Material Culture in Anglo-America: Regional Identity and Urbanity in the Tidewater, Lowcountry, and Caribbean (review)

Reviews the new book "Material Culture in Anglo-America: Regional Identity and Urbanity in the Tidewater, Lowcountry, and Caribbean", edited by David S. Shields and published by the University of South Carolina Press. The book is a collection of essays first presented at an interdisciplinary symposium at the College of Charleston and is a welcome contribution to the creation of a narrative of American history through material culture. The symposium explored the cultural identity of three distinct regions during the colonial and early national periods - Tidewater, Lowcountry, and Caribbean - which nevertheless shared an economic system based on chattel slavery and close commercial links, and the papers in the volume focus on the role of material culture in creating the regions' cultural identity. Two questions addressed are: the extent to which the material culture of these regions was creolized, and how far the material conditions of their cities was affected by local conditions compared with a larger metropolitan Anglo-American culture.