Appalachian Studies Research Articles

Fiction

Book Review| October 01 2015 Fiction Me and My Daddy Listen to Bob Marley. Ann Pancake. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint Press, 2015; 256 pp. Susan Malinoski Susan Malinoski Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal of Appalachian Studies (2015) 21 (2): 281–282. https://doi.org/10.5406/jappastud.21.2.0281 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Susan Malinoski; Fiction. Journal of Appalachian Studies 1 January 2015; 21 (2): 281–282. doi: https://doi.org/10.5406/jappastud.21.2.0281 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressJournal of Appalachian Studies Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright 2016 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois2016 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Boone: A Biography Lions of the West: Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion

Book Review| October 01 2015 Boone: A Biography Lions of the West: Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion Boone: A Biography. Robert Morgan. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books, 2008; 538 pp.Lions of the West: Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion. Robert Morgan. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books, 2012; 496 pp. Ted Olson Ted Olson Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal of Appalachian Studies (2015) 21 (2): 277–281. https://doi.org/10.5406/jappastud.21.2.0277 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Ted Olson; Boone: A Biography Lions of the West: Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion. Journal of Appalachian Studies 1 January 2015; 21 (2): 277–281. doi: https://doi.org/10.5406/jappastud.21.2.0277 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressJournal of Appalachian Studies Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright 2016 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois2016 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

In Memoriam: Jean Ritchie

In Memoriam: Jean Ritchie Loyal Jones (bio) I first met Jean Ritchie about seventy years ago at Brasstown, North Carolina, where I grew up and where her sisters Mae and Edna were at the John C. Campbell Folk School. Just a few years later, as a foreign-lander-soldier, I found a copy of Singing Family of the Cumberlands in the Army post library. It was a revelation [End Page 8] to me. It was the first book I’d ever read whose author I personally knew—and it was about my own kind of people. A half century later, she and I served together on the Hindman Settlement School Board for about twenty years. She was also a member of the committee that originated and planned, and she frequently performed at the annual Celebration of Traditional Music at Berea College. Jean was the most traditionally authentic artist in the Folk Revival and afterwards. She didn’t just sing the ancient and marvelous songs and ballads that came down through the generations of her people, along with their genes, her performances took her audiences on profound cultural trips, with the help of husband George Pickow’s photographs. These performances highlighted the positive values and aesthetics of her people. Thus, she counteracted the negative stereotypes that have shamed Appalachian people. Her Phi Beta Kappa intelligence led her also into scholarship. With her native artistry and the knowledge she acquired, she published many books and dozens of recordings. She also composed meaningful new songs about the strength and beauty of her people, but she also used her art and knowledge against the persistent problems and the environmental degradation of her homeland. Jean Ritchie was an elegant and influential presence in our time. [End Page 9] Loyal Jones Loyal Jones is a writer, educator, and humorist, and one of the primary people responsible for the Appalachian Studies and Literature movement. A native of North Carolina, Loyal was the director of the Appalachian Center at Berea College from 1970 to 1993. Jones is the author of several highly influential books including Appalachian Values and Faith and Meaning in the Southern Uplands. Copyright © 2015 Berea College

Fiction

Book Review| April 01 2015 Fiction The Psalms of Israel Jones: A Novel. Ed Davis. Morgantown, WV: Vandalia Press, 2014; 281 pp. Anne McConnell Anne McConnell Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal of Appalachian Studies (2015) 21 (1): 134–135. https://doi.org/10.5406/jappastud.21.1.0134 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Anne McConnell; Fiction. Journal of Appalachian Studies 1 January 2015; 21 (1): 134–135. doi: https://doi.org/10.5406/jappastud.21.1.0134 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressJournal of Appalachian Studies Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright 2015 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois2015 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Essay

