Wood Basket of the World

Tracing South Carolina's hidden history of lumber, labor, and forest conservation across two centuries

South Carolina's forests have long shaped the state's economy, landscapes, and labor practices, but their history has remained surprisingly understudied. Wood Basket of the World brings together essays that explore how lumbering, wood-product manufacturing, and forest conservation transformed the state's sandhills and coastal plain from the late nineteenth century to the present.

Featuring contributions from both emerging and established scholars, the essays in the volume examine how South Carolina became central to the global timber economy while also serving as a testing ground for labor organizing, environmental reform, and conservation movements.

Engaging environmental, economic, and social history, this collection offers new insight into the industries, people, and policies that have shaped South Carolina's wooded landscapes—and the national conversations they continue to inform.