Tag Archives: Politics

by | July 17, 2008 · 3:41 pm

Sidney C. Tapp. The Struggle. New York: A. Wessels Co., 1906.

It is a stretch to call this a North Carolina novel. Over a hundred pages are set in the boardrooms of Manhattan. The author’s goal is to reveal the way trusts, corporations, and large banks manipulate the commercial and political systems, to the detriment of the the average citizen. After the plans of the robber barons are put into place, the extended Shelton family is ruined. One of the few rays of hope for ordinary people is the Democratic Convention of North Carolina where the “representative of the people” achieves some victories. The heroic figure of the convention is the Hon. William Fitchen, who is thought to be modeled on Congressman and North Carolina Governor W.W. Kitchin.

Check this title’s availability and access an online copy through the UNC-Chapel Hill Library Catalog.

Comments Off on Sidney C. Tapp. The Struggle. New York: A. Wessels Co., 1906.

Filed under 1900-1909, 1906, Novels to Read Online, Tapp, Sidney C.

Tagged as ,

by | July 11, 2008 · 8:00 am

Joyce and Jim Lavene. Last Fires Burning. New York: Avalon Books, 2003.

In Last Fires Burning, the seventh mystery in this series, Sharyn Howard finds herself busily fighting fires–both literal and figurative. While her (fictional) Uwharrie Mountain town of Diamond Springs is threatened by wildfires, Sheriff Howard faces a tough reelection campaign and has two fire-related murders to solve. And her problems are not just professional; she is also dealing with ongoing disagreements with her mother, a new romance that she’s trying to keep out of the local press, and a deputy who’s in love with her.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

Comments Off on Joyce and Jim Lavene. Last Fires Burning. New York: Avalon Books, 2003.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2003, Lavene, Jim and Joyce, Montgomery, Mystery, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Piedmont

Tagged as ,

by | May 23, 2008 · 2:01 pm

Sarah Colton. Tilt 68. Asheville, N.C.: Water Tower Books, 2007.

Louisa Ellington grew up in a traditional southern family, but at 18 years old she leaves home to attend Holy Trinity Women’s College (based on Raleigh’s St. Mary’s College). Once there, Louisa and her classmates face all the challenges of normal college life, but they do so amidst the turmoil of the late-1960s. The women struggle with personal and community changes wrought by the arrival of drugs on their campus and the widespread availability of birth-control pills, and they also confront wider political, religious, and generational issues related to the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam war.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

4 Comments

Filed under 2007, Colton, Sarah, Historical, Piedmont, Wake

Tagged as

by | April 15, 2008 · 10:09 am

Dewey Lambdin. What Lies Buried: A Novel of Old Cape Fear. Ithaca, N.Y.: McBooks Press, 2005.

This historical novel, set in and around 18th-century Wilmington, traces the events around the murder of a political leader. After Harry Tresmayne is found murdered beside a Cape Fear road, his friend Matthew Livesey finds that both motives and suspects abound.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

Comments Off on Dewey Lambdin. What Lies Buried: A Novel of Old Cape Fear. Ithaca, N.Y.: McBooks Press, 2005.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2005, Coast, Historical, Lambdin, Dewey, New Hanover

Tagged as

by | March 13, 2008 · 9:58 am

Philip Gerard. Cape Fear Rising. Winston-Salem: John F. Blair, 1994.

When Sam Jenks and his wife Gray Ellen move from Chicago to Wilmington, N.C. in August 1898, they find a city in turmoil. Amidst a vicious, racist political campaign, a group of white citizens begin to mobilize against the city’s large African American population. Based on the actual events of the November 1898 Wilmington riot that led to the murder of many African Americans and the violent overthrow of the city’s government, Gerard dramatizes one of the most significant periods in North Carolina history.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

Comments Off on Philip Gerard. Cape Fear Rising. Winston-Salem: John F. Blair, 1994.

Filed under 1990-1999, 1994, Coast, Docufiction, Gerard, Philip, Historical, New Hanover

Tagged as ,

by | · 9:58 am

Jonathan Farlow. Brouhaha. Boone, N.C.: Parkway Publishers, 2005.

The mayoral election in the fictional Piedmont town of Ashewood Falls has the whole town astir. Everything was proceeding smoothly in the decidedly quirky town until a bowling alley argument led to the entry of a new candidate in the race. Incumbent Johnston “Birddog” Farley is faced with an unexpected challenge from Purdie Mae Pearce, the “fried chicken queen.” As befits as modern election, this one is filled with scandal. There are allegations of adultery, suspicions of electoral fraud, and a bevy of special interest groups clamoring for attention.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

Comments Off on Jonathan Farlow. Brouhaha. Boone, N.C.: Parkway Publishers, 2005.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2005, Farlow, Jonathan, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Piedmont

Tagged as

by | · 9:58 am

Doris Betts. The River to Pickle Beach. New York: Harper & Row, 1972.

In the turbulent summer of 1968, Jack and Bebe Sellars take over the management of Pickerel Beach on the North Carolina coast. Hoping for a peaceful, easy summer, their plans are disrupted by the arrival of several difficult people, including a violent, racist former Army buddy of Jack’s. The story, though written in third-person, is told from the alternating viewpoints of Bebe and Jack, with the events of the summer triggering memories of their past together. Throughout the novel, the racial violence and volatile national political struggles never seem far from the surface.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

Comments Off on Doris Betts. The River to Pickle Beach. New York: Harper & Row, 1972.

Filed under 1970-1979, 1972, Betts, Dorris, Brunswick, Coast

Tagged as ,

by | · 9:58 am

Ellyn Bache. The Activist’s Daughter. Duluth, Minn.: Spinsters Ink, 1997.

In this novel set amidst the Civil Rights protests of the early 1960s, Beryl Rosinsky has graduated from high school and is anxious to get away from her activist mother and her hometown of Washington, D.C. She enrolls at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she finds a different world — conservative, Southern, and with long-standing campus cliques firmly established. Beryl is gradually drawn into local Civil Rights protests, which are may be based on actual demonstrations by UNC students against segregated businesses in Chapel Hill. As a result of her own political awakening, Beryl ends up with a deeper understanding and appreciation of her mother.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

Comments Off on Ellyn Bache. The Activist’s Daughter. Duluth, Minn.: Spinsters Ink, 1997.

Filed under 1990-1999, 1997, Bache, Ellyn, Orange, Piedmont

Tagged as , ,