south carolina

South Carolina Off the Beaten Path, 6th (Off the Beaten Path Series)
$13.95
I purchased this book looking for scenic places to visit away for the normal tourist traps. Boy was I disappointed. It offered very little information about spots to visit on the "Off the Beaton Path." One can hardly say that the Charleston Country Club, Middleton Gardens, Battery Park, Myrtle Beach, Barefoot Landing and the Columbia Museum of Art are "Off the Beaten Path." They are great places to visit but you must compete with all the other thousands of tourists. The book describes places to visit where all other tourist visits. A better title for the book would be "On the Beaten Path, South Carolina." Don't waste your money. You will do much better to go on line and Google "SC travel."

Backroads of South Carolina: Your Guide to South Carolina's Most Scenic Backroad Adventures (Backroads of ...)
$19.95
I purchased this book looking for scenic places to visit away for the normal tourist traps. Boy was I disappointed. This book was a tourist trap. It offered very little information about spots to visit on the "backroads", just a rehash of history of a bygone era. It is full of colorful pictures of little substances. And most if the so call "backroad adventures" are the normal tourist spots. The South isn't the South of years past, especially South Carolina. Today it is progressive and modern attracting large industries. Industry has moved to the South during the last forty years and most of its citizens and towns have become very modern. The writer(s) appear to be stuck in the in the past; talking about regions relying on tobacco and cotton. This hasn't been true for over 30 years. Don't waste your money on this book. You're paying for a collection of pictures.

South Carolina: A History
$45.00
I checked this book out for research and now I'm thinking I need to have my own copy. Such wonderful detail on so many different topics! Aside from the Civil War, Americans don't know much about SC, and yet South Carolina has played a pivotal role in American history. I love the way the book covers all groups--it's been difficult to find good material on ethnic groups in the early colonial period, for example. Of course 700 pages won't cover every detail of history for this fascinating state, but Edgar does a great job providing a variety of perspectives. Excellent reading.

The South Carolina Encyclopedia
$65.00
There are single books on South Carolina that are available for the serious student. For example The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina: 1514-1861 will give one a sweeping history of the early origins of SC (early 16th century) up to 1861.

But for the interested student, researcher, or just plain SC admirer one can't go wrong with this excellent resource: The South Carolina Encyclopedia.

It is compiled by almost 600 authors. The selections are balanced to give the reader a macro view of South Carolina, not just from an historical perspective. I keep it nearby when I'm reading a book about SC or even a magazine article or a web page.

Each article usually is followed by 2-3 recommended books for further reading. There is a nice index too.

One thing that would have made this resource better would have been to bold type each item entry within the text of each article. In other words, one might be reading about Beaufort and find a word in bold in the article (i.e., Robert Smalls) which would key the reader that 'Robert Smalls' also has an article entry for the encyclopedia.

It would have also been nice had the editors suggested a few other 'related' articles for each entry.

Highly recommended. Every public library should own this.