Overview

A revealing account of the choices French immigrants faced as they settled in South Carolina Winner of the National Huguenot Society's 2007 Book of the Year award, From New Babylon to Edentraces the persecution of Huguenots in France and the eventual immigration of a small bloc of the French Calvinist population to proprietary South Carolina. Placing the Carolina migration in the context of the larger Huguenot diaspora, Van Ruymbeke proffers an account that challenges accepted history. Describing their settlement as a process of acculturation and creolization rather than simply assimilation, he contends that most of these French Calvinists sought to create their own churches but were thwarted by an Anglicized elite eager to dominate Anglo-Carolinian society. He also reveals that most members of the initial generation were only moderately prosperous and that it was their descendants who acquired the wealth often associated with lowcountry Huguenots. A new foreword by Owen Stanwood and preface from the author consider the continuing significance of the book nearly twenty years after its original publication.

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9781643363301

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Reviews

Bertrand Van Ruymbeke has produced a comprehensive and engaging account of the initial immigrants and their role in the history of early Carolina. The result is a well-written, well-argued study that makes a significant contribution to Atlantic history, immigration history, and religious history.

Author Information

Bertrand Van Ruymbekeis a professor of American civilization at the Universitè de Vincennes-Saint-Denis (Paris VIII). He is the coeditor ofMemory and Identity: The Huguenots in France and the Atlantic Diasporaand has published in the fields of Huguenot history, early American history, and Atlantic history.

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