Book Review| April 01 2015 Essay Filthy Dirty South. Rising Appalachia. CD Baby, 2012. Bob Stepno Bob Stepno Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal of Appalachian Studies (2015) 21 (1): 136–143. https://doi.org/10.5406/jappastud.21.1.0136 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Bob Stepno; Essay. Journal of Appalachian Studies 1 January 2015; 21 (1): 136–143. doi: https://doi.org/10.5406/jappastud.21.1.0136 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressJournal of Appalachian Studies Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright 2015 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois2015 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Capitalizing on Distinctiveness: Creating West Virginia for a "New Economy"

Abstract This paper explores use of images and ideas of place to promote particular social and economic agendas within the regional context of Appalachia. Despite prevailing imageries of backwardness and isolation that adhere to the region, as well as recent history of often-bleak economic conditions, communities such as Huntington, West Virginia, are ideal places to observe inventive forms of community-building, place-making, and place-marketing that borrow from emerging cultural and economic models and stand in sharp contrast to a once-dominant paradigm that encouraged capital investment by relying simply on tax breaks and the provision of cheap land and labor to attract large, typically industrial employers. This research examines efforts of local activists and others who simultaneously embrace and reject elements of long-standing characterizations of place and people of Appalachia in their attempts to creatively redefine the meaning and purpose of development in West Virginia. Employing a critical regionalism, this article contributes to interdisciplinary literatures of Appalachian studies as well as postindustrial economic restructuring through deepening our understanding of how components of variously competing and sympathetic discourses concerning Appalachia have practical consequences for building community and fostering economic development in the region in what many now call the "new economy."

Roman Triumphs New Books about Ancient Poetry

where does scholarship on Rash’s work stand beyond the books reviewed here? In April 2014 I attended the Society for Southern Literature conference to participate on a panel celebrating the literary achievements of the late Louis D. Rubin, Jr., who, with Cleanth Brooks, founded that particular organization. While perusing the rest of the conference program, I noted that out of more than fifty panels and nearly two hundred individual presentations, only one paper had anything to do with Rash’s work. It is surprising that the significantly larger Appalachian Studies Association conference, which had convened a month earlier, provided only slightly greater recognition. I have commented elsewhere on the lag time between authorial achievements and what contemporary writers generally read and know, versus the time necessary for that knowledge to seep slowly into academia and the monographs of literary scholars. Yet, given the range and volume of Rash’s work and the international success it has enjoyed over the past decade, to repeat, it is surprising more has not been written about it already, but also inevitable that it will receive the scholarly attention it richly deserves sooner or later. It follows then that the University of South Carolina Press is ahead of its peer publishers in offering, all at once, several incarnations of Rash’s work and criticism about it. In fact, it well may mark the beginning of a critical recognition that soon will bloom into much more—for which many of us have been waiting.

Wheel of Life

Wheel of Life Bell Hooks (bio) 1. The wheel of life turns round and round all hope alive in still presence a steady heart of compassion sacred ritual giving peace. 2. One drop of water flowing into the ocean wet with enlightenment a taste of eternal presence of morning dew, of night fall reincarnated dream. 3. Pure aspirations dark tara jewel of the most high open the heart’s door bear universal witness. 4. True nature of self-abiding darkness and light, male and female a sacred mandala past and present a tantric path that calls and liberates all eternal Buddha. [End Page 22] 5. Thread of tantra bind mind and heart imperfect being choosing to perfect love radiance of Buddha light shining. [End Page 23] Bell Hooks bell hooks (née Gloria Jean Watkins) is among the leading public intellectuals of her generation. Her writings cover a broad range of topics including gender, race, teaching, and contemporary culture across the literary genres and include the seminal Ain’t I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism and, more recently, Appalachian Elegy: Poetry and Place. She has taught at Yale University, Oberlin College, and the City University of New York, and has served as Distinguished Professor in Residence in Appalachian Studies at Berea College since 2004. Copyright © 2015 Berea College

