In Search of the Promised Land: A Slave Family in the Old South (New Narratives in American History) (New Narratives in American History)

Book Description

The matriarch of a remarkable African American family, Sally Thomas went from being a slave on a tobacco plantation to a "virtually free" slave who ran her own business and purchased one of her sons out of bondage. In Search of the Promised Land offers a vivid portrait of the extended Thomas-Rapier family and of slave life before the Civil War. Based on personal letters and an autobiography by one of Thomas' sons, this remarkable piece of detective work follows the family as they walk the boundary between slave and free, traveling across the country in search of a "promised land" where African Americans would be treated with respect. Their record of these journeys provides a vibrant picture of antebellum America, ranging from New Orleans to St. Louis to the Overland Trail. The authors weave a compelling narrative that illuminates the larger themes of slavery and freedom while examining the family's experiences with the California Gold Rush, Civil War battles, and steamboat adventures. The documents show how the Thomas-Rapier kin bore witness to the full gamut of slavery--from brutal punishment, runaways, and the breakup of slave families to miscegenation, insurrection panics, and slave patrols. The book also exposes the hidden lives of "virtually free" slaves, who maintained close relationships with whites, maneuvered within the system, and gained a large measure of autonomy.

Customer Reviews:

So much in so little.......2006-02-02

I was taken back by the small size of this book and then taken back again by how much history it contains. Not the stuff of dry history textbooks, this book illuminates this era with detail you won't find elsewhere and engages the reader with its intensely personal story.

An Excellent History of an Antebellum Slave Family.......2005-11-25

Drs. Schweninger and Franklin have written an excellent history of the remarkable slave woman Sally Thomas and her three sons, James and Henry Thomas and John H. Rapier, Sr.

The book chronicles the fortunes of a "quasi-free" slave woman and her efforts to secure freedom and financial security for her three mulatto sons in Nashville, Tennessee. The authors deftly describe the often contradictory attitudes of while Nahvillians to African-Americans, both slaves and free people of color. For example, though techincally still a slave, Sally Thomas nevertheless, as a "quasi-free" slave was able to buy property, own her own home, and become a successful and respected businesswoman (opening her own laundry on Deadrick Street), as did her sons James, Henry and John (who were all three successful barbers). The authors describe a further contradiction in white attitudes to Antebellum blacks as, after much hard work and thriftiness Sally saved up enough money to buy her son James' freedom. After being granted their freedom free blacks were required by Tennessee law to leave the state, However James (and several other free persons of color), based upon exemplary moral character, successfully petitioned the court to be allowed to remain in Nashville.

The book also chronicles the lives and adventures of Sally's three sons, James and Henry Thomas and John H. Rapier, Sr.. One of Rapier's sons, James Thomas, was elected to the US Congress from Alabama in 1873.

The book does a great job of putting the Thomas-Rapier family into the context of the times in which they lived, vividly describing the social, political and religious life of Nashvile residents, both white and black, slave and free in the 1820s, 30s, 40s and 50s. As stated above, the book also demonstrates the often contradictory views of African-Americans taken by whites and portrays the ways in which slaves like Sally Thomas enjoyed relationships with whites, artfully maneuvered within the system of slavery to gain a large measure of autonomy, and were in the end respected by whites. This book may serve to overturn some long-held assumptions regarding Antebellum slavery. The authors do a masterful job of describing just how "peculiar" the institution of slavery was in actual fact.

As a resident of the Rapiers' home town of Florence, Alabama, as well as a genealogist and historian at out public library, "In Search of the Promised Land," along with Schweninger's earlier "James T. Rapier and Reconstruction," and his publication of the autobiography of James P. Thomas, "From Tennessee Slave to St. Louis Entrepeneur," is a valubale addition to our Rapier family record collection. The authors are to be commended on their impeccable research and scholarship, while at the same time, weaving this scholarship into a genuinely readable and enjoyable narrative. I highly recommend this book. My only criticism would be the hardback's small size. Still, at 280 pages, a great book!

