School History of North Carolina: from 1584 to the present time

Moore, John W. (John Wheeler), 1833-1906Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.5

Word count: 637K words
Chapters: 64

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.School History of North Carolina : from 1584 to the present time by John W. MooreAuthor: Moore, John W. (John Wheeler), 1833-1906,Language: English, Class: F206: United States local history: The South. South Atlantic States, Release Date: Jul 1, 2004

Editor's review

This is a school-level history of North Carolina, covering the period from the 1584 colonial attempts to the author's own time—a remarkably full span. Its approach bears the marks of a nineteenth-century textbook: it proceeds chronologically, emphasizes major events, institutional developments, and notable figures, and uses relatively plain language with short paragraphs that make for easy segmented reading. For today's readers its value is twofold: first, it quickly establishes the basic framework of the state's development from colonization and statehood through the era around the Civil War; second, it can be read as a historical document in its own right, showing how local history education in late nineteenth-century America selected its material and narrated its own past. Its treatment of issues such as Native peoples and slavery inevitably reflects the limitations of its time, and readers should weigh it against modern scholarship. Suitable as an introduction to regional history or as English-language source reading, but not as a sole authoritative reference.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who want a quick overview of North Carolina's historical development
Students who need an English-language local history reader as course support material
Researchers interested in Southern history and the history of local education in the United States
Readers who prefer chronological, clearly organized reading

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting in-depth analysis of social structures and historiographical debates
Those who find textbook-style concise narration dry
Readers who need the latest research findings or contemporary perspectives

Reading tips

Start with the table of contents and divide the reading into units by phase—colonization, statehood, the Civil War, and so on.
After each chapter, summarize the key changes of that period in two or three sentences.
When you encounter statements about Native peoples or slavery, annotate them against modern scholarship.
It can be used as a reference book, consulted by person or event, rather than read straight through.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What time period does this book cover?

The title states that it runs from 1584 to the author's own time, covering early colonial attempts, the process of statehood, state politics and institutional development, and the era around the Civil War. It is a general-history school reader: broad in span but concise in narration.

What are its limitations as a historical source?

The book was written in the late nineteenth century and carries the historical outlook of textbooks of that era; its statements on issues such as Native peoples and slavery may be one-sided or sketchy. It is useful for building a framework and for observing how its age narrated history, but it should not be the sole basis—read it alongside modern historical scholarship.

Is the English difficult to read?

As a school reader, its sentences are relatively short, its structure clear, and its vocabulary less demanding than scholarly works of the same period. Readers with upper-intermediate English can make steady progress; look up background on people and places as needed. Reading it chapter by chapter is easier to sustain than reading it straight through.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Moore, John W. (John Wheeler), 1833-1906 Author · American · 1833–1906

John W. Moore (1833–1906) was an American lawyer and writer in North Carolina. He took a lasting interest in the state's history and military records, compiling a roster of North Carolina's Civil War troops and writing works on local history. His representative work, School History of North Carolina: From 1584 to the Present Time, traces the state's history chronologically from early colonial settlement to his own day, serving both as a school text and as a reference for historical sources. Public information about his early life, education, and career is limited; existing records center on his legal practice and the compiling and writing activities mentioned above. His work provides foundational texts for later understanding of North Carolina's local history and Civil War military records.