Blue Skies over Bluefield, West Virginia

Blue Skies over Bluefield, West Virginia Korine Kolivras This issue’s cover photo is of Bluefield, West Virginia as viewed through the lens of 5-year-old Zakary Shannon, aspiring photographer and geographer (Full disclosure: Zakary also happens to be my son). When asked what he first noticed as we drove into Bluefield, Zakary responded, “Train cars full of coal.” And yes, that is what dominated the scene to both child and adult. The metal-on-metal squeaking of the wheels against rail filled the air, with train car after train car slowly grinding down the tracks. With a population that just barely exceeds 10,000 people, Bluefield is not a large urban center. Yet, this Appalachian town anchors the Bluefield Micropolitan Statistical area (comprised of Mercer County, West Virginia, and Tazewell County, Virginia) and services a regional population of approximately 100,000 (Figure 1). Without question, and as Zakary rightly identifies, Bluefield is a coal town. Known as a “gateway to the Pocahontas coal field” (Fain 2011, p 53), Bluefield’s urban boom occurred a century ago. The historic and regional presence of coal meant that Bluefield also has the benefit of being a railway town. Situated in a valley that dissects the Appalachian Plateau, Bluefield was historically served by the Virginian and the Norfolk and Western rail roads. The result is an obvious linear urban form as development has followed the train tracks and sought out pockets of level ground amidst the mountainous terrain. Several bridges link the communities on both sides of the rail yard, which is over 15 tracks wide in some spots, but each has a distinct feel. On the south side of the tracks, local businesses fill the downtown core and residences spill over the hill behind it. People sit outside, waving to cars and chatting with one another. Bluefield State College, a historically Black College and University (HBCU) that now hosts a predominantly white student population, is on the north side of the rail yard, along with residential neighborhoods. Faithful readers of the Southeastern Geographer might recall Tyrel Moore’s thoughtful description of the effects of deindustrialization in southern West Virginia in “A Southern West Virginia Mining Community Revisited.” In this work Moore (1998, p 15) highlights that Bluefield—like many other towns that cater to resource extraction—witnessed a population decline that exceeded 20 percent during the 1980s. The evidence of stagnation and disinvestment remains visible and there remains a gritty feel or spirit to the town. While demographic decline has lessened, Bluefield is still losing about 10 percent of its population per decade. [End Page 343] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. [End Page 344] While the town’s website proudly states that Bluefield “is the perfect marriage between the metro and small town” and that it is “a certified retirement community” it is a town that risks losing its micropolitan status by the next census (City of Bluefield 2014). Still, with the Jefferson National Forest in its backyard, and its convenient access to the Interstate Highway System, there is the potential for Bluefield to become a destination for those individuals seeking a place rich in natural amenities. How might Bluefield resurrect its image? Does it matter if Bluefield transitions into a rural area instead of being a place of micropolitan status? What new industries might ‘save’ the area? How can Bluefield better position itself to secure talented young workers and tourists? These are critical questions that countless micropolitan and other communities are grappling with in the Southeast. By asking what makes Bluefield, West Virginia, different from Blacksburg, Virginia, there is an opportunity for Zakary to learn the deeper geographies of place. Korine Kolivras Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University references City of Bluefield. 2014. “City of Bluefield West Virginia: Nature’s air-conditioned city.” Accessed 11 August 2014 at http://www.cityofbluefield.com/. Fain, C. 2011. Into the crucible: The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad and the black industrial worker in southern West Virginia, 1870–1900. Journal of Appalachian Studies 17:42–65. Google Scholar Moore, T.G. 1998. A southern West Virginia mining community revisited. Southeastern Geographer 38(1):1–21. [End Page 345] Google Scholar Copyright...

