Down by the Riverside: A South Carolina Slave Community (Blacks in the New World)

Rating:
Summary: Charles Joyner hits a home run
Review: As a free-lance writer living on the grounds of a former rice plantation in Pawleys Island, I think I have read every book on the subject on the SC slave communities and the great rice plantations. Joyner's book is the bible. It is easy and fun to read, concise, filled with fascinating statistics and extremely well written. It is not the usual s dusty book some local resident wrote back in the 1920s as a fund-raiser for the historical society or local women's group. It is a skillfully written book from cover to cover and I urge anyone interested in the history of this area not only to read Joyner's book, but to purchase his own copy. If you are like me, you will soon find that "Down By the Riverside'' will be a well-used, dog-eared favorite. I've sent several copies to friends and family, and it certainly makes the perfect housewarming gift to anyone moving to this part of SC. I have spent the past two years researching this area in preparation to begin writing my own book (a novel) and Charles Joyner will be right at the top of those I thank for making my efforts possible.

Rating:
Summary: Charles Joyner hits a home run
Review: As a free-lance writer living on the grounds of a former rice plantation in Pawleys Island, I think I have read every book on the subject on the SC slave communities and the great rice plantations. Joyner's book is the bible. It is easy and fun to read, concise, filled with fascinating statistics and extremely well written. It is not the usual s dusty book some local resident wrote back in the 1920s as a fund-raiser for the historical society or local women's group. It is a skillfully written book from cover to cover and I urge anyone interested in the history of this area not only to read Joyner's book, but to purchase his own copy. If you are like me, you will soon find that "Down By the Riverside'' will be a well-used, dog-eared favorite. I've sent several copies to friends and family, and it certainly makes the perfect housewarming gift to anyone moving to this part of SC. I have spent the past two years researching this area in preparation to begin writing my own book (a novel) and Charles Joyner will be right at the top of those I thank for making my efforts possible.

Rating:
Summary: Learn from the expert
Review: I have the pleasure of adding Charles Joyner to the list of my personal educators, and he is definitely one of the most informed writers of Southern-oriented literature. This book was assigned to me as required reading, and turned out to be one of the most interesting books I've ever read. A wonderful book by a wonderful soul.

Rating:
Summary: This book dipicts my great-grand father and other relatives.
Review: I was pleased with the information in this book which was vital information concerning that period of time.

Rating:
Summary: Good Read, Questionable Methodology
Review: While Joyner's book is certainly worth reading and highly recommended for the casual reader, Joyner's methodology is questionable. The preponderance of his primary evidence comes from 10 notoriously questionable slave narratives collected in the early 20th century. Furthermore, Joyner's use of endotes is ridiculously deceptive. He uses a variety of confusing techniques, and very flagrantly confuses the researcher trying to find his sources. To complicate this problem further, Joyner includes no bibliography. Joyner's assesment of the task system falls short of its initial promise. Joyner does an excepitional job of emphasizing the change and continuity in the process of change from African culture to African-American culture. For this reason, and this reason only, I recommend this book.