The Amazing Mayor Grace

Evening Post Books’ “Charleston Reader Series” presents a comprehensive story of former Mayor John P. Grace and his times in The Amazing Mayor Grace: John P. Grace and the Making of Modern Charleston, 1874-1940.

Bound in handsome bonded leather and trimmed in goldleaf, the volume is the third in the Evening Post Book’s "Charleston Reader Series." This numbered collector's item is part of  series offering accounts of local history.

In the early 1900s, John Patrick Grace was the most important figure in Charleston politics. People all over South Carolina grew to either love him or hate him. He was a shrewd Irish-American Catholic political organizer in a state dominated by rural Protestants. He was known as a skilled trial lawyer, a fiery newspaper editor, and a public official who could get things done, such as bringing the Charleston waterfront under municipal ownership.

In the 1920s, Grace played an indispensable role in the development of a coastal highway and a bridge over the Cooper River, both of which altered Charleston’s future. “John Grace lived at a time when most public business was written down— in letters, newspaper articles, and minutes of council and board meetings,” Boggs says. “Therefore, over the course of almost three years of research, I got to know Mr. Grace and his friends quite well. I found him to be a fascinating man who lived in a fascinating city, “Porgy’s Charleston.” I hope that readers will find in Grace’s story a way to step back in time and get a sense of what it was like to live in a historic city that was beginning its modern revival.”