Stay Here Anyway

Research Article| October 01 2014 Stay Here Anyway Shea Daniels Shea Daniels Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal of Appalachian Studies (2014) 20 (2): 136–138. https://doi.org/10.5406/jappastud.20.2.0136 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Shea Daniels; Stay Here Anyway. Journal of Appalachian Studies 1 January 2014; 20 (2): 136–138. doi: https://doi.org/10.5406/jappastud.20.2.0136 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressJournal of Appalachian Studies Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright 2014 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois2014 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

From the Editor

Editorial| October 01 2014 From the Editor Shaunna L. Scott Shaunna L. Scott Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal of Appalachian Studies (2014) 20 (2): 99–102. https://doi.org/10.5406/jappastud.20.2.0099 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Shaunna L. Scott; From the Editor. Journal of Appalachian Studies 1 January 2014; 20 (2): 99–102. doi: https://doi.org/10.5406/jappastud.20.2.0099 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressJournal of Appalachian Studies Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright 2014 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois2014 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Rainbow Sign

Research Article| October 01 2014 Rainbow Sign Sam Gleaves Sam Gleaves Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal of Appalachian Studies (2014) 20 (2): 139–141. https://doi.org/10.5406/jappastud.20.2.0139 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Sam Gleaves; Rainbow Sign. Journal of Appalachian Studies 1 January 2014; 20 (2): 139–141. doi: https://doi.org/10.5406/jappastud.20.2.0139 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressJournal of Appalachian Studies Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright 2014 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois2014 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Heirloom Seed and Story Keepers: Arts-Based Research as Community Discourse in Southern Appalachia

Abstract Heirloom seeds are seeds that have been passed down in families for more than fifty years. One of the signature projects of the Appalachian Studies Center at the University of North Georgia, Saving Appalachian Gardens and Stories (SAGAS), is an annual demonstration garden for heirloom seeds and oral history collection. The organic garden is designed to minimize water loss, replenish our seed bank, and share seeds with our neighbors. Saving Appalachian Gardens and Stories preserves cultural history by interviewing seed donors about gardening traditions and foodways of Southern Appalachia. The 2012-2013 Appalachian teaching project Heirloom Seed and Story Keepers: Growing Community and Sustainability through Arts-Based research, an extension of the SAGAS initiative, is an undergraduate research project that utilizes a methodology of arts-based inquiry. The research provides students and community members with reciprocal opportunities to engage in the local food system through cultural literacy and seeks to learn how heirloom seed gardening literally and metaphorically represents the development of community in Lumpkin County. Students identified and interviewed tradition-bearers in the region, and their analysis resulted in an artistic representation of their research called a "communograph" (The Communograph Project, http://www.communograph.com). On display, the communograph has invited viewers into a larger conversation about Appalachian foodways, heirloom gardening, and the significant role our community elders and their traditions have to play in educating our youth about sustainable practices.

Remapping the South: New Perspectives in Appalachian Studies

Remapping the South: New Perspectives in Appalachian Studies

Fire history and its relations with land use and climate over three centuries in the central Appalachian Mountains, USA

AbstractAimOur aims were to: (1) reconstruct the fire history of pine–oak forests in the central Appalachian Mountains, USA, with an annual resolution over as long a time period as possible using dendroecological techniques; (2) estimate the frequency of fire in the study area before the fire‐suppression era; and (3) investigate how variations in land use and climate have affected the occurrence of fire in the study area.LocationTemperate forests at three study sites within the central Appalachian Mountains, Virginia, USA.MethodsCross‐sections were taken (sawn) from fire‐scarred pine (Pinus L.) trees growing in pine‐dominated patches within a hardwood forest matrix. Dendroecological techniques were used to date the scars, which were used to calculate fire intervals. A variety of analyses were carried out: Pearson correlation analysis, to investigate whether fire activity varied over time (under changing land uses); Kruskal–Wallis analysis, to examine whether fire frequency varied spatially (among study sites); chi‐square analysis, to test whether scar seasonality changed temporally; and superposed epoch analysis, to explore whether fire activity was associated with interannual climatic variations in moisture, as characterized by the Palmer drought severity index (PDSI).ResultsFire scars dated back to the 17th or early 18th century (depending on site). The filtered composite fire interval, considered to be a particularly reliable estimate of fire interval, averaged between 6 and 8 years. Fire frequency remained fairly constant from the beginning of the record until effective fire suppression began in the early 20th century, after which burning virtually ceased. Fire occurred more frequently at the easternmost site, which was located in the Blue Ridge province of the Appalachian Mountains, than at the other two sites, in the Ridge and Valley province. Scar seasonality showed no discernible trend over time. Fire was associated with low PDSI (i.e. dry years) at two of the study sites.Main conclusionsFire occurred frequently at these central Appalachian study sites during the period of aboriginal depopulation that preceded European colonization, and throughout the periods of European settlement and industrialization (with mining, logging and railroads) that followed. Our results match those from other fire‐history sites in the central and southern Appalachian Mountains, and suggest that fire was an important factor influencing vegetation development in the temperate forests covering this region.

