Originally published in 1992, South Carolina in the Modern Age was the first history of contemporary South Carolina to appear in more than a quarter century and helped establish the reputation of the Palmetto State's premier historian, Walter Edgar, who had not yet begun the two landmark volumes—South Carolina: A History and The South Carolina Encyclopedia—that also bear his name. Available once again, this illustrated volume chronicles transformational events in South Carolina as the state emerged from the devastation that followed the Civil War and progressed through the challenges of the twentieth century. After the Civil War, South Carolina virtually disappeared from the national consciousness and became a historical backwater. But as the nation began to look to the twentieth century, South Carolina stirred once again. It took a world war, the U.S. Supreme Court, and strong-willed leadership to place South Carolina once more within the American mainstream. Edgar has divided this text into four essays, each covering a quarter century of South Carolina history. Each essay has a particular focus: South Carolina's hectic political scene (1891-1916); a period of economic stagnation during which the myths of the state's glorious past were honed and polished (1916-41); the impetus that World War II gave to economic development (1941-66); and social changes wrought by urbanization, industrial development, and desegregation (1966-91). South Carolina in the Modern Age also includes a chronology of state history and a list of suggested readings. More than seventy illustrations, many previously unpublished, add a visual dimension to the story.

An assessment of critical battles on the southern front that led to American independence An estimated one-third of all combat actions in the American Revolution took place in South Carolina. From the partisan clashes of the backcountry's war for the hearts and minds of settlers to bloody encounters with Native Americans on the frontier, more battles were fought in South Carolina than any other of the original thirteen states. The state also had more than its share of pitched battles between Continental troops and British regulars. In South Carolina and the American Revolution: A Battlefield History, John W. Gordon illustrates how these encounters, fought between 1775 and 1783, were critical to winning the struggle that secured Americas independence from Great Britain. According to Gordon, when the war reached stalemate in other zones and the South became its final theater, South Carolina was the decisive battleground. Recounting the clashes in the state, Gordon identifies three sources of attack: the powerful British fleet and seaborne forces of the British regulars; the Cherokees in the west; and, internally, a loyalist population numerous enough to support British efforts towards reconquest. From the successful defense of Fort Sullivan (the palmetto-log fort at the mouth of Charleston harbor), capture and occupation of Charleston in 1780, to later battles at King's Mountain and Cowpens, this chronicle reveals how troops in South Carolina frustrated a campaign for restoration of royal authority and set British troops on the road to ultimate defeat at Yorktown. Despite their successes in 1780 and 1781, the British found themselves with a difficult military problem—having to wage a conventional war against American regular forces while also mounting a counterinsurgency against the partisan bands of Francis Marion, Andrew Pickens, and Thomas Sumter. In this comprehensive assessment of one southern state's battlegrounds, Gordon examines how military policy in its strategic, operational, and tactical dimensions set the stage for American success in the Revolution.

The South Carolina Historical Marker Program, established in 1936, has approved the installation of more than 1,700 interpretive plaques, each highlighting how places both grand and unassuming have played important roles in the history of the Palmetto State. These roadside markers identify and interpret places valuable for understanding South Carolina's past, including sites of consequential events and buildings, structures, or other resources significant for their design or their association with institutions or individuals prominent in local, state, or national history. This volume includes a concise history of the South Carolina Historical Marker Program and an overview of the marker application process. For those interested in specific historic periods or themes, the volume features condensed lists of markers associated with broader topics such as the American Revolution, African American history, women's history, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. While the program is administered by the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, most markers are proposed by local organizations that serve as a marker's official sponsor, paying its cost and assuming responsibility for its upkeep. In that sense, this inventory is a record not just of places and subjects that the state has deemed worthy of acknowledgment, but of those that South Carolinians themselves have worked to enshrine.

In this book, Lindley S. Butler traverses oft-noted but little understood events in the political and social establishment of the Carolina colony. In the wake of the English Civil Wars in the mid-seventeenth century, King Charles II granted charters to eight Lords Proprietors to establish civil structures, levy duties and taxes, and develop a vast tract of land along the southeastern Atlantic coast. Butler argues that unlike the New England theocracies and Chesapeake plantocracy, the isolated colonial settlements of the Albemarle—the cradle of today's North Carolina—saw their power originate neither in the authority of the church nor in wealth extracted through slave labor, but rather in institutions that emphasized political, legal, and religious freedom for white male landholders. Despite this distinct pattern of economic, legal, and religious development, however, the colony could not avoid conflict among the diverse assemblage of Indigenous, European, and African people living there, all of whom contributed to the future of the state and nation that took shape in subsequent years. Butler provides the first comprehensive history of the proprietary era in North Carolina since the nineteenth century, offering a substantial and accessible reappraisal of this key historical period.

Filled with local stories and dramatic scenes of fighting from across many decades, J. B. O. Landrum's chronicle of South Carolina is a treasure of the past. The author is enthusiastic in presenting accounts which encapsulate the local Carolina spirit; tales of hardship amid an unforgiving wilderness, of brutal combat between the Native Americans and the white settlers, and of everyday living in the villages and townships of the various counties. War stories and dramatic events are commonly taken from recollections of descendants and written anecdotes; such sources make for a lively and thoroughly engaging history of how South Carolina came to be. By the time he wrote this history in 1897, J. B. O. Landrum was already respected as a writer and chronicler of the past. Locals in and around the Carolinas would, from time to time, send him pertinent material. This edition includes the original publication's maps of the locality, so that readers can understand where settlements stood in the grand scheme of things, and how troops moved around during the conflicts. For its unique storytelling and knowledge, this history retains much value for modern day readers.

A lively chronicle of the South's most renowned city from the founding of colonial Charles Town through the present day A Short History of Charleston—a lively chronicle of the South's most renowned and charming city—has been hailed by critics, historians, and especially Charlestonians as authoritative, witty, and entertaining. Beginning with the founding of colonial Charles Town and ending three hundred and fifty years later in the present day, Robert Rosen's fast-paced narrative takes the reader on a journey through the city's complicated history as a port to English settlers, a bloodstained battlefield, and a picturesque vacation mecca. Packed with anecdotes and enlivened by passages from diaries and letters, A Short History of Charleston recounts in vivid detail the port city's development from an outpost of the British Empire to a bustling, modern city. This revised and expanded edition includes a new final chapter on the decades since Joseph Riley was first elected mayor in 1975 through its rapid development in geographic size, population, and cultural importance. Rosen contemplates both the city's triumphs and its challenges, allowing readers to consider how Charleston's past has shaped its present and will continue to shape its future.

[This text discusses] South Carolina's role in the building of the United States. -- A word to the student.