Reprinted here for the first time in more than forty years is Rice Planter and Sportsman: The Recollections of J. Motte Alston, 1821-1909.

This lively memoir offers a candid look into the daily life of a Low Country South Carolina family, as well as commentary and opinion about such matters as rice cultivation, slavery, and the sporting life.

J. Motte Alston's memoirs, originally numbering more than five hundred pages, were never intended for official publication. Alston wrote for his grandson, who was fascinated by his family's personal history and how it fit into the larger...