Poetry

Book Review| April 01 2014 Poetry She Let Herself Go. George Ella Lyon. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2012; 93 pp. Marianne Worthington Marianne Worthington Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal of Appalachian Studies (2014) 20 (1): 85–86. https://doi.org/10.5406/jappastud.20.1.0085 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Marianne Worthington; Poetry. Journal of Appalachian Studies 1 January 2014; 20 (1): 85–86. doi: https://doi.org/10.5406/jappastud.20.1.0085 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressJournal of Appalachian Studies Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright 2014 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois2014 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Appalachian Gateway: An Anthology of Contemporary Stories and Poetry ed. by George Brosi, Kate Egerton, Samantha Cole, and Morgan Cottrell

BOOK REVIEWS Appalachian Gateway: An Anthology of Contemporary Stories and Poetry. Ed. George Brosi, Kate Egerton, Samantha Cole, and Morgan Cottrell. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2013. 353 pp. $29.95. IN THIS COLLECTION OF CONTEMPORARY APPALACHIAN STORIES AND POETRY the editors have chosen to focus on the realities of modern Appalachian life rather than on the stereotypes of the past and the softer pastel accounts that often blur the grimmer aspects of life. In attempting to assure the veracity and relevance of their selections, editors George Brosi and Kate Egerton elicited the help of student editors Samantha Cole and Morgan Cottrell. The collection is enriched by Brosi’s fine essay on the historyofAppalachianliterature,biographiesandselectedbibliographies for each of the twenty-five authors included, and an afterword by Egerton and Cottrell offering suggestions and directions for using the collection in varied courses involving Appalachian Studies. The editors alsorecommendtheworkforgeneralreadersinterestedincontemporary Appalachia and its literature. The book is organized to correspond with the categories of the massive Encyclopedia of Appalachia (University of Tennessee Press, 2006) and the selected stories and poems are aimed toward this purpose rather than toward the aesthetically strongest or best known of the authors’ works. No novels are included, though many are mentioned in the abundant supporting materials prepared by the editors. To reinforce the emphasis on Appalachia itself rather than on an all-inclusive overview of Appalachian contemporary literature, Brosi says, We view this book as a gateway to Appalachian literature . . . . The editors do not mean in any way to imply that these are the twenty-five best writers working today or that our selections represent their finest work. Rather, we have made very difficult decisions about inclusion based on achieving a variety of balances. (xv) Nevertheless, some of the most renowned authors in Appalachian literature are included in the collection. Newer names like Mark Powell and Chris Holbrook appear alongside such literary legends as Lee Smith, Fred Chappell, and Charles Wright. Who better to represent the land- 158 Mississippi Quarterly scapes of Appalachia than Lisa Alther, Fred Chappell, Nikki Giovanni, and Robert Morgan? Consider Chappell’s observation in his poem “The Gentrifiers Are in Pursuit”: “now come the real estaters / and their minion politicos and / it is no more Haint Holler / no more Hellfire Creek but Sweetwater Brook / in Castle Glen yonder in ‘Sunny’ Harbison” (15). Robert Conley’s “Plastic Indian” and Ann Pancake’s “Redneck Boys” begin the section on people of Appalachia—people like Meredith Sue Willis’s Elvissa, a woman who chooses to live her life as a New York Jewish wife; Powell’s Walt Berger, a man whose life is shattered by his experience in Iraq; and Frank X Walker’s sister lost to crack cocaine. This section about the people attempts to represent their variety in its large selection of poems and stories. Chris Offutt’s “Out of the Woods” offers an Appalachian Gothic element to the section on Appalachian work and economy, while Barbara Kingsolver’s “Homeland” offers a tragic portrait of an old woman’s erasure emblematic of America’s treatment of the Cherokee people. Ron Rash and Charles Wright add to the portrayals of pain and loss and the rough life in Appalachia. Poems and stories enrich the cultural traditions section of the text by offering insight into the complexity of rough lives. I will always remember Pinckney Benedict’s Pig Helmet clinging to the vortex of the Wall of Life, stretching his unclean hand towards salvation. Silas House’s portrayal of women seeking salvation in a coal-town life is hard reality, whileSharynMcCrumbsharesthroughmagicrealismavisionofanother cultural loss—that of the mountain dirt track racer. The role of institutions in Appalachian life is made vivid in poems such as Jeff Daniel Marion’s gentle “Song for Wood’s Barbeque Shack in McKenzie, Tennessee” and Kathryn Stripling Byer’s “Precious Little,” a damning indictment of the masculine assumption of dominance in the world of the literary elite. Several stories, such as Elizabeth Cox’s “The Last Fourth Grade,” illustrate the fragile nature of institutions, while Holbrook and Jayne Ann Phillips offer tales which might well be deemed “Appalachian noir.” This mix of poetry and stories enriches the reader’s experience and encourages reaching...