In Search of the Promised Land: A Slave Family in the Old South.(Book review): An article from: Journal of Southern History

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In Search of the Promised Land: A Slave Family in the Old South.(Book review): An article from: Journal of Southern History
Peggy G. Hargis
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000NO3B9K
Release Date: 2007-02-21

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Southern History, published by Thomson Gale on February 1, 2007. The length of the article is 566 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: In Search of the Promised Land: A Slave Family in the Old South.(Book review)
Author: Peggy G. Hargis
Publication: Journal of Southern History (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 73 Issue: 1 Page: 176(2)

Article Type: Book review

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In Search Of The Promised Land: A Slave Family In The Old South (new Narratives In American History) (new Narratives In American History)

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In Search Of The Promised Land: A Slave Family In The Old South (new Narratives In American History) (new Narratives In American History)
Loren Schweninger John Hope Franklin
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKOEJO

Customer Reviews:

The best book on the 1948 war.......2005-03-05

This book, although purely popular history, is one of the best books and perhaps the most complete detailed account of the 1948 war. The authors prose moves from describing the key parts of Israel to a massive cast of characters who took part in the hostilities from weapons purchasers in California, to Trumans advisors, down to the soliders on the ground, Jewish and Arab, including the wives of many and the survivors of such key clashes as the Etsion bloc and the Haddassah convoy. Those reading about 1948 for the first time will be enthralled, veteran students of the 1948 war and Israeli history will find hundreds of new facts that one never knew existed. The authors sources are beyond reproach, ebing key individuals on both sides, and including such interesting personalities as Abdullah Tel to Mordechai Raaanan. The book does not read as a biased text, rather the author puts himself into the midnset of each actor so that one comes away with a deeper understanding then one finds in a dry historical commentary.

This is a wonderful book, a good introduction to Israeli history, as well as a classic text and a needed addition to anyones book shelf who specializes or enjoys Israeli, middle east history. There is a story for everyone in this book, from Ben-Gurions planning sessions to the woman whose family, half arab, half Jewish, was divided by the war.

Seth J. Frantzman

A terrific account of the first Arab-Israeli war.......2004-12-13

This is the story of an unusual war, between Arabs and Jews in the Levant in 1948. While the war lasted from November, 1947 until March, 1949, the bulk of it was from the first big Arab operation against the Jews on January 14, 1948 until the final significant Israeli action (shooting down five British planes that invaded Israeli airspace on January 7, 1949).

One curious aspect of this war is that prior to it, no Jewish army had ever taken, occupied, and held an Arab Muslim city, town, or village in the Levant. Not in the entire 1300-year history of Islam. That's why many people were surprised to see the Jews actually fight, and there were comments about it that were absurdly insulting to both sides, such as "Man bites dog." Kurzman explicitly makes the point that the fighting on both sides was quite amateurish.

This history may explain the shock it caused when the Jews broke their 1300-year losing streak by taking and holding Deir Yassin, on April 9, 1948. Many Arabs would have considered that an unforgivable affront even had there been no Arab casualties. But it was even worse when over 100 Arabs died in the battle, including quite a few civilians. This helped spur exaggerations of what had occurred, and this in turn contributed to the decision of a huge number of Arabs, including 40,000 in Haifa, to flee their homes in the ensuing weeks.

These are some of the reasons why a few history books about this war are very strange, making it appear as if only one side fought in the war. And it is why a comprehensive, detailed, well-referenced, and well-researched book such as this one is so valuable.

There's an enormous amount of fascinating material in this book, but I was especially intrigued by one small portion which listed seven Arab arguments against permitting a Jewish state to exist in the region, as well as the Jewish replies. To me, this truly showed the extreme weakness of the Arab cause. I agreed with the Jews on a couple of the points and with the Arabs on none of them. Here are the seven Arab points and my assessment of them, so you can see for yourselves:

1) The Balfour Declaration had no legal basis, broke British promises to the Arabs, and could be fulfilled without a Jewish state. In addition, no international organization had a right to define territorial rearrangements.

I disagree. While the Balfour Declaration had no legal basis, the League of Nations version did. And while a Jewish home could exist without a state, the British 1939 White Paper had rendered that impossible. International organizations were not defining borders by recommending a state.

2) The Arabs, a majority in the region, were entitled to do what they pleased.

Even the majority needs to allow for minority rights. And the Jews were the majority in the partitioned area earmarked for the Jews, even before any Arabs fled. In addition, one reason the Jews were a minority in the region was that so many of them had been kept out of the Levant by force. A Jewish state would permit many of them to enter.

3) The Jews were descendants of Khazars, not Hebrews.

Most Jews were actually descendants of Hebrews, not Khazars. But even had no Jew been a descendant of a Hebrew, the question should have been whether the Jews had purchased their land honestly, with a sincere desire to live on it. And they had.

4) The proposed partition boundaries were idiotic and would start a war.

Yes, the recommended boundaries were idiotic. But they were not unfair to the Arabs. And the Arabs were the ones demanding a war, not the Jews.

5) Jews ought not be permitted to intrude into land that belongs to Arabs.

It doesn't belong to Arabs when they sell it to the Jews.

