Books published by publisher University of South Carolina Press

For nearly twenty-five years, Mildred Council--better known by her nickname, Mama Dip--has nourished thousands of hungry folks in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Her restaurant, Mama Dip's Kitchen, is a much-loved community institution that has gained loyal fans and customers from all walks of life, from New York Times food writer Craig Claiborne to former Tar Heel basketball player Michael Jordan.Mama Dip's Kitchen showcases the same down-home, wholesome, everyday Southern cooking for which its namesake restaurant is celebrated. The book features more than 250 recipes for such favorites as old-fashioned chicken pie, country-style pork chops, sweet potatoes, fresh corn casserole, poundcake, and banana pudding. Chapters cover breads and breakfast dishes; poultry, fish, and seafood; beef, pork, and lamb; vegetables and salads; and desserts, beverages, and party dishes.The book opens with a charming introductory essay, a savory reflection on a life in cooking that also reveals the story behind Council's nickname. It is both a graceful reminiscence of a country childhood and the inspiring story of a woman determined to make her own way in the larger world.

Katie's Cabbage is the inspirational true story of how Katie Stagliano, a third grader from Summerville, South Carolina, grew a forty-pound cabbage in her backyard and donated it to help feed 275 people at a local soup kitchen. In her own words, Katie shares the story of the little cabbage seedling and the big ideas of generosity and service that motivated her to turn this experience into Katie's Krops, a national youth movement aimed at ending hunger one vegetable garden at a time. Katie's Cabbage reminds us of how small things can grow and thrive when nurtured with tender loving and care and of how one person, with the support of family, friends, and community, can help make a powerful difference in the lives of so many. Katie's Cabbage was illustrated by Karen Heid, associate professor of art education at the University of South Carolina School of Visual Art and Design. Editorial assistance was provided by Michelle H. Martin, a dedicated gardener and the Augusta Baker Chair in Childhood Literacy at the University of South Carolina School of Library and Information Science. Patricia Moore-Pastides, First Lady of the University of South Carolina and author of Greek Revival from the Garden: Growing and Cooking for Life, offers a foreword about her friendship with Katie and her admiration of Katie's dream to end hunger one garden at a time.

Nancy Roberts has often been described to as the "First Lady of American Folklore" and the title is well deserved. Throughout her decades-long career, Roberts documented supernatural experiences and interviewed hundreds of people about their recollections of encounters with the supernatural.This nationally renowned writer began her undertaking in this ghostly realm as a freelance writer for the Charlotte Observer. Encouraged by Carl Sandburg, who enjoyed her stories and articles, Roberts wrote her first book in 1958. Aptly called a "custodian of the twilight zone" by Southern Living magazine, Roberts based her suspenseful stories on interviews and her rich knowledge of American folklore. Her stories were always rooted in history, which earned her a certificate of commendation from the American Association of State and Local History for her books on the Carolinas and Appalachia.

Monumental in scope and vividly detailed, Chocolate City tells the tumultuous, four-century story of race and democracy in our nation's capital. Emblematic of the ongoing tensions between America's expansive democratic promises and its enduring racial realities, Washington often has served as a national battleground for contentious issues, including slavery, segregation, civil rights, the drug war, and gentrification. But D.C. is more than just a seat of government, and authors Chris Myers Asch and George Derek Musgrove also highlight the city's rich history of local activism as Washingtonians of all races have struggled to make their voices heard in an undemocratic city where residents lack full political rights.Tracing D.C.'s massive transformations--from a sparsely inhabited plantation society into a diverse metropolis, from a center of the slave trade to the nation's first black-majority city, from "Chocolate City" to "Latte City--Asch and Musgrove offer an engaging narrative peppered with unforgettable characters, a history of deep racial division but also one of hope, resilience, and interracial cooperation.

Drawing on storytelling traditions as old as southern literature itself, Grit Lit is the first anthology devoted to contemporary writing about the Rough South. From literary legends to emerging voices, the acclaimed writers featured in this collection view their hardscrabble South without romanticism or false nostalgia, not through moonlight and magnolia but moonshine and Marlboros. This is the dirty South as captured by those rooted in its land yet able to share its stories with candor and courage. Grit Lit guides readers through tales both tall and true, intoxicating stories of loss, violence, failure, feuds, family, and--above all--survival against the odds. Raw and raucous, Grit Lit gathers some of the most provocative writing to come out of the South in the last thirty years. With a preface by Edgar Award-winning author Tom Franklin and Brian Carpenter's introduction to the genre's origins and influences, this bold anthology lays bare the Rough South in all its battered glory and dares readers not to stare in awe.

"Do exploration. Do things that are new and different." This is the philosophy that Charles H. Townes has lived by since he was a young boy growing up on a small farm in Greenville, South Carolina. While tending to chores, exploring the outdoors, and tinkering with broken tools and equipment, Townes began what became a lifelong love of exploring and inventing. His passion for new things drove him to an amazing career of discoveries that have changed the world. All of us have been affected by Townes's work, especially his most famous contribution to science: the laser. We're surrounded by lasers, and we may not even realize it: they are in computers, DVD players, atomic clocks, and barcode scanners at the grocery store checkout counter. Doctors, police, astronomers, and even Hollywood filmmakers use lasers regularly in their work. This extraordinary technology was made possible by Townes's hard work and dedication to the "new and different," winning him the Nobel Prize in physics in 1964. In First, You Explore, the first biography of Townes, Rachel Haynie chronicles the scientist's boyhood fascination with the physical world and his early reading, experiments, and exploration of his surroundings on his family's farm. Now at age ninety-eight, Townes is still actively involved in science and education, serving as a guiding force for the planetarium and observatory at the South Carolina State Museum. This inspirational biography includes a timeline of Charles Townes's major life events and additional biographical information that parents and educators will find useful as teaching tools.

