Five years ago a tragedy occurred in Charleston S.C. A white supremacist Dylan Roof walked into one of the oldest black churches and murdered 9 people. While I had majored in history at college, it had been years since I had seriously read history.
After the shooting, the role of the Battle Flag was ...more
Of the countless books covering the Civil War and slavery, many of which I've read, I don't know of a single one that so perfectly shows us the humanity - and inhumanity - of it all from a southern perspective.
This book is exceptionally well researched and well written. It's not at all 'text book d ...more
The best educational read I have ever consumed. The authors produce factual and detailed revelations of how the narrative of slavery in American history was developed.
This novel explains the author's discovery of how the cradle of America's slave imports to the city Charleston South Carolina has a w ...more
Denmarck Vesey was a free black man living in antebellum Charleston, South Carolina in the 1820’s. He had a job and a few resources, but he was fiercely angry about the slavery that poisoned the lives of his fellow blacks. And so in 1822 he used his meager earnings to buy weapons in the hopes of beg ...more
A thought provoking work. Perhaps a little disjointed at times but overall certainly worth the effort. I think I found the summary statements the most influential ... “We should not be expected to reject our ancestors for their moral failings. And we certainly should not be held responsible for thei ...more
It may seem odd to call a book "riveting," but that's what this is, a riveting account of the disputes over memory in Charleston, SC. Disclaimer: I'm interested in the subject. But the authors have done an excellent job making their case about the way Lost Cause nostalgia has warped the way we tell ...more
This book is so much more than a history of Charleston, South Carolina. It's the most insightful book I've ever read about historical memory and race in America. Nearly every chapter was so fascinating it could have been a book in its own right. I wanted to hear so much more about Denmark Vesey, the ...more
Charleston has done a lot to restore old landmark sites to reflect the city's past. This thick hardback has detailed history, photos, and good maps. I picked it up at the Charleston Slave Mart Museum. It is well worth reading because it draws together the his ...more
Really interesting. Great idea to look at public history and memory in this kind of focused way, examining just one city and the changes within that city. I appreciated that about the book. They never even really dealt much with what was happening in Columbia SC, or Atlanta. Laser focused on Charles ...more
An exceptionally researched and written study of Charleston, South Carolina as the capital of slavery in the United States and the cradle of the Confederacy, which the authors conivncingly argue, makes it the place where the ways slavery and the Civil War are remembered matter most. A timely, insigh ...more
Excellent history of the memory of slavery in Charleston. Well organized, well researched, well written. A little too caught up in 2010s politics at times. ...more
The focus is on Charleston SC, the port that brought in more new slaves than any other city and the home of Fort Sumter where the American Civil War began. Told by Caucasian authors, this is a summary of shifting perspectives and politics in regard to slavery that covers prevailing opinions from bef ...more