Peddlers, Merchants, and Manufacturers: How Jewish Entrepreneurs Built Economy and Community in Upcountry South Carolina

Peddlers, Merchants, and Manufacturers: How Jewish Entrepreneurs Built Economy and Community in Upcountry South Carolina by Vecchio, Diane Catherine. Hardcover edition. ISBN: 9781643364520.

2024 George C. Rogers Jr. Award Finalist, best book of South Carolina history A new perspective on Jewish history in the South Diane Catherine Vecchio examines the diverse economic experiences of Jews who settled in Upcountry (now called Upstate) South Carolina. Like other parts of the so-called New South, the Upcountry was a center of textile manufacturing and new business opportunities that drew entrepreneurial energy to the region. Working with a rich set of oral histories, memoirs, and traditional historical documents, Vecchio provides an important corrective to the history of manufacturing in South Carolina. She explores Jewish community development and describes how Jewish business leaders also became civic leaders and affected social, political, and cultural life. The Jewish communitys impact on all facets of life across the Upcountry is vital to understanding the growth of todays Spartanburg–Greenville corridor.