Tar, Tobacco, and Trouble: An Irreverent History of North Carolina

First in flight. Fierce in basketball. Divided by barbecue. And stubborn about everything.

North Carolina has never been easy to pin down. It dragged its feet on secession yet sent more soldiers to die for the Confederacy than any other state. It boasts of being “first in freedom” while clinging to old hierarchies. It gave the world pirates, bootleggers, moonshine-fueled stock car races, and barbecue feuds so fierce they could outlast most wars.

In this sharp and funny history, Jordan Blake Carter takes you on an irreverent ride through four centuries of contradictions. You’ll meet Blackbeard terrifying sailors with smoke in his beard, Regulators rebelling against corrupt sheriffs, women rioting for bread during the Civil War, bootleggers outrunning revenuers on mountain backroads, and students sparking the Civil Rights Movement at a Greensboro lunch counter. Along the way, you’ll argue over barbecue sauce, scream through March Madness, rebuild after hurricanes, and wonder how one state can be both progressive and regressive in the same breath.

Part history, part storytelling, and all Tar Heel attitude, this book shows why North Carolina is messy, stubborn, beautiful, and impossible to ignore.

North Carolina is America in miniature — contradictory, resilient, and unforgettable.