With an annual attendance of 800,000, the North Carolina State Fair is the state's largest event and is the largest ten-day agricultural fair in the United States. Published jointly with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, this volume is the most comprehensive account of the people, politics, and events that have shaped the annual autumn event. Over three hundred photographs, many in full color, vividly portray the fair's history.

This book is a love letter to the artists, scenes, and sounds defining North Carolina's extraordinary contributions to American popular music. David Menconi spent three decades immersed in the state's music, where traditions run deep but the energy expands in countless directions. Menconi shows how working-class roots and rebellion tie North Carolina's Piedmont blues, jazz, and bluegrass to beach music, rock, hip-hop, and more. From mill towns and mountain coves to college-town clubs and the stage of American Idol, Blind Boy Fuller and Doc Watson to Nina Simone and Superchunk, Step It Up and Go celebrates homegrown music just as essential to the state as barbecue and basketball. Spanning a century of history from the dawn of recorded music to the present, and with sidebars and photos that help reveal the many-splendored glory of North Carolina's sonic landscape, this is a must-read for every music lover.

A blend of oral history and memoir with a good dose of quirky humor, Tar Heel Traveler: New Journeys Across North Carolina is a celebratory look at the people and places of North Carolina. WRAL-TV reporter Scott Mason—the Tar Heel Traveler—profiles colorful characters and out-of-the-way places. The sequel consists of all new material and showcases twenty-five of Mason’s most memorable television stories along with the amusing stories behind each.

"A fine addition to the study of urbanization. . . . (Michael) Shirley's book will appeal not only to a regional audience in the South but also to all students of the diverse American experience".--AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW. "Compelling. . . . (an) important contribution to our understanding of the modernizing of America".--JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY HISTORY. 17 illustrations.

The Tulsa State Fair is the city's largest family event, providing educational experiences and entertainment for over 800,000 visitors during an 11-day span. Annually held the fourth Thursday after Labor Day, this historical event is based upon heritage, family values, and quality entertainment for all ages. It was first organized in 1903 as the "Tulsa County Free Fair" and developed into the Tulsa State Fair of today. With the goal of providing an educational and entertaining experience to the community, it has over 100 years of history and continues to stand out as one of the premier fairs in the country.

America is at war with itself over the right to vote, or, more precisely, over the question of who gets to exercise that right and under what circumstances. Conservatives speak in ominous tones of voter fraud so widespread that it threatens public trust in elected government. Progressives counter that fraud is rare and that calls for reforms such as voter ID are part of a campaign to shrink the electorate and exclude some citizens from the political life of the nation. North Carolina is a battleground for this debate, and its history can help us understand why--a century and a half after ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment--we remain a nation divided over the right to vote. In Fragile Democracy, James L. Leloudis and Robert R. Korstad tell the story of race and voting rights, from the end of the Civil War until the present day. They show that battles over the franchise have played out through cycles of emancipatory politics and conservative retrenchment. When race has been used as an instrument of exclusion from political life, the result has been a society in which vast numbers of Americans are denied the elements of meaningful freedom: a good job, a good education, good health, and a good home. That history points to the need for a bold new vision of what democracy looks like.

Are you considered a "dingbatter," or outsider, when you visit the Outer Banks? Have you ever noticed a picture in your house hanging a little "sigogglin," or crooked? Do you enjoy spending time with your "buddyrow," or close friend? Drawing on over two decades of research and 3,000 recorded interviews from every corner of the state, Walt Wolfram and Jeffrey Reaser's lively book introduces readers to the unique regional, social, and ethnic dialects of North Carolina, as well as its major languages, including American Indian languages and Spanish. Considering how we speak as a reflection of our past and present, Wolfram and Reaser show how languages and dialects are a fascinating way to understand our state's rich and diverse cultural heritage. The book is enhanced by maps and illustrations and augmented by more than 100 audio and video recordings, which can be found online at talkintarheel.com.