Mountain Masters: Slavery and the Sectional Crisis in Western North Carolina

John C. Inscoe is probably one of the most prolific scholars on Southern Appalachian History; Mountain Masters is in many ways the work that firmly planted him in the historiographic tradition of Western North Carolina. Mountain Masters relies on many primary sources (not just a wide variety of them, but a thorough use of them as well) to portray what slavery was really like in Western North Carolina through the Civil War. In opposition to many popular notions, in which slavery didn't exist or was marginal in Western North Carolina, John Inscoe revealed that Western North Carolina was not very different from the rest of the south in trading, selling, buying, and working slaves. Though the patterns of slavery were different in many cases, the institution was still very strong in the region and had a profound impact on the politics, society, and cultural values of the people of the mountains. This book ought to be read by every North Carolina scholar, every slavery scholar, and certainly by every scholar who studies the Southern Appalachians. It is beautifully written and engaging.