Customer Reviews

Banana Republic: A Year in the Heart of Myrtle Beach

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This book is the Behind the Music of Myrtle Beach, historical, dishy-a real eye opener. Myrtle Beach, SC has undergone explosive growth and thanks to the deep pockets of business and a "hands-off" style of local goverance, it's a microcosm of the GOP ideal of allowing business to regulate itself, and the consequences, both human and environmental. It has a fine editorial tone-friendly-not gossipy, educational-not preachy, and it's loaded with facts, figures, statistics and an index. Thinking of moving to the Grand Strand? Interested in contemporary resort or Southern Culture? Ever wonder why Horry County is the way it is?

Angry, I guess is how I felt after finishing this book. Will Moredock spent the year 1999 in Myrtle Beach. The result is a book that makes you take a second look around Myrtle Beach. He has written what I would expect from Carl Hiaasen, who is quoted in the book. A very good, inside look at Myrtle Beach, the government, the businesses, and the attitudes of the masses.

This book is good for anyone who has vacationed there, lived there, or planning to move there. If I lived in Myrtle Beach, I would be upset with the mayor, the council, and the businesses. The lack of environmental controls is amazing, the petty games in City Council I don't even see from my kids, and the total lack of foresight or planning is astounding. I am sure that we will be back in Myrtle Beach again next year, but this time I come prepared with having read this book (which I am sure made the City Council, the Mayor, and the major developer squirm). Now I will know why the roads are terrible, that the school system was cut out of additional tax base with the opening of the Mall of South Carolina, and have a new appreciation for The Sun News, the local newspaper.

It has its funny parts and serious ones. The one thing that struck me was that for a Baptist town, they love the golfers. And what do golfers want? Strip clubs and booze. I guess that they have their priorities straight. Serious? How about hurricane evacuation measures. If one is on the way, you may sit in traffic for HOURS getting out. How about how they determined where to put a couple of bypasses. These new roads haven't done anything to cure the traffic issues, but they certainly opened up more land for development. I would have thought that looking at Florida, you would have gotten the message. That message must have been lost in translation. Oh, and now I know why, when visiting Charleston or Georgetown, you see a lot of historical markers and there are none in Myrtle Beach. All of their historical places have been replaced by high rise condos, hotels, and glaring neon.

Any way, it is a good book. A view of Myrtle Beach that you certainly don't get by just visiting for a week. And Will brings it all together in one great place.

I am in total agreement with Daniel Yoe's assessment of "Banana Republic". Mr. Moredock obviously has some serious issues. This volume undoubtedly contains some great tidbits about the Grand Strand, but it's such a shame that Mr. Moredock saw fit to promote his disdain for the South and Southerners - particularly "white" Southerners. I could not miss Mr. Moredock's casual reference to "the mythology of the Lost Cause", (pg. 280) referring of course to the "myths" perpetuated by Southerners after losing in their gallant effort to defend themselves, their homes & families against brutal agression from the North. I would suggest that Mr. Moredock - when he gets the time, consider researching the mountains of documentation and records revealing the hypocrisy & the mythology of the Northern victors of that war. I am amazed that, as a person who is such a good writer - and a gentleman who was born & raised in South Carolina, Mr. Moredock has no more concern for the truth about the South - and Southerners - and the Old War than he does. As I mentioned, there are some very interesting chapters in this book, making it worth reading I think - but I'm always perplexed as to why there is such a need by some, to constantly deride & demonize true Southerners. The old fellow from the North once, asked the fellow from the South, "When are you folks gonna to stop fighting the Civil War down there"? The gentleman from the South replied, "When y'all stop shooting at us."

If I had to venture a guess, it would be that somebody associated with the Burroughs and Chapin development company has personally offended Will Moredock. Or, perhaps Mr. Moredock read "Atlas Shrugged" at a young age and became disillusioned when his own dreams of success didn't go as expected. Or maybe Jack Nicklaus or some other golfer once didn't show the proper respect for Moredock and forever offended his leftist sensibilities. Whatever happened, I haven't had the displeasure of reading this much whining drivel in many years. When he's not slamming B & C, conservative thinking, American-style capitalism, or the sun & fun capital of the Carolinas, Moredock is busy trashing the game of golf, the Republican Party, or whatever else has him ticked off. This rambling, 369 page pity party might be a little more tolerable if it was just chock full of accuracies instead of a constant stream of the author's misguided perceptions. Take for example the chapter devoted to complaining about golf courses in Myrtle Beach. Moredock quotes a local whiner writing to the Sun News as saying, "retirees and locals who moved here for the golf have complained for years, 'Why don't our golf courses have more reasonable rates for our locals, especially our local seniors?'...Most of our seniors are on fixed incomes." What utter nonsense. In point of fact, virtually all golf courses in Myrtle Beach offer deep discounts to anyone sporting a local i.d.. No other golf destination even comes close to offering such a variety of golf courses for such reasonable prices. Presumably, Moredock would favor federal legislation sponsored by some sage like the senior balloon from Massachusetts mandating free golf for everyone, preferably at the expense of Burroughs and Chapin.

The author's obvious disillusionment with Myrtle Beach appears to stem from the disappointment Moredock experienced when late in life he moved to the destination of his boyhood vacations of the 1950's when all the movies were in black and white and everything was right with the world. As a fellow boomer who shares those same beloved memories, I also share his frustration with out of control development. But come on, man, it isn't just happening in Myrtle Beach, SC, and the fact that it is happening there doesn't make the citizenry all idiots or the local politicians any more corrupt than the local pols are anywhere else in the country. Focus only on the underbelly of any city in America for over 300 pages and see what kind of verbal portrait you'll paint.

Even beach music and shag dancing don't receive a pass from Mr. Moredock, who begins his chapter entitled "Dirty Dancing by the Sea" by taking a sarcastic shot at the South Carolina Legislature. "If, as some have suggested, South Carolina is the worst-governed state in the nation, at least its leaders know how to have a good time. In 1984, the General Assembly acted boldy, without fear or favor, to make the shag South Carolina's official State Dance." While, Moredock doesn't expound on exactly who made this suggestion, it's probably safe to assume that the unnamed suggestor(s) carry solid liberal credentials and ACLU membership cards. Where thousands of people find reasons to enjoy and celebrate Carolina beach music, Moredock sees political oppression and social exclusion. "Therein lies the irony and the tragedy of the shag," Moredock opines. "To have come out of such colorful and multicultural surroundings, it is today the exclusive province of white middle class Southerners. It represents the lifestyle of those who - for reasons of chronology or circumstance - were not touched by the music and politics of the sixties." How sad. Does this mean that Jane Fonda, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin didn't like the Embers or the shag? How will white, middle-class southerners ever be able to live with themselves or sing "I Love Beach Music" ever again?

Moredock entitles the last chapter of this stunningly boring tome "A Miserable End to A Miserable Year." In the end, he reveals that he has left the Grand Strand and found Charleston to be more to his liking. This is bound to provide great comfort to the good people of Myrtle Beach who no doubt have been losing huge amounts of sleep worrying about whatever happened to him. The main thing I took from this silly, silly work was validation of the notion that a liberal can make himself miserable just about anywhere.....even in Myrtle Beach. Moredock does both the city and his readers a disservice by painting such a desperately joyless picture of what is still a pretty cool place. This kind of whining is just barely tolerable when coming from a gifted wordsmith like Pat Conroy. Coming from Moredock, it's just sour grapes.