Booklist and Notes

Abstract

Booklist and Notes George Brosi New Releases Aron, Stephen. How the West Was Lost: The Transformation ofKentucky from Daniel Boone to Henry Clay. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1996. 285 pages with an index, notes, and illustrations. Hardback in dust jacket. $29.95. In his introduction, Aron, a history professor at Princeton, states, "This book seeks to explain what did not happen: the preservation of indigenous fauna and flora, the coalescence or at least continued coexistence of Ohio Indian and backcountry hunters, the protection of pioneer homesteading privileges...the democratization of legal and political systems, the abolition of slavery..." John Mack Faragher, the author of the definitive contemporary biography of Boone and a professor at Yale enthuses, "This excellent history of early Kentucky resonates with the most important questions in the history of the early republic." Clearly an important work of social history, and especially useful in the new field of environmental history. Berry, Wendell. A World Lost. Washington, D.C: Counterpoint, 1996. 151 pages. Hardback in dust jacket. $20.00. "Brilliantly detailed characters and subtle social observations distinguish Berry's unassuming but powerful fifth novel. [Berry] writes with the authority of a man steeped in the culture of a time and place, again the fictional town of Port William, Kentucky, familiar to the readers of his previous works...This is simple, soul-satisfying storytelling, augmented by understated humor and quiet insight." —Publishers Weekly. Bial, Raymond. Mist Over the Mountains: Appalachia and Its People. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997. 48 pages. Oversized hardback in dust jacket with a bibliography and pictures, some in color. $14.95. George Brosi sells both new and out-of-print books through the mail, and brings a display of books for sale to regional events. His address is Appalachian Mountain Books, Route 2, Whittier, North Carolina 28789. His phone number is 704-586-5319. 73 This fluff-ball book glances over the region with sketchy but sweet commentary, inadequate history, random quotations, and photographs with no locations listed and no photographers credited. Nevertheless it provides a quick, easy, and good-hearted introduction to the region. Bial's other dozen or so trade books and half-dozen or so nonfiction children's books have celebrated the rural Midwest. Garrett, J. T. and Michael. Medicine of the Cherokee: The Way ofRight Relationship. Sante Fe: Bear and Company, 1996. 222 pages, illustrated by Francine Hart and Debi Duke, with a bibliography. Trade paperback. $14.00. J. T. Garrett and his son, Michael, both have ties to the Qualla Boundary in Western North Carolina. This important book emphasizes a holistic approach to healthy living in harmony with nature and includes annotated listings of medicinal plants. Hearn, Chester G. Six Years of Hell: Harpers Ferry During the Civil War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1996. 319 pages with an index and bibliography. Hardback in dust jacket. $29.95. Twenty-eight different commanders controlled Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, where the Shenandoah flows into the Potomac, during the Civil War! Nine times the B&O Railroad bridge was destroyed and rebuilt. This well-written and fascinating book begins with John Brown's arrival in town in July 1859 and follows both the civilian and the military life in the area through the summer of 1865. Madden, David. Sharpshooter: A Novel of the Civil War. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1996. 160 pages. Hardback in dust jacket. $19.95. David Madden (b. 1933) is a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, who, before settling in at Louisiana State University in the late sixties, taught briefly at Appalachian State, Centre College, University of Louisville, Kenyon College, and Ohio University. The author of seven major novels , two story collections, eight produced plays and seven books of literary criticism, he has served as editor or coeditor of eighteen additional literary works. For Sharpshooter Madden returns to the East Tennessee setting of four of his first six novels. This novel is the fictional memoir of Willis Carr, a mountain boy who joins first the Union and then the Confederate army. "Madden suffuses the narrative, dialogue and characters with understated thought and emotion so that it resonates like a true story." —Publishers Weekly. 74 Norris, Randall, and Jean-Philippe Cypres. Women of...