From New Babylon to Eden (Paperback)

Bertrand Van Ruymbeke

ISBN 10: 1643363301 / ISBN 13: 9781643363301

Published by University of South Carolina Press, South Carolina, 2025

About this Item

Paperback. A revealing account of the choices French immigrants faced as they settled in South Carolina Winner of the National Huguenot Society's 2007 Book of the Year award, From New Babylon to Edentraces the persecution of Huguenots in France and the eventual immigration of a small bloc of the French Calvinist population to proprietary South Carolina. Placing the Carolina migration in the context of the larger Huguenot diaspora, Van Ruymbeke proffers an account that challenges accepted history. Describing their settlement as a process of acculturation and creolization rather than simply assimilation, he contends that most of these French Calvinists sought to create their own churches but were thwarted by an Anglicized elite eager to dominate Anglo-Carolinian society. He also reveals that most members of the initial generation were only moderately prosperous and that it was their descendants who acquired the wealth often associated with lowcountry Huguenots. A new foreword by Owen Stanwood and preface from the author consider the continuing significance of the book nearly twenty years after its original publication. Van Ruymbeke concludes with an epilogue describing the Huguenot legacy in South Carolina. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781643363301

Bibliographic Details

• Title: From New Babylon to Eden (Paperback)
• Publisher: University of South Carolina Press, South Carolina
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1643363301
• ISBN 13: 9781643363301
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

A revealing account of the choices French immigrants faced as they settled in South Carolina

Winner of the National Huguenot Society's 2007 Book of the Year award, From New Babylon to Eden traces the persecution of Huguenots in France and the eventual immigration of a small bloc of the French Calvinist population to proprietary South Carolina. Placing the Carolina migration in the context of the larger Huguenot diaspora, Van Ruymbeke proffers an account that challenges accepted history. Describing their settlement as a process of acculturation and creolization rather than simply assimilation, he contends that most of these French Calvinists sought to create their own churches but were thwarted by an Anglicized elite eager to dominate Anglo-Carolinian society. He also reveals that most members of the initial generation were only moderately prosperous and that it was their descendants who acquired the wealth often associated with lowcountry Huguenots. A new foreword by Owen Stanwood and preface from the author consider the continuing significance of the book nearly twenty years after its original publication.

About the Author

Bertrand Van Ruymbeke is a professor of American civilization at the Universitè de Vincennes-Saint-Denis (Paris VIII). He is the coeditor of Memory and Identity: The Huguenots in France and the Atlantic Diaspora, has published in the fields of Huguenot history, early American history, and Atlantic history, and is a member of the American Philosophical Society.