"Provides an engaging and illuminating view of the culture of the South and the study of natural history. . . . Ravenel's achievements, Haygood argues, refute Clement Eaton's contention that slavery stifled creative thought; they also modify the more extravagant claim for southern equality with northern science made in Thomas Cary Johnson's Scientific Interests in the Old South (1936)." --American Historical Review "Convincingly argues for the importance of these middle years to understanding American science and vividly illustrates the effect of the Civil War on science. . . . Ravenel, a geographically isolated planter with a college degree but no scientific training, managed to serve as one of America's leading mycologists, despite continual financial and medical problems and the disruption of the Civil War. This lively account of his life and work is at once inspiring and tragic." Journal of the History of Biology "A thoroughly enjoyable biography of one of the important American naturalists, botanists, and mycologists of the 1800s. . . . Truly an outstanding contribution to the history of American science." --Brittonia

The hunt, like the church, courthouse, and family, played an integral role in southern society and culture during the antebellum era. Regardless of color or class, southern men hunted. Although hunters always recognized the tangible gains of their mission—meat, hides, furs—they also used the hunt to communicate ideas of gender, race, class, masculinity, and community. Hunting was very much a social activity, and for many white hunters it became a drama in which they could display their capacity for mastery over women, blacks, the natural world, and their own passions. Nicolas Proctor argues in Bathed in Blood that because slaves frequently accompanied white hunters into the field, whites often believed that hunting was a particularly effective venue for the demonstration of white supremacy. Slaves interpreted such interactions quite differently: they remained focused on the products of the hunt and considered the labor performed at the behest of their owners as an opportunity to improve their own condition. Whether acquired as a reward from a white hunter or as a result of their own independent—often illicit—efforts, game provided them with an important supplementary food source, an item for trade, and a measure of autonomy. By sharing their valuable resources with other slaves, slave hunters also strengthened the bonds within their own community. In a society predicated upon the constant degradation of African Americans, such simple acts of generosity became symbolic of resistance and had a cohesive effect on slave families. Proctor forges a new understanding of the significance of hunting in the antebellum South through his analyses of a wealth of magazine articles and private papers, diaries, and correspondence.

African-Atlantic Cultures and the South Carolina Lowcountry examines perceptions of the natural world revealed by the religious ideas and practices of African-descended communities in South Carolina from the colonial period into the twentieth century. Focusing on Kongo nature spirits known as the simbi, Ras Michael Brown describes the essential role religion played in key historical processes, such as establishing new communities and incorporating American forms of Christianity into an African-based spirituality. This book illuminates how people of African descent engaged the spiritual landscape of the Lowcountry through their subsistence practices, religious experiences and political discourse.

Hunting literature had its beginnings as early as the fourteenth century, when nobles hunted stag, bear, fox, and other game on horseback. As foxhunting grew in popularity, literary works that covered the sport flourished, as well. In Six Centuries of Foxhunting: An Annotated Bibliography, M. L. Biscotti has compiled all books produced in Great Britain and the United States that pertain to, or mention, foxhunting with hounds. Arranged alphabetically by author, more than 2000 titles are included. Each entry features details such as place and year of publication, publisher, book size, page count, illustrations, and binding. Nearly every title is also annotated with a description of the book’s contents, and biographical sketches are provided for the most notable authors. Narratives, histories, illustrated works, verse, fiction, and even anti-hunting literature all have their place in this volume. Six Centuries of Foxhunting also features more than thirty images of book covers and foxhunting illustrations. With appendixes that contain author, title, and illustrator time lines, and separate author and title indexes, this comprehensive bibliography is a valuable resource for researchers, book dealers and collectors, and foxhunters.

Part 1, Books, Group 1, v. 25 : Nos. 1-121 (March - December, 1928)

From the bestselling author of The Legacy comes a powerful dual narrative, set between now and the 1930s, exploring the dark heart of obsessive love. For fans of Tracy Rees, Jenny Ashcroft and Rosanna Ley 1937 In a village on the Dorset coast, fourteen-year-old Mitzy Hatcher has had a wild and lonely upbringing - until the arrival of renowned artist Charles Aubrey, his exotic mistress and their daughters, changes everything. Over the next three summers, Mitzy glimpses a future she had never imagined, and a powerful love is kindled in her. A love that grows from innocence to obsession; from childish infatuation to something far more complex. Years later, a young man in an art gallery looks at a hastily drawn portrait and wonders at the intensity of it. The questions he asks lead him to a Dorset village and to the truth about those fevered summers in the 1930s... A Half Forgotten Song is an absorbing and intoxicating mystery around a love that takes hold and won't let go. Your favourite authors love Katherine Webb's novels: 'An enormously talented writer' Santa Montefiore 'Webb has a true gift for uncovering the mysteries of the human heart and exploring the truth of love' Kate Williams 'Katherine Webb's writing is beautiful' Elizabeth Fremantle 'A truly gifted writer of historical fiction' Lucinda Riley 'Katherine's writing is rich, vivid and evocative' Iona Grey