When did North Carolina become known as North Carolina and acquire its modern shape? We must go back to Jan. 24, 1712, when Edward Hyde became the first governor of what became known as North Carolina, or more specifically, he was the first official governor under the Lords Proprietors. Carolina was then divided into two … Continued
North Carolinians, and their Southern counterparts, have contributed much to the American music scene.
During the early-1900s, Charlie Poole was a pioneer banjoist. His three-finger-style influenced later well-known musicians, and his group, North Carolina Ramblers, gained national fame.
Although a movie was based on his The Ballad of the Flim-Flam Man, Guy Owen considered Journey for Joedel his best novel. For it, he won the Sir Walter Raleigh Award and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. The esteemed novelist Walker Percy described Journey for Joedel as “touching, tender, and highly readable.”
A poet and writer of many short stories, including the ones using the “Flim Flam Yarn” title, Guy Owen was launched into fame with comical and popular The Ballad of the Flim-Flam Man. Two years later it was turned into a movie, starring George C. Scott.
Robert Ruark’s second novel did not sell as well as his first, Something of Value. Most critics disapproved of the long manuscript, with its controversial topics and vivid descriptions. After spending approximately four years on the work, Ruark had a different opinion.
Fiction is more than entertainment. It informs readers about the times in which it was written. An Inch of Snow (1964) is such a novel. It was written by William E. Cobb, a Burke County Republican, who served as a minority leader in the North Carolina Senate and served as the North Carolina Republican Chairman.
North Carolina native Guy Owen uses his personal experiences growing up to shape his fictional works. Owen’s work is particularly regional, and in many ways local to North Carolina. But in his fiction, he transcends the rural North Carolina setting and addresses broader and more universal themes.
Maybe more so than any other novelist below the Mason-Dixon line, including the 19th-century William Gilmore Simms of South Carolina, Inglis Fletcher of North Carolina painted the most comprehensive, historical portrait of the land on which she lived.
Josephus Daniels was a prominent journalist and newspaper editor from North Carolina. He purchased the Raleigh News and Observer in 1894 and became a leading “New South” political commentator. He was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson to serve as Secretary of the Navy during World War I. He later served as ambassador to Mexico under President Franklin Roosevelt.