6) The Jewish state and Arab state recommended in the partition would not be able to cooperate economically.

That could be true, but so what?

7) Zionism was artificial and European and would corrupt Arab culture and tradition.

This takes the cake. Arab aggressors were complaining that it is a crime against nature to change the status quo. But the Arabs were changing the status quo by demanding to reduce Jewish rights. Besides, it can't always be a crime to change the status quo, or it would be a crime any time anyone was born, anywhere. Or died, or moved.

This is an excellent work, and I highly recommend it.

Monumental 1948 History - 800 Referenced Pages!.......2003-12-29

Make no mistake, reading "Genesis 1948 - the First Arab-Israeli" is no small undertaking. The book's 830 pages (without the preface) consist of some 793 pages with the text and accompanying maps while the remaining pages consist of extensive notes, a bibliography of more than 500 sources and a large and comprehensive index. The book is simply put, an epic of modern history and I highly recommend it as such.

The story is told in one of the best ways possible... from the vantage points of the participants. Much like the much-acclaimed best seller "O Jerusalem" by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, Dan Kurzman. The author of "Genesis 1948," conducted extensive research into the history of the 1948 War for Israeli Independence consulting over 500 books, newspapers, periodicals, pamphlets, diaries and documents (written in a number of languages including French, English, Arabic and Hebrew) in addition to conducting a large number of interviews with participants from every side in the war (Egyptians, British, Israelis, Transjordanians, Americans, UN personnel, etc.). He ranged from the Arab League Library in Cairo to Government Press Department Library in Tel Aviv. He took all that information and cobbled it together into a dramatic human-interest story full of facts and referenced detail.

Some have called the work biased and "home team" coverage, but I strongly disagree since you can look up any of the author's facts and read them for yourself. Having said that, I do feel that the author had more sympathy for the Israeli side, but it's also clear that he had considerable sympathy for the poor Arab farmers (fellaheen) forced to fight a war in Israel in which most didn't believe. I have been reading the history of the modern Middle East for many years (from both the perspective of the Arabs and the Israelis) and I don't feel that the author left out significant details of the history especially considering the work was originally written in 1970 before the climactic 1973 Yom Kippur War. Contrary to other reviews, Kurzman has no problem talking about Jewish terrorism during the pre-1948 period and also heavily criticizes the Israeli side throughout the book. On a likewise note, Kurzman was lucky to make contacts and conduct research in the Arab world before the 1973 Yom Kippur War after which the Arab world largely closed up foreign access to Arab libraries, media sources and interview possibilities.

------------------------

Dan Kurzman wrote the following of his book (on page xi of the preface):

"I have checked every fact to the extent possible, and discarded any questionable information that could not be verified. In the case of conflicting and irreconcilable accounts of events, I generally present them with all of their sources. Quotations and reflections are taken from diaries, memoirs, and other documentary material or from personal interviews. I rarely use dialogue, the accuracy of which has not been confirmed by at least two of the participants in the exchange. Thus the language is as authentic as any that might be used in an autobiography of the person quoted"

"Using the techniques of the novelist and biographer, I have tried to bring the history alive. To a large degree, history, is the story of people; and this book describes their role in one of the most poignant and important stories of our time."

------------------------

What really makes the book work is its' honest and endearing first-person perspectives of the participants of the 1948 War for Israeli Independence. It's hard to not to find some admiration and respect for people like Abdullah Tel of Transjordan, Sayed Taha of Egypt, the enigmatic David Ben Gurion of Israel, or even Gammal Nasser, future dictator of Egypt. Their stories are told making full use of their own biographies, diaries and such. Lesser-known figures also have their stories told and it was the stories of some of these "minor players" that really endeared "Genesis 1948" to me.

I highly recommend this extensively referenced history of the 1948 War for Israeli Independence.

Review by: Maximillian Ben Hanan

Detailed, if sugar-coated, account of key war.......1998-07-18

In style and detail, this book is a good read. Its views are somewhat outdated now and Kurzman's suppression of the more unsavory side of the anti-civilian violence from the Zionist/ Israeli side now seems quaint. (Example: he refers in one place to a killing of Jewish workers as raising Arab fighting morale in Haifa, ignoring the fact that this had no effect on morale as it resulted from a worker riot following a random terror bombing of Arab workers by Jewish extermists and was followed by an unmentioned murderous retaliatory night raid by Jewish militia into a peaceful village.) Modern Israeli press accounts reveal that Kurzman deliberately downplayed the massacres of Arab civilians he discovered in his researches in the Israeli archives. This is "home team" coverage and ot an unbiased account. But for useful information and good storytelling, it passes muster. Just don't take it as the final word.

