though the Carolinas, despite the fact that Sherman himself wrote that he considered what transpired here more important, militarily, than his march from Atlanta to Savannah.
With that as a backdrop, it was good to see this gifted historian of Civil War cavalry actions take on Monroe's Crossroads and give it the book-length treatment it deserves. In the past, one had to turn to a chapter in John Barrett's classic SHERMAN'S MARCH THOUGH THE CAROLINAS or Mark Bradley's more recent LAST STAND IN THE CAROLINAS that examines Monroe's Crossroads as part of the prelude to the Battle of Bentonville, the main focus of Bradley's book. Mr. Wittenberg has done an excellent job of giving life to the two legendary leaders involed in the fight--Wade Hampton and Kilpatrick. He traces the careless nature of Kilpatrick on other occasions in the past and how that dangerous habit led to his not placing pickets around his headquarters house that dark night but then documents how he was quick to recover from his near-capture and inspire his men enough to drive off Hampton's attackers and, ultimately, redeem himself. Recommended for anyone interested in the Civil War, Sherman's March and especially for those who have read biographies of Hampton(read Cisco and Longacre's recent works) and Kilpatrick(only one for him, Samuel Martin's) but want to study these two men up close and personal,in terms of tactics and behavior in the field. Besides that, it is just very well-written and will give you the sense of presence at the event that all well-written battle histories should strive for but don't always achieve.
An in-depth study of one of the most critical cavalry battles of the American Civil War.......2006-06-05
The Battle Of Monroe's Crossroads and the Civil War's Final Campaign is an in-depth study of one of the most critical cavalry battles of the American Civil War. Waged at dawn on March 10, 1865, the battle of Monroe's Crossroads was a vicious affair, waged mostly at close quarters with swords, pistols, carbines, and bare hands. Renowned cavalry historian Eric J. Wittenberg vividly describes the fierce life-and-death struggle from beginning to bitter end, with appendices clarifying such data as the order of battle an the identification of casualties. Black-and- white illustrations and an index round out this superb addition to Civil War military history shelves.
Excellent just excellent.......2006-05-11
Eric Wittenberg solidifies his standing as our best Civil War Cavalry author by continuing to produce high quality, well-researched, readable histories that are both informative and fun. Using Savas Beatie as his publisher is a "Dream Team" for enthusiasts. Maps, maps and more maps ensure that you will never be lost and will instantly understand what retaking the guns means. The list of illustrations is one and a half pages; the list of maps is two and a half pages. Clearly stating that both the author and publisher understand what is nice, illustrations and what is necessary, maps. Since most of us will never get into Fort Bragg to walk the battle field, the maps substitute nicely keeping us orientated and in position.
The book is well researched, footnoted and complete within the time we are considering. The confrontation between Hampton and Kilpatrick outside the Bennett home, capture the men, their feelings and the time. It provides a logical beginning to the story, even if it occurs at the end. While presenting the reader with clear concise portraits of the major figures, the supporting cast is not ignored. The strengths and weakness of each Cavalry force is clearly described. This introduction gives us the needed background to understand the depth of feeling and desperation that contributes to the battle.
Weather and terrain conspire to hinder both sides building a waterlogged hell for man and beast. This produces a major impact on the campaign and the battle, becoming a story within the story. J.E. Johnston's army must cross over the Cape Fear River, Hampton's cavalry is trying to screen this movement and delay Sherman's army. Judson Kilpatrick, commanding Sherman's cavalry almost by default, is trying to get around Hampton while protecting Sherman's foraging parties and supply trains.
Kilpatrick allows his cavalry to spread out, become badly separated and fails to protect the approaches to the camps. Wade Hampton and Joe Wheeler size an opportunity and attack a portion of Kilpatrick's command. The resulting battle is at close quarters, fought by veterans is a stand up fight with neither side stepping back. Eric Wittenberg details what the commanders do right; wrong and where they lose control. This results in an understandable sew-saw battle narrative as first one side and than the other attacks. Here the detailed maps are as valuable as the writing. Working together, the reader never gets lost always using one to support the other.
This is more than a battle book as the battle is placed within the context of the campaign and the war. This placement, allows us the answer the very complex question; "Who won?" The last chapters cover the aftermath of the battle, what it did to and for Johnston & Sherman and give us a glimpse of the participant's later life. An Order of battle and detailed list of causalities complete the history of the battle.
