The True Image : Gravestone Art and the Culture of Scotch Irish Settlers in the Pennsylvania and Carolina Backcountry.

The subtitle of this book may be taken literally. Using a combination of data from history, religion, literature, and folklore, Patterson (emer., Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) endeavors to intertwine the lives of the Bigham family of gravestone carvers and their associates with larger trends in immigration of the Scotch Irish and settlement of the frontier from the 1720s to the 1830s and beyond. The culmination of decades of research, this volume not only examines the gravestone production of the family from a folk art perspective and identification of specific carvers, but also looks more deeply into what else can be gleaned from these objects. After tracing the movement of the Bighams from their homeland to eventual settlement in the Carolinas, Patterson places their activities in a larger context of adaptation to the backcountry, the political turmoil of the Revolution, the religious controversies of the Presbyterian Church, slavery, and the opening of the western lands. However far he strays, Patterson returns to the gravestones as indicators of larger events. Most successful is his extensive comparison of inscriptions among those he found with samples from elsewhere to suggest significant cultural differences and doctrinal changes. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and researchers/faculty; general readers. J. C. Wanser Hiram College