The Tar Heel State: A History of North Carolina

Integrating tales of famous pioneers, statesmen, soldiers, farmers, captains of industry, activists, and community leaders with more marginalized voices, including those of Native Americans, African Americans, and women, Milton Ready gives readers a view of North Carolina that encompasses perspectives and personalities from the coast, "tobacco road," the piedmont, and the mountains in this sweeping history of the Tar Heel State. The first such volume in more than two decades, Readys work offers a distinctive view of the states history built from myriad stories and episodes.

Ready begins with a study of the states geography and then invites readers to revisit dramatic struggles of the American Revolution and Civil War, the early history of Cherokees, the impact of slavery as an institution, the rise of industrial mills, and the changes wrought by modern information-based technologies since 1970. Mixing spirited anecdotes and illustrative statistics, Ready describes the rich Native American culture found by John White in 1585, the chartered chaos of North Carolinas proprietary settlement, and the chronic distrust of government that grew out of settlement patterns and the colonys early political economy. He challenges the perception of relaxed intellectualism attributed to the "Rip van Winkle" state, the notion that slavery was a relatively benign institution in North Carolina, and the commonly accepted interpretation of Reconstruction in the state. Ready also discusses how the woman suffrage movement pushed North Carolina into a hesitant twentieth-century progressivism.

In perhaps his most significant contribution to North Carolinas historical record, Ready continues his narrative past the benchmark of World War II and into the twenty-first century. From the civil rights struggle to the building of research triangles, triads, and parks, Ready recounts the events that have fueled North Carolinas accelerated development in recent years and the many challenges that have accompanied such rapid growth, especially those of population change and environmental degradation.

The Tar Heel State is enhanced by one hundred and ninety illustrations and five maps.