BOONE—The book “Sam Ervin: Last of the Founding Fathers” has received the North Caroliniana Book Award for 2007. The award will be presented May 29 in Greensboro during a meeting of the North Caroliniana Society.

Written by Appalachian State University associate professor of history Karl Campbell, the book looks at Ervin’s role in the Watergate hearings, his long-running feud with Richard Nixon, his conflicting stance on civil rights and civil liberties, and the Burke County native’s love of the South. It was published by the University of North Carolina Press.

“The North Caroliniana Society exists to promote the history and culture of the state,” said society president Willis P. Whichard. “The committee was unanimous in selecting Campbell’s book for the award. It stood out as best depicting an important aspect of our history and culture as a state.”

This is the fourth year the award has been presented. Past recipients include Tim Tyson for “Blood Done Sign My Name” and William S. Powell’s “The Encyclopedia of North Carolina”.

“The criteria for the award is that the book must add the most to our understanding of our history and heritage in North Carolina,” Whichard said. “Campbell’s book is a much more definitive and authoritative Sam Ervin biography than anything else that has been printed. He really gets into Ervin’s career in the U.S. Senate, and Sen. Ervin as a reflection of North Carolina in that period of our history.”

The North Caroliniana Society is dedicated to the promotion of increased knowledge and appreciation of North Carolina’s heritage. It accomplishes this goal by encouraging scholarly research and writing in and teaching of state and local history; publishing documentary materials, including the numbered, limited-edition “North Caroliniana Society Imprints and North Caroliniana Society Keepsakes”; sponsoring professional and lay conferences, seminars, lectures, and exhibitions; commemorating historic events, including sponsorship of markers and plaques; and assisting the North Carolina Collection and North Carolina Collection Gallery of the University of North Carolina Library and other cultural organizations with similar objectives.

###