I doubt there's a book that's better.......1998-07-02

If you want to know what went on, what *really* went on in the 1948 war for Israel, then this book is a must!

Not only is this a historical reference to be used and re-used, but Kurzman writes true stories within the historical facts which makes the book almost like a historical novel.

I can't give enough praise for this book and it is definitely my top 10 book of all time.

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GENESIS 1948 THE FIRST ARAB-ISRAELI WAR
DAN KURZMAN
Manufacturer: SIGNET
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000SICXCW

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Genesis 1948 the First Arab-Israeli War
Dan Kurzman
Manufacturer: New American Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OFDM88

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Genesis 1948: The First Arab-Israeli War

Manufacturer: New American Library, New York
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000I9AREM

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Genesis 1948: The First Arab-Israeli War
Dan Kurzman
Manufacturer: World Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NPR5FK

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Genesis 1948 (The First Arab-Israeli War)
Dan Kurzman
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Israel | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books
General | Military | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000ROI67I

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Genesis 1948: The First Arab-Israeli War
Dan Kurzman
Manufacturer: NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY, INC.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OKKH18

Book Description

A reply to, and an assault on, Murray Bookchin's 'Social Anarchism Or Lifestyle Anarchism,' Bookchin himself, Bookchinism, and so called 'anarcho-leftism.'

Customer Reviews:

Black a very important voice.......2007-04-11

I was taken with the ideas of Murray Bookchin until I read this book. So I had to ask myself, "How could I have missed these obvious points?" As Mr. Black so aptly says, "Mr. Bookchin is no anarchist." This book takes Bookchin's philosophy apart piece-by-piece in easy to understand language. But more than that, this book lays out some of the more obvious and important philosophy of anarchy. Bob Black is an important voice and one that should be listened to if we are to leave the left behind, as the previous reviewer so aptly states, and finally change our world.

Bob Black is aptly named.......2005-07-20

Having read several Bob Black's books, I must say that this is one of his finest. He is the most intelligent of the anarchist writers out there. He makes an incredible argument against social ecology and Murray Bookchin as the "Left that Was". In order for Anarchy to have a decent shot-we (anarchists) need to leave the left behind. I also highly recommend his "Abolition of Work" as the definitive word on no-work philosophy. Highly recommended.

Book Description

This lively and readable book traces the history of Long Island Sound and tells the stories of the scientists and citizens who have been working to restore and preserve it.

Customer Reviews:

A must read for those interested in L.I.S........2004-06-15

What a fantastic book. As a marine biology educator on Long Island Sound, I found this book to be an essential part of my course. I am requiring it as summer reading for my course. It is full of history and information. If you use the Sound at all, this book is a must read!

Wonderful Book.......2002-11-30

I came across this book while doing research for a segment that I was going to do for National Public Radio. Since I am only 15 I wasn't really around to witness the battle to save LIS, and I needed to know some history about the area from that time. This book helped the most out of all the materials that I read. It started by describing the time European sailors first laid their eyes on LIS to present day. He takes you on a journey through all of LIS history and presents every point of view when explaining the battle conservationists had to fight to get the government to cooperate. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in LIS. It is not a book that takes a lot of past knowledge to read, but very informative. Good work Mr. Andersen. A lot of work went into this book and it shows.

Sound health. (Environment).(book about Long Island Sound)(Book Review): An article from: American Scientist

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Sound health. (Environment).(book about Long Island Sound)(Book Review): An article from: American Scientist
Scott Nixon
Manufacturer: Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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This Fine Piece of Water: An Environmental History of Long Island Sound. (Books: Environment and Restoration).(Book Review): An article from: Journal of the American Planning Association

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This Fine Piece of Water: An Environmental History of Long Island Sound. (Books: Environment and Restoration).(Book Review): An article from: Journal of the American Planning Association
Mark A. Tedesco
Manufacturer: American Planning Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of the American Planning Association, published by American Planning Association on June 22, 2003. The length of the article is 902 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: This Fine Piece of Water: An Environmental History of Long Island Sound. (Books: Environment and Restoration).(Book Review)
Author: Mark A. Tedesco
Publication: Journal of the American Planning Association (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 2003
Publisher: American Planning Association
Volume: 69 Issue: 3 Page: 321(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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This Fine Piece of Water: An Environmental History of Long Island Sound

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This Fine Piece of Water: An Environmental History of Long Island Sound
Tom Kennedy, Robert F., Jr. Andersen
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OS1VAG

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