Jim Wise

Durham: a Bull City Story Jim Wise

Publisher Marketing: From the Cigarette City to the City of Medicine, Durham has progressed from a country crossroad, famed for rum and rowdiness, to a prosperous metropolis, renowned for medical research and advanced technology. Recognized as a thriving point in North Carolina's Research Triangle, the city began along industrial and commercial networks as early as the seventeenth century, paving the way for famous beginnings in the distinctive tobacco and textile industries. From its roots in the agrarian Carolina back country to its foundation as a railroad stop, growth into a tobacco-based industrial area, and transformation into a coming-of-age city, the Bull City story is wrought with tales of coincidence, good fortune, and unexpected outcomes. Durham exists through quirk and happenstance, derived from a slave's drowsiness, a textile tycoon's authority, and the union of a widower and the county's loveliest girl. The developing city embodies the spirit of these unique beginnings. Starting long before North Carolina was established and extending to the present, Durham: A Bull City Story recounts the engaging, comprehensive history of an environmentally and culturally rich area of the state. A myriad of first-hand accounts allow the reader to mingle with Durham's residents throughout significant historical times. Contributor Bio:  Wise, Jim Born in Georgia, raised in Florida and resident of North Carolina since 1966, Jim Wise is an alumnus of Duke University (BA, English) and the University of North Carolina (MA, folklore). He has been a reporter, editor and/or columnist for newspapers in Durham, North Carolina, for more than twenty-eight years and has taught adult classes on local and Southern history for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Duke. His previous History Press books are On Sherman's Trail: The Civil War's North Carolina Climax and Durham Tales: The Morris Street Maple, the Plastic Cow, the Durham Day that Was and More. He and his wife, Babs, live in Durham with an aging dog and cat.