Joe A. Mobley – författare

Providing a fresh look at a crucial aspect of the American Civil War, this new study explores the day-to-day life of people in the Confederate States of America as they struggled to cope with a crisis that spared no one, military or civilian. Mobley touches on the experiences of everyone on the home front-white and black, male and female, rich and poor, young and old, native and foreign born. He looks at health, agriculture, industry, transportation, refugees city life, religion, education, culture families, personal relationships, and public welfare. In so doing, he offers his perspective on how much the will of the people contributed to the final defeat of the Southern cause.Although no single experience was common to all Southerners, a great many suffered poverty, dislocation, and heartbreak. For African Americans, however, the war brought liberation from slavery and the promise of a new life. White women, too, saw their lives transformed as wartime challenges gave them new responsibilities and experiences. Mobley explains how the Confederate military draft, heavy taxes, and restrictions on personal freedoms led to widespread dissatisfaction and cries for peace among Southern folk. He describes the Confederacy as a region of divided loyalties, where pro-Union and pro-Confederate neighbors sometimes clashed violently. This readable, one-volume account of life behind the lines will prove particularly useful for students of the conflict.

Weaving research and interpretation around dozens of historic sites and the lives of ordinary people who lived and worked nearby, The Way We Lived in North Carolina explores the social history of the Tar Heel State from the precolonial period to the present. First published in 1983 as a five-volume series, this comprehensive state history is now available in a revised and up-to-date single volume with more than 250 photographs and over two dozen maps. Based on the premise that the past can be most fully understood through the combined experience of reading history and visiting historic places, The Way We Lived serves as a travel guide to North Carolina's history, enhancing the reader's appreciation and understanding of historic preservation. Discussion of recently designated historic sites has been added to this edition, as have twenty-eight detailed maps newly prepared by Mark Anderson Moore. A new appendix provides an extensive list of over thirty historic sites to visit. This volume provides an entertaining and informative guide to North Carolina history for students and professionals, teens and seniors, natives and newcomers. Contributors: Elizabeth A. Fenn, Peter H. Wood, Harry L. Watson, Thomas H. Clayton, Sydney Nathans, Thomas C. Parramore, and Jean B. Anderson |Presents a comprehensive social history of North Carolina by focusing on dozens of historic sites and the lives of ordinary people who lived and worked nearby. First published in 1983 as a five-volume series, this illustrated state history is now revised and available in a single volume.

From its beginnings during the Great Depression, the North Carolina Symphony has touched the lives of countless Tar Heels. One of the state's premier cultural organizations and the oldest continuously state-supported orchestra in the nation, the "Suitcase Symphony" grew from a small group of volunteer players to the world-class orchestra it is today.This book details the contributions of founder Lamar Stringfield, longtime conductor Benjamin Swalin and his wife, Maxine, current music director Grant Llewellyn, and other leaders of this iconic institution. The authors place the symphony's story for the first time in the context of North Carolina's cultural history and, in the process, reveal much about the musical traditions of the "Sahara of the Bozart" and about the trials and triumphs of maintaining a state symphony orchestra.