Appendix C & D, answer a couple of questions that are not technically part of the battle but relate to it. Both provide us with Human Interests items and make the story personal and complete. One deals with who was the woman in Kilpatrick's HQ and the other with "Fighting" Joe Wheeler's rank.
Book Description
The often forgotten years between Columbus's voyages and the landing of the Mayflower. Writing from a background in both Indian and English history. Karen Ordahl Kupperman movingly describes the first English colony in America, bringing historical themes to life through fascinating portraits of individuals who lived the drama of the lost colony.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting and relevant history........2006-05-06
I'm not certain why, but books on the "lost" colony of Roanoke seemed to catch my eye, so I added several to my wish list. I selected Karen O. Kupperman's volume as the first to read and found it interesting and insightful.
Roanoke, the Abandoned Colony is a little old and reflects it's 1984 vintage. Settlement of the North and South American continents is described as having occurred by way of a "land bridge" during the glacial epic 10,000 to 40,000 years ago. Native people are depicted as having followed their game animals across the Bering Strait into the Americas. Today this is considered somewhat less likely than it was prior to the 1990s, and alternative possibilities are usually given in more recent works on the topic.
Once beyond the background history of the native population, however, the author is on firmer ground. The ample documentation of early English settlement provides her with evidence for a thorough discussion of the period. Much of her background information, however, is taken from secondary rather than primary sources. The notes to the edition contain references to works written in the 1960s, 70s, and 80's about Roanoke, Raleigh, the Southeastern Indians, and so on, rather than documents by early explorers, although she consults those doing original research with primary sources or with archaeological field data.
I had rather expected a more sensational approach to the topic; most of us who know anything at all about Roanoke simply know of the mysterious disappearance of its colonists and the name Virginia Dare. Neglected beyond that introduction by most high school American history courses-in fact many college courses-the average reader is left with a lacuna in his/her understanding of the colonial era.
Ms Kupperman ably fills that breach. Her discussion of Indian culture and politics during the age is very insightful. When I studied American colonial history years ago, the Indian people were hardly considered at all, and then mostly as "background noise," sort of part of the flora and fauna of the continent. That they had political acumen, let alone a political agenda, was not even considered, a lapse that made the history of the period lopsided and confusing. The academic perspective at the time-prior to the establishment of American Indian Studies programs in colleges and universities-was no doubt an outgrowth of the European point of view. Historians and like minded individuals in US society saw the expression of expansionism and the displacement and even extermination of native peoples as part of its "manifest destiny." So integral is this perspective to society's concept of itself even now, that it requires works like Roanoke to remove the cultural blinders. Through it all, though, the author neither blames nor excuses. Like a good journalist, she describes and explains what occurred, giving cultural background information on all parties that helps clarify interactions. Her discussion of 16th century English policy with respect to Ireland is especially relevant.
One of the most interesting facets of the book, but definitely one that took me a while to appreciate, was the degree to which it involved the history of Elizabethan England and the life of Sir Walter Raliegh and other English explorers. In fact this period of North American history from the perspective of its European heritage is pretty much about England and its relations with others: its international fortune, its social structure and social outlook, and so on.
While the story of Roanoke is part of US history, understanding its experience and demise only makes sense when placed in the context of what was going on world wide at the time. In fact, it's possible that the history of no specific place on the globe ever makes complete sense without referring to world context.
Overall the book gives a very detailed and informative account of early English experience in North America. With the above caveats, it would make an excellent source book for high school history and a good addition to a school library.
Quite dull.......2004-06-18
The prose is dry, and the book didn't provide any insights you couldn't get from just asking someone on the street -- no new material, no interesting conclusions.
This is THE book to read on Roanoke.......2004-03-25
Well written, researched and documented. A fascinating mystery told in a great way.
Surprisingly interesting!.......2001-11-10
I bought this book because I needed to write a book review for my American History review course. I was expecting to trudge through a hundred and some odd boring pages, but was pleasantly surprised.
It was very well written, and read more like a short novel than a history book. While providing information on the many people involved in the Roanoke adventures, it also reviewed the general socio-economic factors influencing American colonization in general. It really contained a ton of information on American colonization and the European factors behind it, and it presented it in such a way that it told a story, rather than simply jumping from time-period and event to time-period and event! (like many of those so called "textbooks")
The author is a noted authority on the early contacts between Europeans and Native Americans.
Read it, you'll like it.
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