Common Blood: the Life and Times of an Immigrant Family in Charleston, South Carolina, Revised

Résumé du livre

"Charleston has always represented a unique cultural context, a city then and now characteristically not like any other. As the city evolved from its singular beginnings to its not-too-distant past, Charleston’s nineteenth-century immigrant community established a solid middle class marked by European roots and values, modifying the character of the older city into what we know today. It was during the period from the early 1800s to the turn of the twentieth century that generations of acculturating immigrants became Charlestonians of a different character than their southern hosts, many of whom had gained fame of one sort or another and whose names appear in the history books as Charleston notables. The European settlers, carrying lots of cultural baggage, took up residence in an adopting city and, if light in worldly possessions and wherewithal, were laden with determination and strong of backbone. The intersection of their acculturation with major political and cultural events occurring at the local, state, and national levels effected the transformation of these European settlers into representative Charlestonians by the end of the century. In the process, Charleston's patriarchal planter society mired in itself was changed into a southern culture that, despite its historical evolution, continues to be undeniably connected to its past."--Back cover.