Booklist and Notes

Abstract

Booklist and Notes George Brosi Burton, Thomas. Serpent-Handling Believers. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1993. 208 pages, illustrated, with an index and bibliography. Oversized trade paperback. $24.95. As Burton says in his introduction, "It is easy . . . either to romanticize or brutalize the people and the practice" of handling snakes in religious services. The author does an exemplary job of avoiding either temptation. The photographs and the text—often a transcription of statements by the believers themselves—combine to give a real feel for the lives of these fervent Christians and those who love them. This is no quick study. Burton has been attending the services of those who handle snakes for twenty years and his bibliography runs twenty-three pages! Carson, Jo. The Last of "The Waltz Across Texas" and Other Stories. Frankfort, Kentucky: Gnomon Press, 1993. 142 pages. Trade paperback. $10.50. Jo Carson has lived most of her life in Johnson City, Tennessee, and has been performing and publishing her "people pieces" for over a decade. Both in person and in print, she is a born entertainer. Although Carson's characters seldom seem very complex, they are portrayed with a sense of humor which often makes them thoroughly engaging. Conley, Robert J. The Dark Way. New York: Doubleday, 1993. 179 pages, illustrated by Murv Jacob. Hardback in dust jacket. $15.00. This is Book Two of a series of historical novels about the Cherokee, whose tribal name loosely translates into English as "the real people." It tells the story of how society's powerful priests were overthrown. Like the first novel in the series, this book attempts to explain how the Cherokee society George Brosi sells both new and out-of-print books through the mail and brings a display of boohfor sale to regional events. His address is Appalachian Mountain Books, Route 2, Box 238, Whittier, North Carolins 28789. His phone number is 704-586-5319. 72 had become so large and elaborate in the absence of a single charismatic leader. Conley, who lives in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, the capítol of the Western Cherokee , is one of the most respected Indian authors working in America today. ________________. The Way of the Priests. New York: Doubleday, 1992. 177 pages with a glossary, illustrated by Murv Jacob. Hardback with dust jacket. $15.00. This is the first book in Conley's new series of historical fiction about his own people, the Cherokee. Set in the Southern mountains immediately prior to European intrusion into North America, it traces the rise in power of the Cherokee priests and gives a glimpse of traditional life based on extensive research into the earliest records of Cherokee ways. Conley presents interesting characters involved in an exciting plot. Ellis, Jerry. Walking the Trail: One Man'sJourney Along the Cherokee Trail of Tears. New York: Delta/Dell/Doubleday, 1993. Reprint of a 1991 release. 257 pages. Trade paperback. $9.95. The author, at the age of 41, walked from Oklahoma to his hometown of Fort Payne, Alabama, traveling backwards along the route of the infamous "Trail of Tears" in which his Cherokee ancestors were "removed" from the Southern Appalachians. "Every fragment of Jerry Ellis's story is compelling— the land, the people, the walk itself, those nights out under the stars. What Jerry Ellis does best is to magically touch the wanderer down deep inside all of us with his eloquent prose." —Terry C. Johnson. Garlock, Dorothy. Tenderness. New York: Warner Books, 1993. 377 pages. Mass-market paperback. $5.99. The author's publicists claim she has sold over six million romances and been translated into fourteen languages. This novel is set in 1902 in a small East Tennessee town. The heroine is a respected nurse who is in love with a man suspected of being the sexual pervert who is terrorizing the community . Hess, Norah. Kentucky Bride. New York: Leisure Books/Dorchester, 1992. 442 pages. Mass-market paperback. $4.99. This is a romance novel set in Kentucky in the 1780s. It is the story of the courtship and marriage of a trapper and a pioneer woman who has been raised on the frontier by an abusive uncle. In the beginning there is...