Dispelling much of what he terms the 'mythology' of the Scotch-Irish, James Leyburn provides an absorbing account of their heritage. He discusses their life in Scotland, when the essentials of their character and culture were shaped; their removal to Northern Ireland and the action of their residence in that region upon their outlook on life; and their successive migrations to America, where they settled especially in the back-country of Pennsylvania, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, and then after the Revolutionary War were in the van of pioneers to the west.

For cooks who want to experience a link to culinary history, Hearthside Cooking is a treasure trove of early American delights. First published in 1986, it has become a standard guide for museum interpreters and guides, culinary historians, historical re-enactors, campers, scouts, and home cooks interested in foodways and experimenting with new recipes and techniques. Hearthside Cooking contains recipes for more than 250 historic dishes, including breads, soups, entrees, cakes, custards, sauces, and more. For each dish, Nancy Carter Crump provides two sets of instructions, so dishes can be prepared over the open fire or using modern kitchen appliances. For novice hearthside cooks, Crump offers specific tips for proper hearth cooking, including fire construction, safety, tools, utensils, and methods. More than just a cookbook, Hearthside Cooking also includes information about the men and women who wrote the original recipes, which Crump discovered by scouring old Virginia cookbooks, hand-written receipt books, and other primary sources in archival collections. With this new edition, Crump includes additional information on African American foodways, how the Civil War affected traditional southern food customs, and the late-nineteenth-century transition from hearth to stove cooking. Hearthside Cooking offers twenty-first-century cooks an enjoyable, informative resource for traditional cooking.

Crabs and oysters take center stage as Chef Bill Smith conveys his passion for preparing these sumptuous shellfish long associated with southern coastlines. Smith's sensibilities as a North Carolinian born and raised down east are vibrantly on display as he recalls the joy of growing up catching crabs and shucking oysters. Smith traveled the coastline, visited with crab fishermen and oyster farmers, and dove deep into a library's worth of regional cookbooks and collections of heirloom recipes from seaside communities, notably in North Carolina and Louisiana. His collection of fifty recipes, organized by courses, ranges from simple, everyday preparations to elaborate ones suitable for fancy parties. From Crabmeat Cobbler, Roasted Oysters, and Hard-Crab Stew with White Cornmeal Dumplings, to Crabmeat Ravigotte and Oyster Shortcake, cooks will find a succulent recipe for every occasion. The book includes seasonal selection information and detailed cleaning and preparation instructions for hard- and soft-shell crabs and oysters.

2014 James Beard Foundation Book Award, Reference and ScholarshipHonor Book for Nonfiction, Black Caucus of the American Library AssociationIn this insightful and eclectic history, Adrian Miller delves into the influences, ingredients, and innovations that make up the soul food tradition. Focusing each chapter on the culinary and social history of one dish--such as fried chicken, catfish, chitlins, greens, black-eyed peas, macaroni and cheese, cornbread, hot sauce, banana pudding, peach cobbler, pound cake, sweet potato pie, and "red drinks--Miller uncovers how it got on the soul food plate and what it means for African American culture and identity.Miller argues that the story is more complex and surprising than commonly thought. Four centuries in the making, and fusing European, Native American, and West African cuisines, soul food--in all its fried, pork-infused, and sugary glory--is but one aspect of African American culinary heritage. Miller discusses how soul food has become incorporated into American culture and explores its connections to identity politics, bad health raps, and healthier alternatives. This refreshing look at one of America's most celebrated, mythologized, and maligned cuisines is enriched by spirited sidebars, photographs, and twenty-two recipes.

New Voyages to Carolina offers a bold new approach for understanding and telling North Carolina's history. Recognizing the need for such a fresh approach and reflecting a generation of recent scholarship, eighteen distinguished authors have sculpted a broad, inclusive narrative of the state's evolution over more than four centuries. The volume provides new lenses and provocative possibilities for reimagining the state's past. Transcending traditional markers of wars and elections, the contributors map out a new chronology encompassing geological realities; the unappreciated presence of Indians, blacks, and women; religious and cultural influences; and abiding preferences for industrial development within the limits of "progressive" politics. While challenging traditional story lines, the authors frame a candid tale of the state's development. Contributors: Dorothea V. Ames, East Carolina UniversityKarl E. Campbell, Appalachian State UniversityJames C. Cobb, University of GeorgiaPeter A. Coclanis, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillStephen Feeley, McDaniel CollegeJerry Gershenhorn, North Carolina Central UniversityGlenda Elizabeth Gilmore, Yale UniversityPatrick Huber, Missouri University of Science and TechnologyCharles F. Irons, Elon UniversityDavid Moore, Warren Wilson CollegeMichael Leroy Oberg, State University of New York, College at GeneseoStanley R. Riggs, East Carolina UniversityRichard D. Starnes, Western Carolina UniversityCarole Watterson Troxler, Elon UniversityBradford J. Wood, Eastern Kentucky UniversityKarin Zipf, East Carolina University