Recounting the period from the first Spanish exploration to the end of the Civil War, Edgar charts South Carolina's rising national and international prominence and its parallel economic ascendancy. He dispels myths about the state's early history -- including the notion that the colony was inhabited by a homogeneous white population -- and tells how South Carolina developed an agricultural economy that relied heavily on African American slave labor. Edgar examines, among other topics, the impact of the American Revolution, Charleston's significance as a metropolis and major seaport, and the state's leadership in the secession movement.