PULSE Vision & Change Rubrics

PULSE Vision & Change Rubrics

This Issue

This Issue George Brosi Amy Greene made an impact upon Appalachian Literature with her first novel, Bloodroot published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2010. We are proud to present here the first chapter of her second novel, Long Man, which is scheduled for publication next February. Joseph M. Schuster, whose first novel, The Might Have Been, was very well received, read Greene’s forthcoming novel in manuscript and provides an essay appraising her first two novels. Toby D. Gibson, a young man of Melungeon ancestry, has an important essay in this issue aboout contemporary life in the heart of Melungeon country, Newman’s Ridge in Hancock County, Tennessee where he lives. He took Rebecca A. Keck to Newman’s Ridge to capture photographic images of that community and its people for this magazine. They accompany pictures from Hamblen County where she runs Fine Art Photography by Rebecca and where Amy Greene has lived all her life. The short story in this issue is by Loyal Jones. This magazine is a program of the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center at Berea College, named in his honor. He is an icon in Appalachian Studies, the author of many books and articles that cover topics ranging from religion to humor. In this issue we include a portfolio of five poems by Samantha Lynn Cole. We were so pleased with the power and purpose of Samantha Lynn Cole’s work that we couldn’t resist sharing a portfolio of her work that highlights her talent, her depth, and her range. Robert Morgan, a native of rural Henderson County, North Carolina, and Charles A. Swanson from Virginia have published their poems in this magazine many times before, and we are pleased to introduce our readers to three poets new to our magazine. Thomas Alan Holmes grew up in Northern Alabama and now teaches at East Tennessee State. Anne Harding Woodworth maintains a home in the North Carolina Mountains near the South Carolina line. Ron Jackson is a Kentucky poet. Katie Hoffman, a Tennessee resident, provides a scholarly perspective to our coverage of the Melungeons with her review of Becoming Melungeon by Melissa Schrift, and Phyllis Wilson Moore of West Virginia ably takes on the delicate task of assessing a book by Scott McClanahan with the disconcerting title of Crapalachia. [End Page 11] Copyright © 2013 Berea College

