Nowhere Else on Earth

Rating:
Summary: A hero to enrich our story
Review: "Under the swamps and barrens of Robeson County there is no bedrock, and in Drowning Creek no stones." Yet every few years the earth brings forth seemingly from nowhere a strange stone large enough to be prized as a grave marker. So Josephine Humphreys tells us in the voice of the narrator of Nowhere Else on Earth. The earth gives birth to stones, and history brings forth legends. One with considerable basis in fact is that of Henry Berry Lowrie, the hero of the novel. Lowrie was a latter-day Robin Hood, a man who did much to rebalance the scales of justice in favor of the marginalized in the lawless aftermath of the Civil War. Humphreys tells his story and in the process sheds light on a period, place, and people neglected in mainstream historical accounts, overlooked perhaps because the people involved are too solidly centered in themselves to make much of a fuss. But adding Henry Berry Lowrie to the list of heroes school children know as well as they know Daniel Boone would do much to enrich the story of America.

Rating:
Summary: It's like being there....
Review: As I read the opening pages and started to get Rhoda Strong fixed in my mind, I realized early in the book that all the characters would stick with me through to the end. That is the gift that Josephine Humphreys has for story telling. You inhale and exhale every breath with the characters.

The story of Robeson County, North Carolina and the Lumbee people was opened up in a new light. The Lumbee, a closed subject to the world for countless generations, now are transformed and explained to us: from preferably non-existent in society to real people with real life experiences of happiness, pain, trauma, hardship, and monotony--just like everyone else. The book causes one to look at the heart of those we would rather ignore.

Rating:
Summary: True to the Tales of the people of Scuffletown
Review: I was eagar to read this book after living amoung the Lumbee Indians for ten years (and marrying one). This book is wonderfully written and carefully researched. I found it to be so true to the way the " Old Timers" in Robeson County tell the tales of Henry Berry Lowrie and his gang. The discriptions of the area and the feelings of the Lumbee come through loud and clear as Humphreys tells the tale through the eyes of Rhoda Strong Lowrie.

Rating:
Summary: A moving story of an important period of history
Review: Josephine Humphreys has given us an invaluable insight into the horrific personal price of the Civil War. By telling the story of the Lumbee community, she has opened our eyes to the breadth of destruction wrought by the hatred and fear that this conflict supported. Of course, the story is all the more effective because it is carefully researched and supported by historical fact. This book truly gives life to people and events that should not be forgotten.