This is a cookbook alright but it is also a history of lowcountry food, agriculture, and recipes. Plus, Hoppin' John has an attitude and man is he strict: You'd better boil your shrimp with the heads on and you'd better make iced tea the right way.

John Martin Taylor does an outstanding job of sharing the history, culture, the exact how and why of South Carolina Low Country (Costal Carolina)Cooking. This book is enjoyable, reads like a good novel and will be appreciated by both novice or experinced cooks. If you enjoy good regional cook books, this one is a gem and is well worth owning!

I am a current resident of a new subdivision that has just been built on Lawton Plantation. After reading this book, I now can visualize the history of the area. As I walk down the new sidewalks and cut through areas under construction, I try to imagine what it was like 150 years ago. I can almost see Uncle Peter as he is walking to his one room cabin. The other night I heard an owl hooting that reminded me of the past when this was a plantation with fields of cotton. Driving over the new bridge to Charleston, I can imagine the Lawton's boat transporting milk and people from the plantation to downtown Charleston. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in reading about plantation life and how it was affected by the Civil War.

A historical story in a very personal fashion. The book recounts the Lawtons family history from before the Civil War until WWII. From the acceptance of slaves as part of plantation life, to the complete dissolution of their economy and beyond - a wonderful story depicting the dynamism and challenges of life.

This is a gorgeous book of paintings by a master artist. I recommend it.

I purchased my copy of this beautiful coffee-table book from John Carroll Doyle's art gallery in Charleston. The book showcases his art, but at the same time focuses on the history of Charleston through the eyes of someone who grew up there in the 1950's-present. If you are interested in exquisite art and Charleston history, by all means, this is the book for you.

If you love romance and like to have a lot of adventure mingled in , you have got to read this book. The writer with her vivid descriptive talent will take you into the life of Anna Kathryn with all the twists and turns you can imagine and then some. You can't wait to see what happens next in this girl's life and how she will affect the life of her capturer. This is a spellbinding book full of descriptive scenes which will last in you memory. The scenes of the waging sea battles, the beautiful island of Barbados and all the characters come to life. So get you a good cup of tea, a comfy chair and get ready for a Great Read, the only sad thing is that it comes to an end.

Since I live in South Carolina, I've always been interested in books set in the South. I loved reading Sea Chase. Once I started it, I found it hard to put down. As I read each word it was easy to envision every detail of this historical romance. The chemistry between the hero and heroine was intriguing and I felt as if I'd been swept back in time. I would highly recommend Sea Chase to anyone, and look forward to reading more books by this author.

I loved this book everyone should read it. This book is about a twelve year old girl named Susana whose dad is sent away to help in the war. She is left with her 2 other brothers to take care of the plantation and all the other animals because her mother is dead. This book is very heart-warming and is a must read. This book would be a really good Christmas present to give. You should really read this book,believe me. This book is the best!

Twelve-year-old Susanna lives with her father and two brothers on a plantation on an island off the coast of South Carolina. It's 1861, the Civil War is being fought, and Susanna's father is called away to serve the Confederacy. When the Yankees invade the island, Susanna and her brothers have to flee the island on their own and try to find their father. But first they have to survive. I highly reccomend this book.

This book was excellent! I loved every bit of it and didn't want to put it down from page 1. The struggles of all the women of catawba were so interesting and wonderful to read. Right after finishing it, I picked up the sequel so I could keep reading into the Marston's life. If you see this book, please buy it and the sequel because they are worth every penny!!

When Taylor Craven is forced to leave England for the "New World", everything seems to go wrong. She's even forced to marry a man she doesn't love, but even then God is with her. It is an awesome story about love, faith, and acceptance.

What a cute idea! This book is one that children will want to read over and over again. The easy format (using the alphabet to describe historical sites in the Charleston, South Carolina area) makes this book a quick favorite of children and adults.

Each letter lists a different site in the Charleston area, and describes it is poem format.

This is a great book to help children learn their alphabet, as well as learn vital parts of American history!!!

A real winner!!!

Best Companions is a 532 page compendium of letters between Eliza Middleton Fisher and her mother, Mary Hering Middleton. The letters bridge Charleston, Philadelphia to Newport, through the years 1839-1846. This seven-year conversation, encompassed in some 375 letters, connect the cultural and social life of the North and the South even as other forces conspired to tear America part from within. Enhanced with an Epilogue, extentensive bibliography, and comprehensive index, Best Companions is intimately showcases the joys, sorrows, frustrations, and widespread opinions of a close mother and daughter. Best Companions is not to be missed!

Opens a world that most people don't even know about. Black slaveowners?  Most people are shocked and amazed to discover that there were black slaveowners. While always an anomaly, there were 10,000 to 12,000 black slaveowners in 1860, though many of them had purchased family members and continued to hold them in slavery because their state of residence did not allow masters to free slaves.

The exact breakdown of black slaveowners by category does not yet exist; for some insights into the life of at least one black master, Johnson and Roark's book provides a fairly detailed examination of what are necessarily incomplete records. William Ellison was born a slave in 1790, and developed a skill as a master craftsman, a cotton gin maker. He bought himself out of slavery, apparently with the active encouragement of his master -- who may well have been his father -- and became, in turn, a slaveowner himself -- and wealthier than 90% of white Southerners. Indeed, he owned more slaves "than all but the richest white planters." [pp. xi-xii]

As it examines the status of William Ellison, his relationships with white masters, and the social milleu of Charleston, this book also paints an interesting portrait of the three race system of South Carolina life. While whites considered free mulattoes (those of mixed white and black race) in the same category as pure blacks, the mulattoes insisted on keeping distinctions, one of their "attempts to shape social reality to their sense of themselves as an intermediate class, to give repeated public demonstrations that their social niche had clear racial boundaries and that their racial niche had equally crisp social limits." [pp. 225-226]

The chapter "Masters or Slaves" wanders far afield from William Ellison and his family, but provides some interesting insights into the manner in which working class free whites regarded free blacks and slaves who directly contracted their labor (sometimes with little or no involvement by their masters) as a threat to their economic status, and vigorously sought laws on the eve of the Civil War to prevent blacks from competing on an equal basis in what was essentially a color-blind, free market economy.

Perhaps the most startling part of the book is the extent to which the Ellison family identified with the slaveowners of the Confederacy. His sons invested heavily in Confederate war bonds, and his grandson John Wilson Buckner was allowed to enlist in the South Carolina Artillery because of "personal associations and a sterling family reputation...." [pp. 305-307] Of course, once the Civil War was over, this identification with their class, not their race, paid bitter rewards. The bonds were defaulted, and the Ellison family slaves freed. Without slaves, and in the subsequent depression, the Ellison family's land became worth far less -- broken as much as many white slaveowners.

Well-written, filled with fascinating and at times astonishing information. Aimed at a well-educated and scholarly audience.

Mr. Poston has done an excellent and exhaustive job with this book. To my knowledge it is the most comprehensive compilation to date. As well as photographs of the houses plans are also shown for many. A 9+ only because I'm reluctant to say that the "perfect" book has ever been published.