New Book Notes

New Book Notes George Brosi Leonard M. Adkins and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. Along the Appalachian Trail: Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Mount Pleasant, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, 2012. 128 pages. Trade paperback. $21.99. This volume, part of Arcadia’s “Images of America” series, presents over two-hundred historical pictures and captions that provide the reader with a sense of how the southern portion of this fabulous trail has developed. Leonard M. Adkins has completed the entire Appalachian Trail five times, and five of his seventeen outdoor books are about the AT. Leonard M. Adkins. Hiking and Traveling the Blue Ridge Parkway: The Only Guide You Will Ever Need, Including GPS, Detailed Maps, and More. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013. 408 pages with 68 maps, 32 photos, bibliography, and index. Trade paperback, $18.00. This guide provides information that will be relevant to travelers: dining suggestions, public restroom locations, sightseeing information, and wildflower bloom calendars. “In the ever-expanding pantheon of guidebook writers, Leonard Adkins reigns supreme.” —Charleston Gazette Raymond L. Atkins. Camp Redemption: A Novel. Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 2013. 271 pages. Hardback with dust jacket. $25.00. Camp Redemption portrays the lives of a Willingham couple who own a failing Bible camp in the North Georgia Mountains. “Camp Redemption is as irreverent as any book can be, hilariously poking holes in the wind-baggery, Bible-thumpery, holy-rollery, hypocrisy, ignorance, and willful narrow-mindedness of organized and disorganized religion. Yet, through it all, a divine unseen hand is working out its plan. A marvel.” —Man Martin. Raymond Atkins lives in Rome, Georgia where he teaches English at Georgia Northwestern Technical College. Rex Bowman and Carlos Santos. Rot, Riot and Rebellion: Mr. Jefferson’s Struggle to Save the University That Changed America. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013. 182 pages with bibliography and index. Hardback with dust jacket. $24.95. [End Page 81] The authors, both former reporters for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, have intertwined historical facts with interesting tales from the period in a way that engages readers. “A lively, very-well told account of the university’s early, ugly years. The chronicle of drunken, loutish behavior is artfully handled.” —Peter S. Onuf Theresa L. Burriss and Patricia M. Gantt. Appalachia in the Classroom: Teaching the Region. Athens, Ohio University Press, 2013. 280 pages with an index and maps. Trade paperback. Hardback with dust jacket, $59.95. Trade paperback, $26.95. Theresa L. Burriss is the Director of the Appalachian Regional and Rural Studies Center at Radford University and the Chair of Appalachian Studies there. Patricia M. Gantt is Associate Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor of English at Utah State University. In this book, they have engaged some of the region’s foremost post-secondary teachers to share their best ideas for teaching about the region. For example, John C. Inscoe on teaching history, Erica Abrams Locklear and Jeff Mann on teaching literature, Ricky L. Cox on teaching the novel, and Grace Edwards on teaching poetry. Casey Clabough. George Garrett: A Critical Biography. Huntsville, Tex.: Texas Review Press, 2013. 209 pages with chronology, bibliography, and index. Trade paperback. $22.95. George Garrett (1929–2008) remains one of the region’s most beloved writers and educators. He was a crucial help to Appalachian Heritage in crafting our Winter 2006 issue commemorating the life and work of Mary Lee Settle (1918–2005) and, at the time of his death, we had a poem he had just sent us. “This critical biography helps to raise Garrett to his much-deserved position as one of the top luminaries of Southern literature and articulates beautifully the vast intelligence, wit, and talent of this remarkable man.” —Lynda Byrd Cook. Casey Clabough teaches at Lynchburg College and is also a frequent contributor to this magazine. Kim Clark and the McDowell House Project Advisory Committee. Marion. Mount Pleasant, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, 2013. 128 pages. Trade paperback. $21.99. Marion, North Carolina, lies at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. This book in the “Images of America” series presents over 200 photographs with informative text on the development of the town. [End Page 82] Joe Cook. Etowah...