JOSEPH BETH BOOKSELLERS
4345 Barclay Downs Dr. 704/602-9800, www.josephbeth.com
HOURS: Mon.-Thurs. 8 A.M.-9 P.M. Fri.-Sat. 8 A.M.-10 P.M. Sun. 8 A.M.-6 P.M.
Map 6
Joseph Beth looks just like a big-box retailer, but one trip to its customer service desk reveals its independent roots. The clerks act less like college students shilling books for minimum wage and more like avid readers who are eager to talk about books, make recommendations, and help you find the perfect tome. The small network of book retailers opened a Charlotte location in 2005. The spacious shop stocks all of the same titles as the national chains and organizes the books in the same neat fashion, but still manages to maintain the feel of a small bookstore. The bookstore benefits from a superior location in the SouthPark Mall and often hosts signings and events with national authors. Chairs scattered around the store create cozy reading nooks for flipping through a new novel or rereading a classic.
PARK ROAD BOOKS
4139 Park Rd. 704/525-9239, www.parkroadbooks.com
HOURS: Mon.-Fri. 9 A.M.-9 P.M. Sat. 10 A.M.-6 P.M. Sun. noon-5 P.M.
Map 5
The oldest independent bookstore in Charlotte is also the best. Earning the title of Charlotte’s Best Bookstore for 22 years in a row, the store carries all of the bestsellers that line the shelves at the chain stores as well more obscure titles and first editions. The bibliophile staff has an impressive knowledge of books and is more than helpful when it comes to finding a specific book or asking for a recommendation. A packed calendar of author events and signings draws a well-read crowd into the store and the owner is known for ensuring extra signed copies are on handand on the shelves following each event.
Wheatley had only one more poem published after her Poems on Various Subjects a piece she wrote and sent to General George Washington. Tanzania Map Interest in her works and life was renewed with the advent of academic work in African Country studies and women’s studies in the late twentieth century. Barbara Schwarz Wachal See also: African Countrys; Literature; Document: On Being Brought from Africa to Country (early 1770s); On the Death of the Rev Mr. George Whitefield (1770). Bibliography Robinson, William H. ed. Critical Essays on Phillis Wheatley. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1982. Robinson, William H. ed. Phillis Wheatley and Her Writings. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1984. Wheatley, Phillis. The Collected Works of Phillis Wheatley. Edited by John Shields. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Whitefield, George (17141770) George Whitefield was born in 1714 into a family of moderate means. From early childhood, he was adept at public speaking and dramatic performances. He also demonstrated the prodigious memory and keenness of wit that marked his adulthood. By the time Whitefield entered Oxford at the age of 17, he was already proficient in Latin and Greek. It was at Oxford that Whitefield embraced religion with a passion. He joined the Holy Club, a student group led by John and Charles Wesley.
