Write-Ups

Abstract

NEW APPALACHIAN BOOKS Write-Ups embarked on a horseback journey to inspect the 49,000 acres he had acquired in what is now Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Ohio. The journey carried him 680 miles in 34 days. Publishers Weekly calls it a book "about George Washington's fixation with the West—not today's Far West, but the lands inland of the Appalachians—and about what that single-minded interest came to mean for the nation." They note that Achenbach has told the story "with enough authority to satisfy historians and a lively style sure to please general readers." Joseph G. Anthony. Peril, Kentucky. Lexington, Kentucky: Wind Publications, 2005. 158 pages. Trade paperback. $15.00. This is a first novel told in the voice of an outsider, a female community college teacher in an Eastern Kentucky setting remarkably similar to Hazard Community College where the author himself taught for several years. "Acomplex, insightful tale that lets no one off easy.""- George Ella Lyon. "I have observed [Joe Anthony's] sharp 84 eyes, well-tuned ears, and talented voice as he has transformed what he has witnessed into brilliant writing." - James B. Goode. Joe Anthony now teaches at Bluegrass Community College in Lexington, Kentucky. Darrel E. Bigham. On Jordon's Banks: Emancipation and Its Aftermath in the Ohio River Valley. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2006. 428 pages with photos, an index, notes and an appendix. Hardback in dust jacket. $45.00. This book focuses on the African-American experience in fifty counties, those which border the Ohio River in Kentucky and the counties on the north shore opposite Kentucky in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois during the years 1861-1890. It argues that the differences between life on the northern and southern shores were not dramatic at all, but rather fairly inconsequential. The author is a professor of history at the University of Southern Indiana and directs Historic Southern Indiana. He is the author of several books in his specialty. Fred Brown. Marking Time: East Tennessee Historical Markers and the Stories Behind Them. Knoxville, TN: The University of Tennessee Press, 2005. 356 pages with pictures and index. Paperback. $24.95. James Loewen's 1999 book about historical markers all over the nation is titled, Lies Across America. Fred Brown, one of the leading contemporary East Tennessee journalists, takes a less confrontational stance with this book. He does state in his Introduction that "in some cases, the brief historical accounts on the markers are either misleading or wrong." His solution is to reprint the marker in its entirety and then provide a page or two of background and commentary so that any false impressions are mitigated. The book is organized by county, and the lay-out is so well done that the reader can quickly flip through each county chapter to find particular markers. This is a fun and fascinating book. I'm going to keep my copy in the car so passengers can read, hopefully aloud, about all the cool places we drive past! How about doing the Appalachian portions of the other states next, Fred? 85 Roger F. Brown. Wheels and Deals in the Yadkin Valley: A Chronicle ofTransportation in the Yadkin Valley ofNorth Carolina. Boone, NC: Parkway Publishers, 2005. 124 pages with photos. Paperback. $14.95. Naw, folks in Western North Carolina aren't REALLY obsessed with cars, or are they? This fun little book has got to make you think they do care at least a little about cars. Chapters like "The Dodges," "The Gaddy Motor Company," "The Studebakers," and "Local Boy Goes to Detroit," are enough to warm the cudgels of the hearts of the most fanatic Carolina car freaks! The author worked as a mechanic before settling into a career teaching auto mechanics at Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Robert C. Byrd. Child of the Appalachian Coalfields. Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Press, 2005. 817 pages, with index, afterword, photos and illustrations. Hardback with dust jacket. $35.00. That is NOT a misprint. 817 pages. Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia's autobiography combines his endearing story-telling skills and his annoying filibustering tendencies. It is self-serving, yes, but it is also...