UNCP's Bookstore has the best selection of local authors, books

You don't have to go very far to find a good book by a local author. UNC Pembroke's Bookstore carries a growing selection of local interest books and books by local authors.

Bookstore Sales Manager Keats Ellis manages the local collection.

"Lately, I've been to some of the larger bookstores, and while I was in looking at their local collection of the books, I noticed that they did not carry a lot of the titles that we do," Ellis said.

The Bookstore has always offered books by local authors, and recently the collection reached around 30 titles from local authors.

Books on local outlaw/hero Henry Berry Lowrie are popular, Ellis said. The store carries several titles by Lumbee Indian authors and other Native Americans, compilations of poetry and short stories, professor's publications as well as informative books about Pembroke, Robeson County and North Carolina.

"Books by Lumbee authors and about the Lumbee history and culture sell very well," Ellis said. "We get requests from people right before Homecoming, or they just show up. One widely requested book is Adolph Dial's "The Lumbee." It is out of print and hasn't been picked up for a third printing, so I have to turn people away."

The most recent additions to the local collection include "The Only Land I Know" also by the late Dial and retired history Professor David Eliades' "Story of a Lumbee."

"People in the community are starting to use the Bookstore more, but I think many people still believe you have to be a student or faculty member to use it, and that's not true," Ellis said. "We carry a lot more than textbooks. We have selections from local authors, UNCP paraphernalia and more."

The Bookstore is always looking to build on its collection of local books.

"I would like to say we offer the most complete selection of local authors and books anywhere, and I think we are succeeding," Ellis said. "I am always looking for something new. The last book we purchased was "Product of Past," an adventure mystery novel by T.C. Hunter, city editor of The Robesonian.

Other new titles, include "Robeson County: Images of America" by UNCP student Blake Tyner of Maxton and "Living Indian Histories: Lumbee and Tuscarora People in North Carolina" by Gerald Sider (UNC Press, 2004).

Popular titles include "Moon Dash Warrior" by Delano Cummings of Pembroke and "Nowhere Else on Earth," a Henry Berry Lowrie story by Josephine Humphreys of Charleston, S.C.

Here is a list of local interest books at the UNCP Bookstore:

• "Fine in the World; the Lumbee Language" by Walt Wolfram, Clare Dannenberg, Stanley Knick and Linda Oxendine.
• "River Spirits: A Collection of Lumbee Writings" edited by Stanley Knick
• "River Dreams" by Delano Cummings
  Cummings combines his Lumbee Indian heritage, his experiences as a Marine in Vietnam and his dream to weave images of the past, the present and the future into a thoughtful, spiritual and exciting narrative of Native American life and love.
• "Moon Dash Warrior" By Delano Cummings
  A personal story of Delano Cummings, a young Lumbee Indian from Robeson County, who, inspired by simple patriotism and a straightforward devotion to duty, grew up to become a Marine in Vietnam. Told simply and courageously, is, in the end, the starkly real and very moving account of the difficult but honorable trail one proud, young American Indian warrior determined to follow to its end.
• "American Indian Sports Heritage" by Joseph Oxendine
  Indians gained nationwide visibility as athletes in baseball and football throughout the years and Oxendine describes the apex of Indian sports during the first three decades of the 20th century.
• "Pembroke in the Twentieth Century" by Connee Brayboy
  This is photographic look at the 20th century in Pembroke, N.C.
• "Robeson County: Images of America" by Blake Tyner
  Dive deep into Tyner's private and public collection of vintage photographs, postcards, drawings and historical documents taking you on a journey throughout Robeson County.
• "The Only Land I Know" By Adolph Dial and David Eliades
  This is the standard history of the Lumbee Indian people of southeastern N.C., the largest Indian community in population east of the Mississippi. Dial and Dr. Eliades trace the history of this group through 1974. Subjects covered are Lumbees during the colonial period and the Revolutionary War; the Lowrie Band of the Civil War; the development of the Lumbee educational system; Lumbee folklore; and the modern Lumbee.
• "Playing Before an Overflow Crowd: Story of Indian Basketball in Robeson and Adjoining Counties" by Tim Brayboy and Bruce Barton.
  For the Indian community living in Robeson and neighboring counties from 1939 until 1967, basketball was the symbolic measurement of life itself. It was a remarkable, but previously undocumented era in the history of N.C. sports. Names, dates, photographs and anecdotes-the entire history of the Tri-County Indian High School Athletic Conference is here.
• "To Die Game: Story of Lowry Band" by William McKee Evans
  Dramatic and exciting story of Indian guerilla warfare against the Confederates during the Civil War. Henry Berry Lowrie, a Lumbee, was arrested for killing a Confederate official. While awaiting trial, he escaped and took to the swamps with a band of supporters.
• "Swamp Outlaw: The Story of Henry Berry Lowery" by David Ball
  Based on a true story of a group of Native Americans and black soldiers under Henry Berry Lowrie who took refuge in a N.C. swamp.
• "Nowhere Else on Earth" by Josephine Humprheys
  In the summer of 1864, 16-year-old Rhoda Strong becomes a pawn in the bloody struggle between the Union and Confederate armies. Her love for outlaw Henry Berry Lowrie becomes part of the community's struggle in a deeply imagined tale based on historical fact.
• "Kelvin Sampson: The OU Basketball Story" by Steve Richardson
  This is the story of Oklahoma University basketball coach and UNCP alumnus Kelvin Sampson. It is the story of one determined coach as he leads his team to the top.
• "Shakespeare Into Film" by James M. Welsh, Richard Vela, John C. Tibbetts
  Co-authored by UNCP English Professor Richard Vela, this is an ideal book for Shakespeare fans and scholars alike. A special section features numerous essays on filmmakers who have adapted the Bard's works for the screen.
• "Joseph Mitchell: A Reader's and Writer's Guide" by Raymond J. Rundus
  Readers will be introduced to this Fairmont, N. C., writer and contribitor to the New Yorker, and to the paradox of an archetypal Southern agrarian gentleman who, against all odds, became a citizen of the world. Dr. Rundus is a retired UNCP professor.
• "All That Makes a Man: Love and Ambition in the Civil War" by Stephen W. Berry
  UNCP history Professor Stephen Berry makes it clear that most Southern men saw the war more simply as a test of their manhood, a chance to defend the honor of their sweethearts, fiancées and wives back home. Drawing upon diaries and personal letters, Berry weaves together the stories of six very different men, detailing the tangled roles that love and ambition played in each man's life.
• "Fly the Wing! Hooking Into Hang Gliding" by Len Holmes
  Book by UNCP chemistry Professor Len Holmes introduces Readers will be introduced to hang gliding.

Literary Collections by UNCP English Professor Shelby Stephenson:

• "Carolina Springs: An Anthology of North Carolina Poets Edited"
• "Shelby Stephenson's Greatest Hits 1978-2000"
• "Fiddledeedee'
• "Poor People"
• "The Persimmon Tree Carol"
• "American Indians: A Cultural Geography" by Thomas E. Ross
  This book, by UNCP geography Professor Tom Ross, focuses on the effect of interaction between Indian and non-Indians and on the complex relationships between Indians and their environment.
• "American Indians in North Carolina" by Thomas E. Ross
  This book focuses on the many different tribes of Native Americans in North Carolina.
• "One Land, Three Peoples: A Geography of Robeson County" By Thomas E. Ross
  Take a geographical look at one county with three cultures.

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